3.5-meter-high platform freestyle mountain biking "tabletop jump" – Chinese Taipei rider wins Red Bull Jump Award

   On October 5, the 2014 China Changxing Downhill International Invitational was held at the Chengshangou Downhill Culture Theme Park in Heping Town, Changxing County, Zhejiang Province. Seventy-eight riders from France, Switzerland, Italy, China, and the Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions participated. The most thrilling part of the competition — the Red Bull Jump event — also crowned its champion that day. Jiang Sihan from the XDS Little Bear Bicycle Team of Chinese Taipei won the Red Bull "Jump" trophy with high scores from the judges in the third round for his high-difficulty move of taking both feet off the bike mid-air, and also received a 5,000-yuan prize for the individual event.

   Shao Yikai, an elite group rider and the course designer from Chinese Taipei, said that the design of this downhill race track referred to UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) standards in terms of elements such as berms, rollers, and drop-offs. According to the introduction, the downhill race track is approximately 2.1 kilometers long with an elevation drop of about 260 meters, featuring sections such as jungle drop-offs, continuous S-curves, undulating terrain, tabletop jumps, and double S-curves. Riders have to navigate through forests, tea plantations, high platforms, wooden bridges, bamboo groves, and steps while avoiding obstacles like tree branches and rock clusters to reach the finish line as quickly as possible.

   Jiang Shengshan, the elite group champion who is 20 years old and has five or six years of downhill experience, said that the most challenging part of the course is the forest section near the elite group starting point. "The difficulty is tricky — the gaps between trees are very narrow, and in some places the handlebars of the bike can barely fit through, so riders need to control their braking and speed well. Going too slow won’t build enough momentum, but going too fast can easily lead to a crash if you scrape something."

   The most attractive part of this international invitational for both riders and spectators was the Red Bull Jump freestyle downhill performance event. In this event, riders leap from a 3.5-meter-high platform and perform stunts in mid-air, commonly referred to in the industry as "tabletop jumps." Shao Yikai, one of the designers of the jump course, explained that the difficulty of the event depends not only on the distance of the jump but also on the height, meaning how many meters the drop is. The Red Bull Jump performance event features a 3.5-meter-high platform, with a horizontal gap of about 4 meters between the platform and the wooden ramp in front. Riders need to cover approximately 8 meters of air from takeoff to landing. "This might currently be the farthest and highest in all of China, embodying the spirit of extreme downhill. At this height, even just jumping down would scare some people, let alone speeding down on a bike and performing stunts in mid-air," Shao Yikai said. Riders standing on the high platform can't even see where they’ll land, giving them a feeling of flying. "The scary part is overcoming the mental challenge — actually, the landing slope and braking distance we’ve prepared below are more than sufficient."

   Zhao Hang, the commentator at the Jump event, is also a former cyclist and has over a decade of experience as a cycling race judge. Zhao Hang believes that besides the difficulty presented by the height and span, the biggest challenge of this Jump track is that the platform isn’t straight — riders need to turn slightly after takeoff to land on a diagonal curve, which tests whether they can choose their landing point and maintain balance in mid-air. Moreover, after landing and exiting the curve, there’s very little acceleration distance on the wooden ramp, and the surface is loosely laid, making it easy for riders to slide off the saddle and lose control.

   Considering the difficulty and danger of the competition, the organizers had intense discussions about the judging criteria beforehand. To ensure rider safety, only the top 10 from the elite group and the top 2 from the public group were allowed to sign up, and they could still choose to opt out. Many other riders, although eager to try, were persuaded not to. In the end, five outstanding riders from the elite group of the international downhill invitational decided to take on the challenge. They were Jiang Shengshan, Jiang Sihan, and Fan Zhizong from Chinese Taipei, and Xue Weihao and Jiang Siyuan from China. The Jump performance judges consisted of five representatives, including officials, Red Bull China, and public judges. Each rider was allowed up to two practice jumps, with the third counting toward their score. The highest possible score was 5 points — a stable landing would earn 3 points, with an additional 0.5 points for each impressive stunt. Riders could also choose to have any one of their jumps scored as their final result.

   "For safety reasons, we don’t encourage riders to attempt certain moves — landing safely is the priority," Shao Yikai said. "But we can’t stop these passionate downhill riders. Some aerial stunts might appear during the competition, like leveling the bike, tail whips, or handlebar flips — those big moves."

   Even before the competition began, several riders preparing to take on the Jump were already at the edge of the platform, gesturing with their hands, calculating the jump trajectory and possible mid-air maneuvers in their heads. The nearby dirt slopes and vegetable fields were packed with riders and local villagers eager to witness the extreme leaps. Even before it started, the atmosphere was electric.

