CRF's Only Forums

Like the title says, I feel frustrated.

I have only been riding dirt bikes for a few months now and I love it. I have been riding street and have road raced for years, so being on a bike feels natural to me. I can drag my knee at 140+ mph around turn 8 at Willow Springs no problem, but leaving the ground scares the crap out of me.

I bought a CRF250R this winter, I have only ridden it about 8 times so far. I found a track near my house that is free to ride on and I never see anyone there (because I dont think many people know about it). So I get alot of practice at my own pace. I do have a friend with me every time so I am not alone, but his skill is the same as mine and no help.

I have measured the jumps there and the only 2 smaller jumps are 20 and 25 feet. I can do those no problem. All of the rest of the jumps are 38-45 Feet and are much more dangerous. The faces of the double are steep and I dont have the nuts to try them. There is one 38 foot double with what seems like a mellow face to the double, but I only have the sac to jump about 25 feet of that and when I land, it is on the face and it hits so hard that it rebounds right off the ground and hurts my wrists and ankles, it also almost throws me over the bars.

I cant find any other jumps that are between the 25' that I can do and the 38' jumps. So how do you work up to those things? I assume I just need to sac up and just do it.

If you guys have advice that would help; that would be cool. I want to get better, and I know that will come with time, I just want to speed that up a little.



Thanks guys,
Jay

Woah slow down! You are trying some doubles and landing flat? That hurts! Try practicing a ton on the smaller jumps and the only when you are VERY comfortable with those should you move up. It took me 1 whole year to finally clear my goal of 60feet and that scared the crud out of me! When you find yourself landing flat try to get the back wheel to land a little ahead of the front and it shouldn't be quite as bad. From the way it sounds like you are landing, when you are approaching the jump be in a tall gear lugging it rather than a tall gear screaming it. And also try hard NOT to let off of the throttle in the air and ESPECIALY right on the lip of the jump. If anything give it just a little more gas on the face of the jump. If you find yourself landing front first and you are thinking "O CR*P" you can try panic revving in other words rev the bike hard and high and it will actually bring the front end up a lot.

If this works, here is a pic of the smaller jump.

Here is the face of the jump. It looks steep when I approach it, but from the side it looks pretty easy.

Nice track. Like I said start small and as with anything Practice Practice Practice!

like you i came from the pavement to the dirt and it's an adjustment leaving the ground. when you approach the jump standing, knees slightly bent, body weight neutral over the center of the bike with your head directly over or slight forward of the front number plate. as you approach maintain a constant velocity (don't be accelerating or deaccelerating as you approach the face of the jump). once you get comfortable with jumping you'll be able to practince accelerating off the jump...for now leave that for later. with a constant velocity, as you run up the face of the jump, stay loose and don't fight the bike, concentrate on maintaining body position. be very aware of your throttle position as the bike changes angles on the face the tendency is to roll off the throttle. chopping the throttle can throw you over the bars when you leave the jump. absorb the change in angle with your arms and as you go off the jump you'll be in a good position to adjust the attitude of the bike by pushing the front down with your arms. in the air anticipate your landing and if you'll be landing on a down slope push the front down so you'll land with the angle. if you're going to be landing flat then keep the front wheel up and land on the rear wheel. in both cases prepare to accelerate as you land. this will help take the edge off a hard landing.

i wouldn't recommend doing that double unless you can practice this distance on a table first to get a good feel for the speed you need. if this isn't possible than find a more experience jumper and follow him over the jump. make sure you tell him to use the most basic jumping technque (no seat boucing) over the jump. make sure he's not significantly lighter (bike, body, gear) or his speed will not be a good guage for the speed you'll need.

good luck...let us know how it goes.

ken

Thanks for the advice. I will try to take a picture or two of the doubles I want to hit. Maybe that will help a little too.

Just to help you guys understand my fear, I have broke 16 bones to date, and the latest was on Sept. 30th of 2006. I broke my Back and right hand. I also tore the legament in my right wrist.
I high-sided my bike mid corner while road racing, when the engine siezed. My back is still sore and my hand is not very strong yet. I get sharp pains in it all the time. So I know I should be thankful for just being able to ride. But even at age 32, I still want to improve every time out and get faster. I just dont want to crash hard any time soon.

Jay

if you don't want to crash hard then you shouldn't be jumping. some would say that you shouldn't be on a dirt bike at all. if you are jumping you will crash hard at some point if you keep pushing the envelop which is what you'll do if you want to get better. even the top pros come up short or over jump and crash hard.

definitely make sure you are completely healed up before you push things. especially with that back injury.

ken

The biggest jump I had ever hit was a 45 foot table top at my buddies farm on his track. Last weekend I went out to the local track after signing up for my AMA card and District 15. I hit the track during practice and I hit every jump. I didn't even hesitate. I don't know what came over me. I just saw the jump in front of me, made sure I was in 3rd and hit it. Everything went great! Oh and by the way. That was my first race of my life! The next day I took 2nd place of 11 riders in the Grand Prix event.

GO ME!

glyph98 wrote:Thanks for the advice. I will try to take a picture or two of the doubles I want to hit. Maybe that will help a little too.

Just to help you guys understand my fear, I have broke 16 bones to date, and the latest was on Sept. 30th of 2006. I broke my Back and right hand. I also tore the legament in my right wrist.
I high-sided my bike mid corner while road racing, when the engine siezed. My back is still sore and my hand is not very strong yet. I get sharp pains in it all the time. So I know I should be thankful for just being able to ride. But even at age 32, I still want to improve every time out and get faster. I just dont want to crash hard any time soon.

Jay

Jay - congrats on your CRF, and best wishes as you heal up!
You're wise to stay within your comfort zone, not only as you heal but also learn jumping. Give yourself plenty of time to do each! I'm the same age, and every weekend I have that thought in the back of my mind as well - "man it'd be great to hit the doubles today". But so far I've chosen to keep working on other skills that will help reduce lap times in lieu of doubling (corner speed, braking later entering corners, corner speed... and corner speed).
If you catch my drift, there are other things that will help you become a more rounded rider in the dirt other than jumping wild and free. For example -- for me, I've just begun learning how to speed scrub, as I feel more comfortable learning and attempting that skill, to get back on the grouond quicker and back on the gas, instead of doubling. The doubling will come when the time is right, and the speed scrubbing will still be handy by then, too.

I'm not one to put a timeline on anyone's progress, or suggest a given amount of seat time before something should be tried - some people are just naturals at certain things. But I will say this -- if you're approaching a jump with the thought of doubling in mind, and are telling yourself, "man I'm not sure this is a good idea yet", then it's probably not. Give it some more time. Concentrate on other things "cornering, body position, smooth riding style, looking ahead, changing lines" and you'll find jumping to almost work itself in the mix at a pace that's right for you. When you are ready to double, it might be a good idea to measure it out, then try it on a table-top. Get some marking paint and make a line on the table top that represents where you'd need to touch down to safely clear the double. Then hit that mark 10 times out of 10.

Good luck and stay safe. Nice track btw! Always a good idea to go riding with someone else even if skills are similar - safety for one, and the other thing is you can spar back and fourth. Let him go ahead of you by 1/4 lap and try to (safely) catch and pass him, then vice versa. Maybe make a gentleman's agreement not to jump side by side for a while, since that can add to the new stress of trying to jump correctly. If one guy has it down pat but the other doesn't, it's easy to drift sideways and meet up in mid air.

where is this track??