I’ve started recording video of my riding to examine my attempts to get better at various mountain bike skills. I generally prefer to showcase myself succeeding, with an occasional crash thrown in for comic effects. But I decided it might be helpful to blog my attempts to improve, especially if it includes some self-analysis as well as links to other coaching videos that I’m watching.
I first noticed instructors demonstrating ‘pumping a flat surface’ in two videos on cornering, specifically hip flexion:
Left: See the 1:24 mark of the Pinkbike video by MTB coach Simon Lawton.
Right: See the 1:20 mark of the NSMB video by Darren Butler and Seb Kemp.
And then I discovered MTB coach Lee McCormack‘s blog posts about pumping a flat surface (here, here, and here) where there are lots of pointers and helpful discussion. He links to a video but it’s in native .mov format on his server. Here’s the YouTube version that someone has uploaded. It’s pretty amazing to see how fast he can get going:
httpv://youtu.be/acYUcAVZlA0
He also points to how Brian Lopes applies the same pumping motion in this Pinkbike video:
See the segments at both the 1:32 and 2:56 marks.
Here’s my marginally adequate attempt yesterday:
httpv://vimeo.com/71976278
I made the round trip without pedaling, but just barely. It seems that while I’m not doing too badly pumping with my legs/hips, I’m not doing enough with my arms/shoulders. And I’m standing up too high instead of being in the attack position. Back to school!
If you’ve got insights or links to other helpful pages/videos related to pumping a flat surface, attach a comment.
