Question

[u/stumpyrider69420]

I'm recently starting to heavily get into mtb but one issue, where do I start trick wise? do I learn bhop or smth else? I wanna wheelie too but cant find balance point. How long of practicing should it take?

[u/pineconehedgehog]

As a coach, I would recommend starting with cornering, braking, vision, body position and other fundamental skills before you start to worry about tricks.

But everyone wants to skip the important stuff and go straight to the party tricks and jumps.

So the order of progression I would recommend (and coach to)

• Trackstands

• Pedal punch wheelies

• Front wheel lifts

• rear wheel lifts

• level lifts

A bunny hop is just a front wheel lift linked with a rear wheel lift. Once you can do them comfortably and independently, then you can start shortening the time between them.

[u/Salty-Entrepreneur11 → u/pineconehedgehog]

what if already doing 25 foot table jumps and have not learned any of those basic skills like track stand and wheelies?

lol

[u/pineconehedgehog → u/Salty-Entrepreneur11]

Being able to ride a wheelie serves zero purpose on the trail. They are party tricks to look cool. Many very good riders, can't ride a wheelie. So there is no real loss there.

Being able to execute a short punchy wheelie or wheel lift to get your wheel off the ground is a fundamental skill absolutely critical to technical riding. If you are hucking 25 footers, I assume you have that skill. I teach them to my students not so they can wheelie, but to teach them body positioning and the concept of torque. If you don't, then I imagine you struggle with roots and rocks

If you can't do even a short track stand, that tells me that you ride zero tech and probably are more of a dirt jumper than a trail rider. Track stands allow you to pause and spot your line before dropping into a new feature. They allow you to make super tight switch backs. But most importantly they are incredible for building balance and developing bike-body awareness. They should be a routinely practiced skill. Just about every time I get on and off my bike, I do at least a short one.

And the other types of lifts, you either know how to do them and don't know it or you are just getting really effing lucky and should probably tone it back and work on some skill development.

[u/bug_the_bug → u/pineconehedgehog]

Ya, some riders literally never leave the groomed bike park trails. It's similar in skiing - park rats are disincentivized from learning all-mountain skills. If someone rides a lot but literally can't lift their front wheel over an obstacle, it mostly tells me that they never ride uphill. I have a friend "learning to mountain bike" right now, and I'm having a hell of a time convincing him that he can ride (and have fun!) without a full lift-serviced rental package.

[u/pineconehedgehog → u/bug_the_bug]

I love the park. Spent last week at Whistler. But I am all about the gnar. Rocks, roots. It's my jam. I can't/won't huck a 25 footer but I will send it down the jank.

And park is great, but man there is so much other good riding out. I love it all.

[u/stumpyrider69420 → u/pineconehedgehog]

how would I go about learning those? do you recommend watching YouTube tutorials lol?

[u/sprashoo]

Bunny hop and wheelie are both good skills to learn. They're somewhat different.

Honest answer for how long it takes... for me it took a year and a half to be able to wheelie reasonably well, and even now, im pretty inconsistent at how long I can hold it and steer properly. I practiced a ton for a few months, then practiced more casually for a year or so. Just recently I feel like it's starting to click.

Bunny hop was sort of easier, as it's more about learning to do the correct series of motions than teaching your brain to balance a bike on one wheel. I can bunny hop over 1 foot on a good day, but sometimes when actually approaching a real obstacle my brain freezes up and forgets everything and I revert to a panic hop (I have years of muscle memory doing clipless pedal 'cheat' hops) that is much less effective at lifting the bike.. so I need to practice more.

Age might be a factor. I'm in my 40s, so my brain is probably a lot less plastic than it was 25 years ago, and learning things is harder and slower.

[u/Salty-Entrepreneur11]

keep practicing until you get it

focus on the skills you like and want to learn

patience, ups and downs, strikes and gutters, good and bad days

keep riding

[u/stumpyrider69420 → u/Salty-Entrepreneur11]

I keep trying to learn how to bunny hop but end up going OTB, I also just cant get speed into jumps, do you know if theyre good ways to practice pumping to get more speed?

[u/ExplodoBike]

Some of the most useful things you can learn:

1) be able to lift your front end over obstacles while riding

2) trackstand

[u/june_plum]

Read, "Mastering Mountain Bike Skills." Do the drills in the book. Increase bike handling skills.

[u/endlessEvil]

trackstand, stoppie, endoturn.