Any rider who has spent much time in BMX should be willing to admit that, by and large, it is not a statistical sport. We worry about style and flair, not numbers. Racers who live and die by their precise point totals are far rarer than jumping-oriented radsters. Freestyle competitions are judged by men, not machines, so those numbers don't really mean a lot. Street sessions aren't judged at all. There is only one totally numerical standard of excellence in bicycle motocross---the bunnyhop.

How high can you get? Answer in inches. Chances are that you're overestimating yourself. Here are some references: If you can hop a curb, that's eight to ten inches. Your racing buddy's standard wheel is 19.75 inches high. His cruiser wheels are 24". Your bars are probably about thirty-five inches above the ground. Are you mentally dialed in to how high you can hop now? Now check this: freestyler Woody Itson was regularly photographed doing forty-two-inch hops. Scary.

A lot of riders today claim not to care about their hopping ability---then they have to sit and watch while their friends are out on the street blasting over trash cans, benches, et cetera. Once upon a time, skilled older riders taught bunnyhopping as a matter of course to new tykes. That's no longer the case, but fear not; you've got Jim Boswell, Bunnyhop Instructor, at your service.

It is a known fact that you will not hop your highest without a visible object to clear. So get one. Start out with small cardboard boxes as demonstrated in the photos below. Measure the box so you can be proud of what you're clearing when you finally clear it. Or you could build a stand like the one pictured. Mine is labelled at oneinch intervals between ten and thirtysix inches. Thirtysix is my goal. Twenty-seven is as high as I've ever gotten. If twenty-seven inches doesn't seem like much, build a stand and see for yourself. It cost me about twelve dollars to build mine. I had the lumber store cut two four-foot lengths of lumber, got four more in two-foot size for the feet, and another four in 18"inch size to serve as crossmembers. Then I hammered it together. A bunnyhop stand will improve your riding more than a twelve-dollar sticker set or new number plate.

There are two ways of hopping. The first way is the "double-wheel" technique. It works up to about twelve inches. Don't learn it unless you will be happy never hitting more than a foot of hoppage. That said, it is a reliable way to get around campus or the mall, and it is the method used by ninety percent of mountain bikers.

Here's how to do it: Ride up towards the cardboard box with your feet level on the pedals. Curl your toes inside your shoes. When you are close to the box, pull up on the handlebars and push up with your feet. This is done in a simultaneous motion. Your wheels won't stay up for long, so you'd better be going fast Let's take a brief moment out to talk about "pushing up" on the pedals. It is impossible to explain how to do this in print. You'll simply learn it. A non-dangerous way to learn it is to ride slowly and try to hop your back wheel up a couple of inches without taking the front wheel off the ground. The pushing motion you'll do with your feet is how you'll bunnyhop the back of the bike up when it's time to clear something. If you are one of the pro riders who uses SPD, you can simply pull your feet up and the pedals will follow because they're locked in. But if you're a top pro, why are you reading a how-to column? Go negotiate your contract or something.

The double-wheel technique was once the only method of bunnyhopping known to man. But then, some frustrated rider figured out that if he applied his strength to one end of the bike at a time, he'd go higher because he'd be working more efficiently. So he picked up his front end first, then pushed up with his pedals once the front end was way in the air. The bike levelled out in mid-flight, and then this prehistoric rider put his front wheel down, followed by his back wheel. It looked like the proverbial cow jumping over the moon, and was called a "stallion" in the Midwest. It let racers beat that twelve-inch barrier with style and grace.

Don't do it. If you are going to learn only one thing from my series of columns, it should be, "Don't use your front wheel when your back wheel could do just as well---you'll break less bones that way." Modern riders have modified the "stallion" into a safer bunnyhop that will get you nearly as high and cause less brain damage.

The modern method is detailed in the series of photos below. Follow our model rider as he hops his way to glory over a fifteen-inch box: Ride straight at the target at a medium speed. This speed is approximately equal to how fast you'd ride to test a new set of cranks---fast enough to put some pressure on, but not enough to knock the chain off.

Ever watch boxers tap themselves in the forehead with a glove during a fight? They do it to get a sense of where everything is and what kind of control they still have in their hands. You can do something that serves a similar purpose. About eight to ten feet before you reach the bunnyhop box or stand, pick your front wheel up briefly and set it down. Just like a boxer, you're checking your ability to continue. If your grip is not right, or if your balance is off, you'll know. If that's the case, hit the brakes. If not, continue as follows.

Gripping your bars firmly, pull up until your front fork obscures your view of the box or bar in front of you. Your back wheel is still on the ground. From the side, this looks like a standing-up wheelie.

You may wish to keep a finger on the brake lever rather than fully grip your right handlebar. That's okay unless you feel yourself leaning over in midair because of the uneven pull. I tend to keep a finger on the lever for all but the toughest of hops.

Now is the time to push up on the pedals for all you're worth. Most riders who can not bunnyhop something are failing because their rear wheel, not their front wheel, is too low. Don't be afraid of falling over the bars; if you've pulled up hard enough on the bars, you'll stay behind them. You are going to level out over the box or other object as if you were race tucking. In midair, it should feel like staying low over a jump.

What follows is the most important part of the hop. You've tucked to pull that back wheel up. Now, untuck and lower the rear wheel first. Touch that rear wheel on the ground firmly before you even think about putting the front end down.

Why is it important? There is a myriad of reasons. Among them: Someday you're going to hop up onto something. It would hurt to hit your rear wheel on that something, but it would really, really hurt to hit your front wheel. This technique will let you hop up onto objects with a minimum of fuss.

Even if you're just hopping over something, it pays to land rear wheel first for the same reasons you'd prefer to land that way off a jump. You don't have to have your bars perfectly straight when you land rear wheel first. And it's easier to jump off the bike if something goes wrong. Okay?

The last reason for doing it is because it looks cooler. So you've done a cool-looking bunnyhop. Did you clear the box? Yes? Nutritious. But if you hit the box, set it back up and try again. If you knocked the bar out of your stand, replace it. Chances are that you will not always hop consistently. That's a good reason not to practice over something solid. The rider in the photos, pictured doing a twenty-one-inch hop, hit the bar several times. It was no muss, no fuss. Hitting a concrete curb or barrier is a lot tougher to deal with.

A few columns from now, we'll talk about basic street riding. In the meantime, work on your hops. Most teenaged riders should consider themselves skilled if they can regularly do twenty inch flyovers. At twenty-five inches, you've opened the door to a lot of street-riding opportunities you didn't know existed. At thirty-five inches, you're doing outdoor tables at the local fast-food joint.

Two things will really improve your hopping. One of those things is the construction of a bunnyhop stand. The other is calling up your riding buddies and challenging them to a competition. Throw a sticker apiece into the pot and see who hops highest. You can handicap better hoppers by subtracting a couple of inches from their totals. Before you know it, you'll be hopping like crazy. Which will strengthen your back and arms, and that will help your street riding.

We'll discuss streeting in the near future, but first I think I promised a discussion on frames and frame geometry. Don't miss it. And keep riding.

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