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A natural progression from learning
how to pedal kick is to learn to "shoot the gap."
It is very common in higher level competition to be required
to traverse some distance by using a rear wheel move. Like
many other moves in trials, shooting a big gap is just as
much a mental obstacle as a physical one.
Obviously, the key to this move is knowing how to lurch
(pedal kick) very well. If you haven't gotten that down
yet, keep at it and don't wory about gapshoots quite yet.
If you are confident in your skills, go for it.
One of the best things to learn on, other than lines on
flat ground, woud be curbings surrounding a small bit of
grass. We have found many examples of this around town,
often in parking lots. If you look, you'll probably even
find ones with varying degrees of distance: we know of one
that very nicely goes from just a few feet to well over
8. The best thing about these is that they give you a concrete
(pardon the pun) reference for how far you are going, and
if you are properly hitting your marks, all with no risk.
Ideal learning, in my opinion.
In most situations, the best approach to lurching across
a gap is the "One and Go." By that, we mean that
you will line up the front wheel to the edge of the gap,
steady yourself (with your good foot forward), do one good
pedal kick to get your front wheel into the air and move
the bike forward enough to position your rear wheel as close
to the edge as possible, then do one more forceful pedal
to shoot across the gap.
A few key things to keep in mind: 1.) Remember that the
position of your front wheel largely affects how far you
will go. For a big gap, you will need to drop your front
wheel quite a bit, sometime close to parallel with the ground.
2.) Doing many small hops on an edge, while it looks cool,
robs you of momentum. 3.) If you are shooting to something
that is not at the same height as what you start from, you
will need to make adjustments. Obviously, if the target
is higher, you will need to be much more agressive with
your body motions (more lift in the arms and legs) and will
need to travel farther.
There might come a point when the gap you need to get across
is simply too big. This is when you will alter your style
a bit and aim to land on your bashguard. This is actually
more difficult than going to the rear wheel, and on a stock
bike, maintaining your balance once you hit is quite tricky.
I wouldn't advise practicing this on concrete structures,
it really beats up your bike. Try not to lock your real
wheel in the air, because you will often need slack in the
drivetrain to help push your pedal forward to plant it.
Finally, remember that the goal here is precision. It's
ok to go farther than you need to in most situations, but
sometimes you really need to stick a landing point (you
can see this in several video clips). Concentrate on getting
that rear wheel positioned well, close to the edge on takeoff,
and just inside the target on landing (preferably with your
hub a few inches inside the edge). If you do this from the
start, it will be much easier to gap from two narrow objects.
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