Getting front of bike off the ground -- tips?

[pinkbikes]

I was taught another way - I figure you try anything and see what works for you!

The way I was taught starts pretty much the same. Bending forward in a nice "attack position" with elbows nice and bent at about right angles and shoulders low, you push DOWN on the handlebars and then pop them up with your elbows bent. You sort of use the arms like springs. And use the bounce to help you lift up. (Tip for the uncoordinated like me - try this without the log first!)

Even if you don't have front suspension, if you are running fattish tyres at a lowish pressure, you will get some bounce out of them. This will pop the front of the bike up.

When you do pop it up, don't try to pop it OVER! You want your front wheel to land on top (or just behind the top) of what you are going over. This way you can use the momentum of rolling down the other side to pull your back wheel over too. If you try to pop your front wheel all the way over it to the ground on the other side, you have very little time to unweight your back wheel before it hits the object and you are likely to stop dead with a wheel on each side! It'll take a bit of experimenting (and probably falling over like a gumby if I am anything to go by) to get the timing right!

Happy experimenting!