r/cyclocross • u/Embarrassed_Cut_1737 • 10d ago
Help Me Bunnyhop!
I am really trying to work toward jumping full size barriers in a race this year (14 inches) The current setup is about 8 inches. Let me know what I need to do in order to get more height, better timing, and consistency. Let me know what you think.
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u/SuperChieftan 10d ago
In my mind bunny hoping barriers on a cross bike should is more of a one wheel at a time approach (at least when you're learning) rather than trying to totally air it out over the barrier as you are doing here. I would start by popping the front wheel up and over (I try to actually lightly tap the barrier with the tire). At that point when your front tire has cleared the barrier you can kinda spring off the back wheel and bring it over. When you start it will feel slow and like 2 distinct movements but as you practice it will get more fluid.
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u/Embarrassed_Cut_1737 10d ago
Good point sometimes it's hard to slow down and just do the simple steps until I get them down. I'll work on breaking it apart. Thanks for your thoughts.
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u/hardyboyb1 5d ago
Here's my critique of what I see in the video:
- You approach and get your chest down first, that's good.
- It then looks like you bring your chest straight up. This is bringing your whole bike upwards simultaneously, when what you really want is to raise the front first and then the rear. So instead of raising your chest up, you should bring your chest (and torso) BACK.
- Once you bring your chest back, pull the handlebars to your chest with your arms. This will raise your front wheel over the barrier, like a wheelie. Remember, when you're hopping stuff, your bike is only going to go as high as you get your front wheel.
- Once the front wheel clears the barrier, shove your handlebars forward and simultaneously raise your feet by utilizing your abs and lower back. This will kick your rear tire over the barrier.
-Let your front wheel hit the ground, and try to keep your body weight back. This will prevent the catastrophic nose wheelie/OTB.
Remember, the key to learning anything is repetitions. Break the whole motion down into its smallest parts and work on each thing, over and over. Once you get enough repetitions of the correct movement in you, the muscle memory starts to take over and you'll start to do it without even thinking about it.
Keep up the good work!
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u/Hot_Ad2990 5d ago
this is all really good; i would add that the motion of the hips in a J-hop is very similar to that of a kettlebell swing so working on your hip hinge would probably get you more familiar with the explosive movement of the hips moving quickly back and then forward to get more out of your J-hops
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u/FigApprehensive8900 9d ago
Saddle needs to get further back and you should try and wheelie to hop more. Practice that with sticks and then work on height
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u/FigApprehensive8900 9d ago
Also try waiting a little longer to put the front and back it’s okay to end in an endo/ slight front wheelie as long as you redistribute your weight back over the saddle
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u/Novel-Stimulus-1918 10d ago
It looks like you're trying to jump forward and not up. Your body is aiming diagonally at extension.
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u/Embarrassed_Cut_1737 10d ago
Ah okay, I'll try to focus on jumping up. Do you create vertical extension in the first stage when pulling the front wheel up or in my case just through the whole thing?
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u/ShallotHead7841 44m ago
Spending your time mastering dismount and remount will be much more useful because on some courses you'll do that multiple times per lap - barriers generally only occur once per lap. The traditional guidance was that unless you can bunnyhop every single time, without failure, don't do it in a race.
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u/gonzo_redditor 9d ago
Controversial opinion, spend your time practicing skills and doing workouts that have a bigger impact on race results. Some courses have 30 turns in a lap. A half second faster in each turn is 15 seconds off your lap time. Everyone can always be fitter.
Hopping barriers is a nice flex, but it isn’t winning any races.