3 minute read
MTB-O TIPS
How to jump logs Adrian Jackson (2004 World MTB-O Champ) shows you how.
Often during MTB-O events, obstacles can block your path meaning a loss of valuable time if you stop and lift your bike over them. It is possible to get over a lot of these obstacles with virtually no time loss. Adrian shows you how.
1. Approach
Approach the obstacle at a reasonable speed to begin with. Many beginners start too slow which makes it harder not easier. As your skills progress you should barely have to slow at all. Be looking past the log at where you need to ride afterwards, definitely don’t look at the log unless you want to hit it! Keep your arms bent and stay relaxed.
3. …and over 2. Up…
As your front wheel approaches pull upwards on the bars, and throw your weight backwards. It’s very hard to throw too much weight back, so don’t be afraid of being quite vigorous. You can add a small hard pedal stoke as you lift up to help get the front wheel up, but for small obstacles you should be able to lift enough without it. Timing this move just right can only be learnt by practice. Too early and you will bring the front wheel down on the log, and too late and your rear wheel will hit the log.
4. Home & hosed
As soon as the front wheel is happily traveling above and over the log, you need to push the bars down away from you, whilst having your weight over the centre of the bike. It’s kind of the same action you see sprinters like Robbie McEwen do as they ‘throw’ their bikes at the finish line. To get the right action it may help to imagine you are trying to rotate your grips forward. You also need to pull upwards on the pedals, which is made much easier with clipless pedals. Point your toes down as you pull up, this is how to lift the rear wheel when not clipped into your pedals. Remember to keep looking ahead, and don’t shift your weight back to normal too quickly. Forgetting either of these things is the reason why lots of people get the wobbles or run off the track shortly after clearing an obstacle. The best way to begin is on a grassy area, practicing to lift your wheels over an imaginary log such as a hose or stick. Once you feel you are lifting your wheels enough graduate up to a bigger obstacles!
ADRIAN’S NEW RACE BIKE
Adrian Jackson has a new race bike for 2006, a Scott Genius RC-10 dual suspension, on which he has already raced to success in the Wildside MTB stage race in Tasmania in January. Adrian says that the benefits of a dual suspension far outweigh the small weight penalty such a bike brings. “I can ride faster through rough technical sections whist feeling more in control, and it’s more efficient so at the end of the race I can be riding stronger.” Race oriented dual suspensions such as the Scott Genius line employ clever linkage designs, that eliminate pedal-induced bobbing of the rear suspension. The Scott Genius bikes also come with a 3-position lever to switch between the rear suspension modes; ‘lockout’, ‘traction mode’ and ‘full travel’. “The three different modes mean the bike is fast in all situations, lockout for road sections, traction mode for general riding, and full travel for rough stuff.” Adrian would like to thank Warren Key of Melbourne Bicycle Centre (Clifton Hill) and Netti Atom who distribute Scott bicycles in Australia.
