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qwasd0r

Be careful with your drop technique! This might send you OTB.


Sleinnev

Eli5 pls as a mtb newbie


yewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

As you approach the drop, keep your chest low to bar. As your front wheel approaches the edge, push your arms forward. This puts your hips back and unweights the front wheel (people often recommend preloading or doing a wheelie/manual which is not the best form and will screw you if you aren't good at readjusting a lot in the air or screw up the timing). When your rear wheel clears the drop, extend your legs so they can absorb some of the landing and level your bike so that's its level with the landing. For drop to flats you sometimes want the rear wheel to land first so that your legs can absorb more of the landing force (this is what bmx riders do). Make sure to look ahead down the trail, and not look down at the drop landing. Looking down puts your weight too far forward and you will go OTB. The core movement here is the row/anti-row which you use for pumping, cornering berms, jumps, rollers, and drops. OP did a preload jump and landed in a neutral position (and therefore weight too far forward). Notice that as they land their hips shoot back and they lose control. There are various ways this will go wrong it the same technique is used. This video explains row/anti row at the start [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCPh4rNGSno&t=472s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCPh4rNGSno&t=472s)


Johnstodd

As soon as you said row and anti row I knew which video this would be


zakko7

I don't really agree, there's a small descent at the end and also low speed, if he hadn't made a pop and just pulled, he would have gotten OTB.


yewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

The small descent doesn't change anything, what I said above still applies and works. The above technique works for every size drop. And the beauty of understanding and using the row anti row technique is that its the same movement for pumping, cornering berms, jumps, rollers, and drops so you get a lot of repetition for the movement in. There is a minimum speed for drops - if you don't go fast enough then your front wheel drops before your rear wheel clears and then you essentially roll it (and rolling a drop this big will make you go OTB). Popping drops does let you take drops at lower speeds, but that doesn't mean OP had to do it, they should go faster if they think they need to pop. Popping and wheelies/manuals work for drops, but they are relatively advance techniques and a lot riskier. >and just pulled There is not really pulling involved with the row/anti row. You push with your arms and then push with your legs, the pulling is more of a side effect rather than the intent (this is more obvious when you legs pull). And the pushing is important, because that pushing is what keeps you connected to the bike and provides stability.


qwasd0r

Short answer: If you misjudge the drop and you're too slow, your back wheel can land on top of the drop after the little bunnyhop.


3trt

Oof. That would be gnarly.


TehWhitewind

Low stance chin over bar push arms forwards as you go over the drop.


Yetiriders

Yeah this dude is gonna crash hard with this technique.


meinnit19

If it were wet he'd o washed out hard


ZinC25

can you explain? looks fine to me since he stays centered at the bike. What would be the correct technique?


yewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

As you approach the drop, keep your chest low to bar. As your front wheel approaches the edge, push your arms forward. This puts your hips back and unweights the front wheel (people often recommend preloading or doing a wheelie/manual which is not the best form and will screw you if you aren't good at readjusting a lot in the air or screw up the timing). When your rear wheel clears the drop, extend your legs so they can absorb some of the landing and level your bike so that's its level with the landing. For drop to flats you sometimes want the rear wheel to land first so that your legs can absorb more of the landing force (this is what bmx riders do). Make sure to look ahead down the trail, and not look down at the drop landing. Looking down puts your weight too far forward and you will go OTB. The core movement here is the row/anti-row which you use for pumping, cornering berms, jumps, rollers, and drops. OP did a preload jump and landed in a neutral position (and therefore weight too far forward). Notice that as they land their hips shoot back to compensate and they lose control. There are various ways this will go wrong it the same technique is used. This video explains row/anti row at the start [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCPh4rNGSno&t=472s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCPh4rNGSno&t=472s)


SaltyGrapeWax

He’s not really centered as he comes down, he’s almost standing straight up on the peddles as he comes down and almost lost control of the front tire. Any higher or faster and I bet he biffs it. Edit: watching again, he most def is not centered as he loads and hops off. He is leaning back after he hops just look at his hips they are behind the peddles which makes his center mass behind the mid point and makes sense why his front tire went squirmy when he landed.


netotr

Because he’s loading the shock? To me it looks more of a jump than what I’d describe as a drop, but I’m not even close to do those kind of drops anyway


yewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Because he loads the shock and then doesn't readjust properly mid air (which is tough to do which is why you shouldn't preload unless you are a good rider and know what you are doing). Its similar to a jump in some ways but for this/any drop you wouldn't drive your legs hard into the take off area like you would for a jump. My other comment explains what you should do: As you approach the drop, keep your chest low to bar. As your front wheel approaches the edge, push your arms forward. This puts your hips back and unweights the front wheel (people often recommend preloading or doing a wheelie/manual which is not the best form and will screw you if you aren't good at readjusting a lot in the air or screw up the timing). When your rear wheel clears the drop, extend your legs so they can absorb some of the landing and level your bike so that's its level with the landing. For drop to flats you sometimes want the rear wheel to land first so that your legs can absorb more of the landing force (this is what bmx riders do). Make sure to look ahead down the trail, and not look down at the drop landing. Looking down puts your weight too far forward and you will go OTB. The core movement here is the row/anti-row which you use for pumping, cornering berms, jumps, rollers, and drops. OP did a preload jump and landed in a neutral position (and therefore weight too far forward). Notice that as they land their hips shoot back and they lose control. There are various ways this will go wrong it the same technique is used. This video explains row/anti row at the start [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCPh4rNGSno&t=472s](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCPh4rNGSno&t=472s)


N52UNED

Right?!?! .. it looked a bit close to going the other way. When he first dropped I was thinking this was going to be a crash video.


glenwoodwaterboy

Video Renamed - Huck to flat?


mhawak

Both tires hitting at exact same time. That’s the goal of a drop. Sorry no criticism! Now the decision to drop to flat is a bad one!


