Can't Stop the Hop!

[madisongrrl]

My barrier skills are awful. Someone told me to get a piece of ribbon and a few metal coat hangers and set up some barriers in my backyard for practice.

[eteamer]

I don't know what the experts say about it, but I had the hop too when I started out. Basically what I did to stop it was to start the re-mount swing earlier. The reason you are hopping is that you are bringing your leg up and over at a time when you have no energy left from your push off with the left foot so the little hop is your body's way of generating little more umph. Think about this. When you are running your left foot hits the ground in front, then you bend your knee in preparation for the push off that drives you forward. Normally your right foot would be coming forward at the same time your left leg is 'coming back' after the push off. Well, instead of bringing the right leg forward for a running step you are re-mounting. That push off time is the moment when you start your remount. You use the energy from the spring action of your left leg's push off to bring your right leg up and forward for the remount. It's like you are doing a really funny walk step with your right leg. You are using some of the energy from your left leg's step to get you up and over the saddle. You can do it at any speed too. And the further you get your left leg forward the more time you have to do the re-mount. So if you take a big step and a do a big push off you can do a really slow re-mount, but it still works exactly the same.

[velogirl]

Excellent advice, eteamer! No one has ever described it that way. One of the things I did this fall was a running drill where I ran with the left and hurdled (like I was remounting) with the right. I somehow thought that would fix it but no. Ah well, keep trying.

I've got barriers to practice with. They're PVC tubing and portable so I can take them out in a bag to train. They're even UCI height (ugh). Barriers aren't an issue for me, just the darn hop.

[eteamer]

Just try it slow at first. I remember telling myself to 'WALK!' as I was learning it. Exagerate the whole process. Before you know it is second nature. You also need to remember what part of your body is aiming for the saddle. It's the inner thigh. Although, sometimes I still miss! I especially hate it when I land on the back tire.