Nose down, nose up.
"Another fashion victim," was all I could think. No, it wasn't a matter of how this kid was dressed, although I personally wouldn't leave the house wearing "Fubu", or "And 1", or "Tommy Jeans", or whatever brand of too-baggy shorts he had dangling somewhere south of his rump. (I repeat, you will *never* go wrong in a sensible tweed jacket and cords, unless the invitation you are responding to specifically states formal dress. But I digress.)
Rather, it was the current BMX fashion that this young rider was a victim of. You see, he had decided to spend his first lap of the day following his buddy down the first straight of Kettering, Ohio's excellent ABA track, and he had decided to ride just like his buddy was riding. So when his buddy leaned it over a bit while clearing the first step, he did too. And when his buddy did a super-cool, trail-style nose-dive over the small doubles going into the first turn, he did too. The trouble was that, although his buddy cleared the doubles with six inches to spare, he was six inches short.
You can guess what happened next. His stylishly-lowered front wheel ever-so-lightly kissed the front side of the doubles' second hump. Since he was already pointed towards the ground at about a thirty-degree angle, the impact caused his Cg (that's center of gravity, for those of you who haven't read my Cg discussion) to rotate gently above the pivot point, which in this case was his front wheel, taking his body and back wheel with it. In his entirely justifable horror at what was going on, he forgot to let go of the bars, so when his face hit the ground his hands were unable to protect him, and the still-connected bike simply finished its rotation, hitting him in the back of the head with its rear wheel. Ouch. It took him more than a minute or two to get back up, and when he did get it up it was clear that he had suffered a real champ of a concussion. Not a great way to finish (or not finish) your first lap of the day.
Most riders would see this happen and think, "Bad luck." They would be wrong. Luck had nothing to do with this wreck. It was bad judgement that was at fault. Let's take a look at all the mistakes this rider (who is a very nice guy and who helped me compose the following list after his wreck) made:
Okay, enough criticism of the kid. He's in enough pain already. Plus, as noted above, he was a pretty nice guy and was fairly aware of everything he'd done wrong, with the exception of the nose-down business. It in no way occurred to him that he had done the wrong thing by nose-diving that jump. And why should it have? After all, everybody nose-dives jumps nowadays. According to SNAP!, it's the only way to go. Staying level in the air, or even keeping your front wheel up a little bit, is hopelessly dorky. Nose-down is the correct technique. It's the fashionable thing to do. And that, dear readers, is why I referred to our injured rider as a "fashion victim". He was injured because he was doing what everyone else does.
Do me a favor for a moment. Ignore what "everyone else" does. I won't dispute the fact that it is absolutely necessary to nosedive trail jumps, because the backsides are so steep. As far as I'm concerned, you can nose it down on every trail jump you do.
When you hit the track, though, think a little bit before you lean forward. There are serious reasons to stay level on most track jumps. You'll find most of them in my Jumping made easy column, but for those of you who were asleep in class that day, we'll review:
Speaking of the backside pump... I have had several riders tell me they nosedive track jumps because of the "backside pump". Unless you're on a pro section, though, you simply won't see enough of a steep back on most track jumps for that to work. Even if you could pump the jump a bit on the landing, the extra time you spend "popping up" to get your nose down more than negates that pump. So don't bother.
When might it be acceptable, or even intelligent, to nosedive a track jump? Modern pro sections often require a serious nose-down attack, primarily because rider safety has apparently taken a back seat to ESPN appeal in the NBL. Some of the tougher rhythm sections also demand that you pop-and-pump a bit, but that's probably worth a separate column and will be discussed in the future.
If we've established that nose-diving most track jumps is a poor idea, what should we be doing instead? The answer depends on the jump involved, but here's a quick guide:
Sooner or later, you will become comfortable enough on a particular track that you nose-down everything. Even I feel pretty good about pointing my old PL-24 groundward on doubles of ten feet or less, but I'm aware that it's strictly a style issue. Furthermore, I approach every new track using the techniques listed above. It may look a little dorky, but it's safe.
Any competent autocrosser will tell you that the smoothest way through a course isn't always the fastest. Sometimes you have to win ugly in order to win. I'm entirely comfortable with that, and I hope you are too. Sometimes it pays to be unfashionable. (However, you should never wear a buttondown collar with a double-breasted suit. But I digress...)