Step 5: Riding

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Practice. For every round a pro golfer plays on a golf course he'll spend 100 hours at the practice green. When you get to the track don't just burn laps. Work on the rutt you're having trouble with. Find a good table top and get comfortable in the air. Most importantly get to the track and the gym.

Rolling jumps. There's always going to be an obstacle you shouldn't be doing. You'll need to learn to roll things right away. When you're rolling a jump the bike doesn't leave the ground. You use as much throttle as you need to just barely make it over the jump face. You roll down the other side and continue. That leads us to a very important next step.

Hold your line.
Whatever you decide to do on a jump, don't ever ever ever change your line. Don't ever pull over for someone or move to the other side trying to get out of the way. Just hold the line you're on and continue at the pace you're on whatever that may be. The guy behind you is on a different line. Most likely he'll be jumping on that line and won't be able to turn in the air. If you both stay on your line you'll both be fine.

Singles. The fist thing you need to do is learn how to leave the ground. Find a small single somewhere with a nice smooth jump face. This is just a small bump with nothing but flat land after. Start slow. Keep a consistant throttle all the way through the jump face. Keep your weight on the pegs. Try and land with the front and rear wheels straight. If your bike setup is correct your rear should be nice and quiet. You should land flat. If your rear kicks out or you're nose diving slow it back down.

Tabletops. You should master a single pretty quickly. Find a nice 40-50' tabletop to practice airtime.

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Don't know what 50' looks like? Just walk it off like we did back on the football field. Every step is one yard (3 feet). A tabletop allows you to start small (10') and progress at your own pace without much risk. There are many things to learn in the air. You're not just a dead pirate until you land. You can bring the front end up (throttle) or down (rear brake). More difficult is to master the pitch and yaw. I wouldn't even look at a double until you can control the bike in the air and land where and how you want.

Doubles.
So you've mastered the 50' table and that 50' double over there should be a no brainer right? The brain might be telling you otherwise. It sees the danger with the lack of dirt in between way before you might have.

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The double needs respect. You have to hit it perfectly the first lap and the last and every lap in between. 9 out of 10 means a hard getoff or worse a ride in the pretty red and white box truck. When you've mastered a 50' table start looking for an easy double that's nice and rolled to get your feet wet. This small gap below will be scary as hell at first. You'll eventually chuckle at these but trust me this dude is stoked he cleared it.

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Going down.
Yes it's going to happen.

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You may topple down or go down hard. If you're not hurt yet you're about to be. If you have any brain activity left use it to look behind you. The 250 pound bikes headed your way at 40 mph probably do not know you're there. Get yourself off the track preferrably your bike too but I'd start with yourself. If you witness someone else going down your instincts may be to help him up but you're just going to get yourself hurt too. The best way to help a guy down is to get yourself as quickly and safely as you can to the jump or corner before the fallen rider. I've easily saved 100 lives by flagging the jump face of a fallen rider.

Listen to your inner voice.
 
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