Video: Joey Gough's Process to Sending a 40 Foot Jump

Since I went to Audi Nines, people always say to me "oh these jumps must be easy/small after that!" but the big difference is the setting. At a big event you are surrounded by people you can watch jump everything so you can see it works and constantly analyse how to ride it yourself. There are people to follow, fellow riders to get you hyped and medics on hand if things go wrong.

When you ride at a quieter spot in the woods, or even a big bike park where everyone is spread out, it is totally different. Often only a small number of people have hit the biggest jumps, so like this day, there was no one I could follow or even watch do it first. In that scenario, it's down to me to calculate everything. How much speed do I need? how much pop do I need? Will the lip be kicky? Are the conditions good enough today? Is it worth the risk and does it really even work?!


I'd been here once before, but is was a couple of years back, this line was new to me and the 40ft jump didn't even exist then. It took me a few goes to go through the process. First I had to remember which jump was the last one before the big one! Then finding all the places I could pick up speed, trying to find a place where I could look up to get just a glimpse of the landing and get that feeling that yes, I have the speed and I can see myself doing it. If the run ups stop becoming useful and you are gaining no extra insight or feeling but you still keep stopping... then it's time to say not today. On the 4th run up, I felt it, everything clicked I knew it was on. I had no doubt I was hitting it on the next run.

It is really helpful to have other people around to follow and learn from when doing new jumps, but you should still be the one who makes the final calculations and decisions on whether to press send or not. Jumping something new with no one to guide you is the ultimate test of that. You are the only one who truly knows if you've "got it" and when you have confidence in your own judgements, your jumping progress rockets.

As with all my videos, this wasn't a "planned" video, just what happened on a day riding with my friends. Don't expect me to turn the camera on myself and start yakking, but if you enjoyed this you'd be more than welcome to come along for the ride on YouTube. Thanks to Lee Piper, Beth Bishop, Suzanne Lacey and all the other cool people I chatted to that day. Warley you were awesome, thank you!

Supported by: @GTBicycles, @BellBikeHelmets, Burgtec