If there’s one thing we love most about Dan, other than the epic trails that he builds for Dirt Art, it would have to be the massive whips he throws off any jump.
Eager to learn the art of airborne sideways’ness from the master himself we took advantage of a small break in the racing action that weekend to shoot a quick ‘how to’ which we’re excited to share with you now.
Photos // Ryan Finlay
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To start with you want to pick a jump that you’re comfortable on. Before you start worrying about trying to get sideways it’s important to have the basics down pat of jumping and clearing which ever jump you’ve chosen. Knowing the speed and being confident enough to pull up on the bars and really ‘pop’ off the lip is going to make things a lot easier as you’ll have heaps more time in the air.
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Okay so you’ve picked a jump that you’re comfortable with hitting ‘regular’ and now it’s time to start throwing some shapes. As you’re coming into the jump you want to carve a big arc up and off the lip. For me when I’m whipping to the right I’ll come into the jump on the left hand side of the trail and I’ll be heading for the top right hand corner of the lip. This means you can carve a lot harder off the lip and still end up landing in the centre of the down ramp.
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Now, as you leave the top of the lip you want to turn your bars and twist your hips to match.
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I push down and forwards on my bars to drop the front wheel. I also push into the pedal with my back foot which pushes you out a bit more sideways.
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Every whip as an apex, or a ‘stall point’ where you reach max sideways and you just kind of float there for a moment. I love this point as you don’t really have much to do except for enjoy the moment up there!
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Alright it’s time to start getting ready to land. At this point you want to start straightening up. I slowly turn my bars back the opposite way so that your wheel is straight with your frame. I then pull up slightly on my back hand (left in the photo) to level myself back out for the down ramp.
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Finally I lean off the side of my bike and pull back into the frame with my front leg. This straightens the bike back out ready to land smooth and roll away effortlessly. Start small and make sure you do what feels good rather than trying to get as sideways as you can! [R]
