moment of zen

[ktdid]

!!!!!! :) hurrah...

after weeks of frustrating attempts, i finally did my first back hops today :wiggle: i've been practicing by keeping my back tire on the ground and putting my front tire on a decent sized rock that will put me very close to the balance point on my bike, then hopping in place and slowly pulling back on the bars until i could feel that i was exactly where i wanted to be. up til now every attempt at hopping with my front tire in the air ended up in tragedy (only for my ego, luckily not my body). today i was finally able to balance and hop in place on the back tire - most i got to was 3 hops, but hey, it's a start! plus i was also able to repeat it on a few tries, so i'm stoked :coold:

just wanted to share this joyous occasion and pass on potential advice/ poppycock to the other beginners :luke:

[aki]

Sweet! I love that feeling. I think your method will definitely help out other riders trying to learn the rear hopping in place. Congrats :D

[darkside]

:h5:

good on ya mate.

[tubender]

I don't think anyone outside trials understands how truly difficult the first years can be. congrats on your new skill!

[rush]

Awesome. Best feeling ever. Now wait until you can rear wheel drop off something!

:cool:

[ktdid]

Awesome. Best feeling ever. Now wait until you can rear wheel drop off something!


oooh i can't wait! i'm pretty excited because i know having the balance and control on the rear wheel is one of the key things for trials. it will open up all sorts of new terrain to play on :wiggle:

[tra la log]

remember to breathe. i know it sounds obvious, but i tend to hold my breath and i tank fast

[xsv4crob]

Yes, remember to breathe like mentioned above and relax. Concentrate more on trying to balance than trying just to hop. You will get comfortable faster.

That feeling of accomplishment you have right now is one of the most special times you will have in trials. Enjoy every second of it!!

[Bryan]

well chuffed eh mite
learning backhop is the goods innit?

[stpatr3k]

Nice. I remember that day, I had the biggest smile. Keep at it in no time you can do a lot more.

[waffelstomper]

[quote=xsv4crob;500438]Yes, remember to breathe like mentioned above and relax. Concentrate more on trying to balance than trying just to hop. You will get comfortable faster. [quote]

This is so true!

[TheBOFH]

Congratulations; I had my lightbulb moment a few weeks ago & it's a brilliant feeling. Try keeping your tire pressure really low & only do very small hops unless you're correcting your balance.

[ktdid]

thanks for all the support and advice! i was grinning like a maniac all weekend. :rofl:

remember to breathe. i know it sounds obvious, but i tend to hold my breath and i tank fast
haha i'm glad to hear i'm not the only one who does that! that's one thing i've been trying to work on since day 1 (super bad habit..)

Try keeping your tire pressure really low & only do very small hops unless you're correcting your balance.
How low are you thinking? right now i've been running both tires around 15 psi (i weigh 115lb), and that has felt pretty good so far, but i'm sure i can let even more air out. how low is to low?

one other thing i've been trying to figure out is how to get to the back wheel with both wheels starting on the ground. so far i've been able to almost get there just by rocking my weight forward and then back quickly and pulling the front of my bike with me as i lean back, but that motion is a little more awkward so i tend to fall over more easily. is this a good way to try and learn or is there some other trick to it?

[Bryan]

Your tire pressure is good the way it is.

The best way to get on the rear is with a pedal stroke. But it's much easier to learn to do that once you can pedal kick. For now, rocking up is fine.

[Big-D]

Very nice!
once you can do a few pedal kicks, it opens up a ton of new opportunities with trials