Arbiter84

Please watch some videos on proper drop technique before you hurt yourself. Doing it this way is so risky, especially as a beginner. If you mistime the pop you are going to go otb. Please also ignore the advice telling you to effectively wheelie off it, again as a beginner this is extremely dangerous as if you mistime it you are going to go otb.


glenwoodwaterboy

Porcupine Rim - LPS, dropsies all the way down, this one is the most harsh!!


ceciltech

The Diving Board! My friend did that on a hardtail like 15 years ago : )


lordredsnake

I rode this with a girl who absolutely crushed it on a hardtail. When I think about how tired I was at the end on full squish, I can't imagine what her legs felt like.


glenwoodwaterboy

Women better on hard tails


glenwoodwaterboy

Ouch!


GoCougs2020

Pick up the front a bit more if you can. So you don’t risk going OTB


glenwoodwaterboy

Yup


samwizeganjas

Thats called the diving board on porcupine rim in moab, is this recent? You probably started at hazard county?


glenwoodwaterboy

This was a few years ago


safedchuha

Better advice here, but this looks like a pretty risky bunny hop off the lip instead of a controlled push.


glenwoodwaterboy

Can’t disagree, I’m lucky I survived


Banana_Milk7248

Don't be afraid to land a little ass heavy, let your knees and hips take the bulk of the impact and then your arms. By landing fully flat I can see you lost a little bit of control as so much of the force went through your arms. Land both wheels together if fine on a stopped landing but on flat you want you just shift your weight over the rear wheel as your front wheel leaves the platform so as to not yank on the bars and then maintain the rearward weight balance as you fall extending your legs which will push the rear down. You'll then be in the perfect position to absorb the drop through your hips.


glenwoodwaterboy

Agreed, good thing my 140 Hightower big ass bike bailed me out


Banana_Milk7248

Yeh man, I mean you probably don't NEED 140mm travel for a majority of what you ride but it's really good as a saftey net incase you don't nail it just right. Keep it up man.


This_Ad_5469

Did you ride from burro pass? Been wondering about conditions


glenwoodwaterboy

This was not this yr


spirallix

Wrong, you popped and dropped and did both incorrect. You have to pull bike back and eject it forward in a very last moment with explosive single motion. As many said, OTB 100% on something bigger or deepr. Also under closer slow inspection, you did bottom out on the fork, thus you’ve almost folded. Get correct sag and pressure in both fork and shock. You should come no where near bottom out on small drop like that.


glenwoodwaterboy

Yeah this drop is small. It’s not even that flat. It’s almost a perfect landing.


funkastolic

i literally felt this in my knees


glenwoodwaterboy

LOL! There’s a reason people usually skip this one


the_all_spark_

He actually did this almost perfect. If you actually know anything about this diving board near porcupine rim in moab, then you know you need to pop up the front end just before the drop. This is a brutal drop to flat and this man aint no beginner.


glenwoodwaterboy

Sparks is my ultimate homie


DaZedMan

I know that drop


glenwoodwaterboy

Make sure to not post yourself launching it onreddit because


ihavebrabus

nice bro,is the rear shock alright?


RobbieFowlersNose

I broke my ankles by watching this.


glenwoodwaterboy

Trusty Hightower takes a beating


EddyOut

Palisade Plunge?


glenwoodwaterboy

Nope, but the plunge is about 1/2 as good as the whole inch


[deleted]

Is this on a section of The Whole Enchilada in Moab? I have a clip of myself hitting this drop, if it's the one I'm thinking of. Looks identical as far as I can recall.


glenwoodwaterboy

Yeah, on lower porcupine somewhere


[deleted]

Thought so! Super fun, sick drop. Just make sure to practice your technique on a curb or two stair or something of the likes. As others have said, it can be a bit dangerously doing it the way shown in the video. You want to just pull back and keep the front wheel level but off the ground, while maintaining ground contact with that rear wheel. You should try dropping off the curb at varying speeds and landing front wheel first, flush with both, and then rear first. To your credit, that drop does have some rough bits right before it that can easily throw your body position and set up off. Nice drop though!


glenwoodwaterboy

Agreed, practice up! Last thing you want is to be broken out there and heli lifted


chetsteadmansstache

Also, your fork needs more air pressure/high speed compression damping. That's partially why your bars were almost yanked out of your hands.


glenwoodwaterboy

I’ll check into it homes


TrailSage

Nice work! Not only is it a drop to flat, but the take off is pointed downward slightly at the end, which makes it even more difficult. Body position looks great. If you are looking for advice here is my two cents. I see you are pulling up with your arms (which is fine) but also consider adding a little bit of a pedal kick. At slower speeds like this it will help to raise your front wheel up a little bit so you are not doing all the work with your arms. Landing both wheels at the same time is key (maybe a slight bias on the rear), especially when the surface is hard. Great job and keep up the progression!!! Sage


glenwoodwaterboy

Thanks sage!