I mountain bike about 4 times a week. I like to do jumps, but I wear a water backpack. I wear it because I find that a water bottle doesn't hold enough water for me to do a long ride without having to stop to refill. My backpack holds about 100 oz of water, plus a multi tool, sunscreen, bug spray, my phone and keys, and maybe a snack or two. This means that it is heavy. I would guess that when full it is about 20 pounds. My friends tell me to take it off when doing jumps, but I find that it feels a bit awkward to take it off because I lose a significant amount of weight from doing so.

I haven't noticed any sort of difference in how easy it is to clear a given jump when my backpack is on/off, but the technique I use definitely is different when I am wearing a backpack because it adds 20 pounds hanging off my back.

Does wearing a backpack actually make jumping easier, or does it just make it more comfortable? Does anyone know of a different solution to carry both a good amount of water and tools without needing a backpack?

EDIT: I forgot to say that my backpack has two straps, one that buckles at chest level and one that buckles at waist level, although no matter how tight I make it the bag still flops around due to all the tools and just stuff in general that I store in it.

I mountain bike about 4 times a week. I like to do jumps, but I wear a water backpack (water bladder, camelbak, whatever you'd like to call it). I wear it because I find that a water bottle doesn't hold enough water for me to do a long ride without having to stop to refill. My backpack holds about 100 oz of water, plus a multi tool, sunscreen, bug spray, my phone and keys, and maybe a snack or two. This means that it is heavy. I would guess that when full it is about 20 pounds. My friends tell me to take it off when doing jumps, but I find that it feels a bit awkward to take it off because I lose a significant amount of weight from doing so.

I haven't noticed any sort of difference in how easy it is to clear a given jump when my backpack is on/off, but the technique I use definitely is different when I am wearing a backpack because it adds 20 pounds hanging off my back.

Does NOT wearing a backpack actually make jumping easier, or does it just make it more comfortable? Does anyone know of a different solution to carry both a good amount of water and tools without needing a backpack?

EDIT: I forgot to say that my backpack has two straps, one that buckles at chest level and one that buckles at waist level, although no matter how tight I make it the bag still flops around due to all the tools and just stuff in general that I store in it.

I mountain bike about 4 times a week. I like to do jumps, but I wear a water backpack. I wear it because I find that a water bottle doesn't hold enough water for me to do a long ride without having to stop to refill. My backpack holds about 100 oz of water, plus a multi tool, sunscreen, bug spray, my phone and keys, and maybe a snack or two. This means that it is heavy. I would guess that when full it is about 20 pounds. My friends tell me to take it off when doing jumps, but I find that it feels a bit awkward to take it off because I lose a significant amount of weight from doing so.

I haven't noticed any sort of difference in how easy it is to clear a given jump when my backpack is on/off, but the technique I use definitely is different when I am wearing a backpack because it adds 20 pounds hanging off my back.

Does wearing a backpack actually make jumping easier, or does it just make it more comfortable? Does anyone know of a different solution to carry both a good amount of water and tools without needing a backpack?

I mountain bike about 4 times a week. I like to do jumps, but I wear a water backpack. I wear it because I find that a water bottle doesn't hold enough water for me to do a long ride without having to stop to refill. My backpack holds about 100 oz of water, plus a multi tool, sunscreen, bug spray, my phone and keys, and maybe a snack or two. This means that it is heavy. I would guess that when full it is about 20 pounds. My friends tell me to take it off when doing jumps, but I find that it feels a bit awkward to take it off because I lose a significant amount of weight from doing so.

I haven't noticed any sort of difference in how easy it is to clear a given jump when my backpack is on/off, but the technique I use definitely is different when I am wearing a backpack because it adds 20 pounds hanging off my back.

Does wearing a backpack actually make jumping easier, or does it just make it more comfortable? Does anyone know of a different solution to carry both a good amount of water and tools without needing a backpack?

EDIT: I forgot to say that my backpack has two straps, one that buckles at chest level and one that buckles at waist level, although no matter how tight I make it the bag still flops around due to all the tools and just stuff in general that I store in it.