BLUE TRAIL SKILLS
WHOOPS / ROLLERS Whoops are smooth bumps in the trail that are great fun to ride and can even help you gain speed if you pump through them. At slow speeds they’re rarely a problem because the impact forces aren’t great enough to affect you. But at speed, if you stay sat down or get your timing wrong, they’ll kick you all over the place. The main focus when riding whoops is to stay smooth and keep your bodyweight flowing forwards by absorbing the upslope and extending on the downslope. Try to stay relaxed and let the bike pivot and move underneath you by relaxing your arms.
2 AsABSORB the bike hits the upslope allow your legs and arms to bend so the bike comes up underneath you. To time this you have to feel it rather than use a visual reference. As you feel the bike go, load into the upslope – that’s when you absorb. The bump will push the bike up underneath you so there’s no need to try to pick it up.
1 APPROACH Stand in your neutral position. For bigger whoops stand slightly taller than normal to create more room between you and the bike to absorb the bump. You’ve already seen the first whoop and you know what to expect, so look towards the next feature.
EXTEND 3 When your bike is over the top of the whoop, push it into the downslope using your legs as much as possible. Before trying to gain speed from pumping, your main focus is to stay smooth and in control for the next whoop. If you’ve timed it correctly you’ll have picked up speed and you’ll be feeling smooth.
Pump it
RESET 4 You won’t have long between most whoops so focus on extending your legs and arms into a neutral position so you’re ready to repeat the sequence of absorb and extend again.
22 MOUNTAIN BIKING SKILLS
If you can stay smooth through whoops then you can gain extra speed without pedalling by pumping them. Try to be as light as possible over the speedsapping upslope, then push hard with your legs to generate forward speed on the downslope.
