When I come close to a curb or something to hop onto it, I just stop and jump. Should I be making a few tiny hops before my big jumps? It seems so much harder that way.
Oh yeah, and another thing, I kinda suck at hopping/jumping with my left foot forward, or just hopping to the right. Should it take a long time to get used to hopping both ways like that?
Pre-hops
Prehopping is a good technique to learn, and can help you to get into position when the cranks are vertical if they need to be more horizontal. Having said that, when I learned to jump up curbs, I found that the best way to approach it was on a diagonal line towards it, and you vary the angle and hop when you feel its just right. After a while you get the hang of approaching it in a strong position and you no longer need to think about it. With a 24x3" Gazzaloddi, hopping up gutters is optional, you can just take your weight off the seat and ride up, and you hardly feel a bump. My prehop technique sucks, and I have only just started working on it, along with sidehops. When watching some other riders I notice how fluent and balanced their prehops look and it looks to be a useful skill. Up until recently I never practised standstills before jumping either, I always did rolling hops. It’s interesting to try out the different ways, as well as varying the direction of your jumps and which foot is back etc.