In BMX, it doesn’t matter how high you can jump if you can’t stick the landing.

Professional BMX riders T.J. Ellis, Ricky Moseley and Zack Warden spoke with STACK about the ideal landing spot on a ramp, how to keep momentum in order to transition smoothly to another jump and getting back up in case you crash.

Landing
T.J. Ellis: You want to land as high as you can on top of the landing and get in a good position to get pump for the next jump. It depends on what trick you want to do, too. If I’m going [from one] Back Flip to another, I want to have as much speed as I can, so I want to land high on top of the next landing and get as much pump as I can.

Transitioning
Ricky Moseley: Ramps have a roll on the top, so you want to land at the top of the roll. If you land right there, you don’t have to pump as hard to get to the next jump, because you have all the speed you’ll need. But if you case [come up short on the landing], you have to pump like crazy because you lose all your speed. And if you land flat [at the bottom of the ramp], then you are not going to make it [to the next jump].

Getting back up
Zack Warden: Every time I crash, a couple [of questions] go through my mind: Why did I crash? What caused the crash? After I determine that, I [try to fix it]. Sometimes I’d crash, and I’d [realize] I wasn’t high enough. So I’ll go back and I’ll [jump] higher. It takes a while for me to be like, “Let’s not do this,” because I’m hardheaded. I think it’s just determination. When you fall you want to get back up and try it again.