Starting on the rear wheel

To prepare any drop off, or to climb small steps, but ultimately, for jumping from one beam to another, you'll need to hop using more the crank than just your legs. The "pedal hop", or "pedal kick", is the solution. That's also a starter for plenty of very cool climbing moves. Here is how you should try.

Excellent for crossing all sorts of gaps
1° Start balancing on the back wheel, right on the edge to leave.	2° Lower slightly the front wheel to get extra torque and pulling margin.	3° Move your body forward while standing on the good pedal.
4° Give a strong pedal kick (a fast 1/4 turn) that sends you off the edge, in full extension	5° Time to fold back. Pull the bike upwards in front of you while folding up the knees to let the bike go up.	6° Touch down with full brakes on, and fold back on the bike to damp the impact and avoid a pinch flat.
Once landed, try to keep your balance above the bike. At the beginning, it's quite common to bounce back, if your body is too much behind the seat. Start on any street kerb and practice. See the move in a slow-motion video and with a mod bike.

Massive rail to rail gap by Joe (slow-motion video).	You can clearly see the extension in the videos. Also, to get extra distance, you must move the body forward just before the pedal kick. That brings your center of gravity further above the gap, before you even pedal kick. This makes the gap shorter than if you started from a balanced position above the rear hub.	Ramiro over some blocks
Also, by lowering the front wheel, moving forwards gives you more torque and power for the pedal kick, and compensates for the vertical inclination you'll get from it. Then you don't end up so much on the rear when you land. You can even boost your kick with a small bouncing effect on the rear wheel just before lowering the front wheel.

Wing uses a bouncing effect to boost the pedal hop.

pedal kick / drop off over a gap of water