Learning Double Back Flips (Terrifying): La Poma Bike Park

I think what surprised me the most was the silence. The silence after pedaling and pumping as hard you can and the second you lift off the ramp into the air you're left with nothing. Nothing but the sound of your wheels spinning and the recurring sight of the bright sky rotating past your eyes as you rotate not once, but twice. My first attempt at the double flip was the scariest thing I've tried. With no idea how it would feel, all you can do is fully commit and hope everything turns out right side up.

For many, the double backflip seems unattainable, it seems so difficult and so scary that only some of the best can do it. This is what I thought until I was allowed to try it on the airbag at La Poma bike park. It was then, that I realized that the hardest part is the commitment it takes, not that it's extremely difficult because it's not. With the right setup, I'm confident anyone who is already familiar with backflips can learn it. It really is just the same as a normal backflip, the only big difference is that you pull harder and earlier.



Step 1
Getting two rotations around is not easy, it requires a lot of speed to compensate for how hard you need to pull. It is much more dangerous to under-rotate and land on your neck than it is to over-rotate and land on your back. That being said, for a double backflip I learned to go as fast as possible as long as I'm still in a controlled manner. In the video that was me going as fast as I could.


Step 2
Secondly, one of the most commonly looked pasted considerations is how early you have to pull. Usually, for a single flip, you want to start pulling towards the last quarter of the ramp. For double flip you want to begin pulling around the halfway point. You do this because you want to load your weight on the back wheel so that by the time it leaves the ramp there is a release of pressure basically flicking you into the rotation.


Step 3
One of the more mentally challenging parts of the double flip is keeping your eyes looking behind you. You need to commit to both rotations and to do that you have to keep your head and eyes cocked back. Which is scary because you feel less controlled when you look behind you instead of in front of you.


Step 4
You want to keep your body in this tucked position because the second you start to stand up your rotation will slow.


Overview
That's basically it. Everything else is the same as a normal flip just go fast, pull early, keep your head looking back and your body tucked until you complete both rotations.