   At the pre-competition athlete briefing, judges repeatedly emphasized that the most important aspect of this event was safety — only stable landings would score points. But nothing could dampen the downhill riders’ passion for self-challenge. In the first round of practice jumps, all five riders showed off high-difficulty stunts.

   In the first round, Fan Zhizong from Chinese Taipei was the first to go. He pedaled, launched off the platform, flew through the air, and performed a one-handed stunt, drawing applause from the crowd. As a sport that requires excellent balance, riders normally grip the handlebars with both hands when airborne for maximum stability. Releasing one hand suddenly risks instant loss of balance — that’s the challenge of this stunt. By pulling off a one-handed move on his first try, Fan not only set the tone for pushing limits in the competition but also put pressure on the riders who followed.

   Indeed, Jiang Sihan from the XDS Little Bear Bike Team was next. He pedaled, launched, and while airborne, leveled the bike horizontally — a smooth and stylish move that ended with a stable landing. Next up was Jiang Siyuan, nicknamed the "Hangzhou Cycling God" by many riders. During the elite downhill race, he had impressively corrected his bike’s trajectory mid-S-curve through a bamboo and tea plantation just before going off-course. But his first Jump attempt was relatively conservative — a standard bike lift with raised handlebars. Though less difficult and involving minimal body movement, the move still demonstrated control considering the curve angle rather than a straight slope leap.

   The fourth to jump was 18-year-old Xue Weihao, who had already won several championships this year and is known for the small elephant on his helmet. In his first attempt, he performed a tail whip — swinging the rear of the bike to one side using his waist — marking the first tail whip of the competition.

   Finally, Jiang Shengshan from the Giant team, the elite race champion, appeared. Already having secured one title, he looked relaxed and executed a smooth horizontal airborne maneuver, landing perfectly into the entrance curve. Amid gasps from the spectators on the hillside, all five riders landed stably in their first attempts.

   The second round of jumps then began. Fan Zhizong once again led off with his one-handed stunt, but this time he went even bolder. At the peak of his jump, he fully relaxed his left arm, pressing it vertically against his left leg as the bike followed a parabolic arc into the landing ramp — a clean and effortless execution.

   Jiang Sihan, following him, seemed determined to match or top him. Performing the same one-handed stunt, Jiang kept his arm level with his shoulder, fingers pointing to the sky, coolly executing a variation of the same trick with a different style — smooth and relaxed.

   Jiang Shengshan jumped third, leaning forward and lowering his body to tilt the bike more than in his first attempt. This time, he chose to count this move as his official score.

   Xue Weihao jumped fourth again, and with experience from his first attempt, his second tail whip was much larger, using his waist strength to carve a beautiful arc before landing steadily.

   As the first four riders showed clear improvement, luck didn’t favor Jiang Siyuan. Perhaps due to limited practice with freestyle tricks in his usual downhill racing, Jiang made a mistake on his second attempt — failing to lift the handlebars properly and landing close to the edge of the wooden ramp, causing a collective gasp from the audience. Fortunately, it ended without incident.

   Aside from Jiang Sihan and Fan Zhizong, the other riders used their second-round scores as their final results. Thanks to superior jump height and action stability, Jiang Shengshan temporarily led the standings after two rounds.

   The third and final round featured only Fan Zhizong and Jiang Sihan. Fan went first. After launching, he released one hand mid-air, leaned forward attempting to touch the front wheel, but didn’t make contact before landing. This move requires shifting the rider’s center of gravity forward and strong bike control — even without touching the wheel, the difficulty level is already extremely high.

   Jiang Sihan followed as the final rider. Just as the commentator said, "We wonder if Jiang Sihan will pull off a new move at the last moment," Jiang took off with the bike, kicked his legs out to the sides mid-air, left the pedals, and gripped the handlebars with both hands alone — executing the high-difficulty "both-feet-off" stunt. Amid cheers from riders and spectators, Jiang won the Red Bull Jump trophy and 5,000 RMB in cash with this daring move.

   After the competition, Jiang Sihan said, "Jiang Shengshan was still leading after two rounds. I thought if I didn’t pull off something big, I might not win." In fact, it was only the fourth time he’d performed this move, as it’s not used in regular downhill racing. At his final jump, he felt "the moment was right" and decided to "go for it." Commenting on this flawless move, Zhao Hang said, "Imagine — a bike flying is already hard, then letting go of both feet, relying only on your hands to find balance in mid-air. It shows Jiang Sihan’s overall skill is exceptional. His three jumps tested one-handed riding, horizontal flight, and both-feet-off techniques, demonstrating excellent hand and leg control and balance."