The whip is a jump that is performed on the tabletop bike trails and the bike flies over in the air and again hits the ground trail.it is performed by those riders who are pros and have spent a lot of time in the mountain biking world by practicing performing whips on the trails.
the trails are made for performing and practicing the whip, the same single trails with jumpy areas are present with a few meters of distance between them. these are high from the ground surface depending on your practice level. if you are daily practicing and working for a whip then sure you will easily perform any height of whip, the main thing is that if you are new in mountain biking then you will learn after some months by practicing daily on your own made whip trails.
In the beginning, it brings fear what happens if I whip my bike? but as soon as you start to learn and repeat by performing small whips you will easily be able to pass any whip trail.
There are the following positions of our body that needs motion, balance, and force in performing a whip:
- Shoulder
- Hands
- Chest
- knee
- Torso
Shoulder:
Shoulders and hip bones are involved in doing whip on the trails if you are performing whip on the left side the position of your shoulders would be on the right side and you force your shoulders to stay on the right side while your bike is in the air with 360 degrees of angle, so the whip direction and your shoulder position are performing against each other.
This against the position of shoulders is maintained usually when you are in the center of the whip in the sky and after that when you are dropping near the earth bring the shoulders in the straight forward direction towards the handlebar so that you can easily control the handlebar and direction of your bike when the bike falls the ground.
It depends on the force and motion of your shoulders and how much reach you attain by bending the handlebar of your bike, the more you move the shoulders in against the direction of the whip, the best angle degree whip you will see performed by your own self.
The best degree whip needs more power and energy from your shoulders and the experience that comes through daily practicing and riding the bike on the jumpy trails.
Hands:
Hands play an important role in doing whip a mountain bike, in the beginning of the lip when you violently pull the handlebar for a whip, try to apply force on the hands to reach a good performing whip point in the sky. the more you can apply force on the handlebar, the best pro whip rider you become in less time.
At the beginning of the whip, hold the hands in the straightforward direction, and when the front tire is lifted for a whip, rotate both hands toward the whip in the anticlockwise direction if you are performing the whip on the left side of your body.
Chest:
The position of the chest also matters in performing a whip because the motion and energy of the chest play a role to do a better whip.
In the beginning, on the lip edge, the chest position would be bent downward at 45 degrees of angle because force is needed through the hands on the handlebar for performing the whip.
But when the bike reached higher from the ground, straighten the chest so that the position of the chest would be towards the handlebar of your bike and both will be parallel to each other.
Knee:
These are the knees that bring the difference between a simple jump and performing a whip while jumping your bike. Twisting and bending the knees when the bike is in the sky is called a whip.it needs force more than the usual jump, bend the knees with force and energy to bring the front tire in the left or right direction to make an angle of above 300 degrees, depending on your knees.
Avoid hitting of knees with the frame tube of the bike when whipping in the air, apply the force of your knees and feet to perform the whip.
Torso:
Avoid hitting of toes with the crank leg of the bike, apply force with the palm feet, and torso place to perform whip and twist the bike in the air. although it is tough because sometimes the foot’s palm slips from the pedal which is terrible, so in the beginning, if you are new to whipping start performing from the hands, and in the end, it would be easy for you to twist the torso place of both feet in the air.
Wider landing area:
Wherever you are doing whip always remember to make the landing area wider so that when you land on the ground surface there should be enough surface for you to position your bike on the forward trail.it is necessary because you know the trails are narrow with trees, bushes, and rocks on the left and right sides where it is impossible to whip a mountain bike.
you have to make your own jumpy trail because there are chances and risks of distracting from the way when you land on the ground that’s why while making the trail, try to create a large space where you will land after the whip.
Position of rear wheel:
Rear-wheel is most important in doing the whip, when you whip the bike in the air you are pushing the back wheel to create an angle and during these moments you have to straighten again the rear wheel in the air otherwise when you land your bike unfollow the trail and chances of your falling occurs.
When you whip with your body, shape the rear wheel at an angle and after that again straight the direction of the rear wheel when the bike is reaching the ground surface, so that the front and rear wheel would be in the same line when you land on the ground.
Position of the front wheel:
When you fly your bike in the air for performing a whip your bike direction is totally dependent on the front wheel when it falls down again. it is necessary for doing whip to control the front wheel so that it won’t leave the downward track.
You can change the direction of the front wheel to fall on the same track where you are doing whip by moving the handlebar, if the front wheel got another position, then surely you will get a crash.
Speed of your bike:
For performing whip, do not run your bike at a fast speed, the reason is that it will irritate you much when you fall again on the track.it is better advice to maintain a normal speed of your bike which will help and do not confuse you in landing purpose. try to bring your speed to zero in the mid of the whip where you are going to point in the downward direction toward the ground.
Safety Measures:
Always cover all of your body with protective gears which include the helmet, shin guards, back and chest protector, shoulder pads, and elbow pads because if you are a beginner then these gears are a must for you, and when you will learn completely then for sure you can wear just a helmet which is almost necessary for every situation for a mountain bike.
How to learn whip in the beginning:
In starting, it is a little bit difficult because you have got fear and you will lose your confidence in performing whip on the trail. so you can start learning whip by doing small jumps from your hometown trails and bring your bike on the lip edge with a small speed.
in the beginning, just learn how to jump after that try some pushing force to change the direction of your bike, this process takes time, be easy and never lose self-confidence. by doing small jumps and a little bit of bending your bike to give it a whip shape, after a month you can easily be able to perform the best degree whip in the air at any speed of your bike.
Make small whip jumps on the trail and after that give a little bit more height, as far as you start to learn whip you can easily be able to perform any height jump on a trail.