One option is to turn in the air, while crossing a gap, and land
in a different direction that will allow a proper landing, or ease the next step. You can turn by twisting your whole body
from the waist up, before take off from a rear wheel position.
A spiralling extension
Move your hips off-centre from the bike as you kick.
Without support for the front tyre, you will have to launch a spiralling extension, trying to look back as your shoulders build up the spinning momentum. This is definitely not easy, but you will find this technique very useful for 90° turns, as a tactical change of direction or to reposition yourself to face a big drop.
Understanding the move
Kenny Belaey turns by 90 degrees.
Like for any plain pedal kick, balance over the rear wheel before you lower the front. As you kick, move off-centre from the bike, opposite your front foot to turn on the same side. Start your jump impulse by swinging the bars to your front foot side and build as much rotational inertia as you can with your hips and shoulders.Gap jump with a 180° twist
1° Like for any plain pedal kick, balance over the rear wheel before you lower the front.
2° As you kick, move off-centre from the bike, opposite your front foot to turn on the same side.
3° Start your jump impulse by swinging the bars to your front foot side and build as much rotational inertia as you can with your hips.
4° Finish up your extension with a twist of your hips, spiralling upward with your torso before you take-off the rear wheel.
5° In mid-air pull up the bike with you and follow your shoulders' rotation. Control the bike's rotation with your kicking leg fully stretched.
6° Then try to swing the bike in front of you before you land, using as much grip as you can from the pedals to land straight.
Getting a good start is essential
Don't wait to be in mid-air to pull on the handlebars. The whole turn is "programmed" during take-off. Turning 180° is the most difficult, but aim first at small angles up to
90 degrees to feel the move.
You can turn in both directions, though it is typically easier to turn on your front foot side because your weight distribution is not symmetrical
during the move, and you are already leaning on this side when you kick in the pedal. So it only takes a little extra effort to spin the bike along your stretched-leg axis.
Choose your side
Turning in the opposite direction (on your back foot side) is usually more difficult as you would be trying to rotate around an axis off-centred from your centre of gravity
and that makes it really weird for turns larger than 90 degrees, unless you perform the move backwards. It is important to build up enough rotational inertia during your jump impulse.
Then you can fine-tune your landing in a precise direction by realigning the bike more or less beneath you. Remember that the bike only represents about 10% the total mass moving
around (rider + bike), so it will follow pretty much any momentum you can build with body language during your take-off.
180° spin to front wheel
Aim to land your front wheel first.
Launching a pedal hop sideways from a trackstand position, parallel to a gap, you can add a twist to your transition with 180° of spin to land onto the other side, facing the opposite direction. Again for this move, turning on your front foot side will be easier as you can optimize your body language for momentum and weight transfer.
Turn on your front foot side
180° spin to front wheel
1° Align your wheels along the edge of the obstacle with the gap on your front foot side and maintain the trackstand until ready.
2° As you preload your front pedal, turn the bars away from the gap and lean your hips slightly off-balance over the gap.
3° Start your extension with a swing of the handlebars to initiate the rotation over the gap and as you kick your front pedal.
4° Finish up with a twist of your shoulders, spiralling upward in a turn to face the gap. In mid-air pull up the bike with you.
5° Spin the bike over your driving leg to complete the rotation while aiming the front wheel at the other side, front brake locked.
6° After initial touch-down with the front tyre, bring the rear wheel in line with the edge and land firmly on both wheels.
Some of the best riders out there land that technique on very narrow edges. Another cool option is to follow up with a wheel-swap to back wheel and carry on spinning. At this stage, you are wandering on the dark side of freestyle-tainted trials.