Start off standing next to your bike, roll back with your wrists and pull the bars towards yourself to get the front wheel up off of the ground, then push the bars up and away from your body. Congratulations, your bike just bunnyhopped, now all you need to do is add yourself to the mix.
When you are on the bike the trick will be to jump up from the pedals and use the “up and out” motion of your arms to help the bike follow your feet upwards. Timing is everything, so be prepared to practice a lot. Rolling forward slowly pull back on the bars as if you were going to manual. When your front wheel is a few inches off of the ground, go light on your feet and push the bars up and away. Your first hops will be really small, but don’t stress, learning the motion and timing is the hardest part, after that, its onward and upward.
When you get the hang of little hops, try lifting the front end of the bike higher and adding a little more “pop” to your feet, jumping up from the pedals and following through with your arms to get more height. As you work your way up inch-by-inch, try tucking your knees up to your chest to allow your bike to travel further upward before your body weight stops it. In the end, the amount of “spring” you put into your leap will decide how high you can hop, but don’t be fooled, the arm motion is what’s lifting the bike off of the ground, so expect some sore forearms in the months to come.
Good Luck!
2 comments:
i bought a bmx bout a week ago, and since then i have not stopped riding it :D glad to see a bit o' support for female bmx'ers. in a few yrs i might be able to pull some moves, but at the moment i was pretty stoked just bunny hopping over a gutter onto the footpath... a whole 10cm's, haha!
Thats a great start Mia... we'd love to see some pics of your progression in the next few months :)
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