Body Positioning

Your lower body steers the bike; your upper body manages balance and vision. A neutral, athletic stance makes the bike track straight and frees your hands for the controls.

Standing does three things sitting can't:

• Your legs become suspension. When the bike hits a rock, your knees and hips absorb the hit and your body stays still. Seated, the hit goes through the seat into your back and the bike bucks you. Cycle World puts it this way: standing "turns you into a dynamic part of your bike rather than just dead weight."
• The bike can move under you. In rocks and roots the bike has to pitch, twist and step sideways. If you're standing loosely over it, it can. If you're sitting on it, every movement throws you.
• You see further. Your eyes are higher. Jarrod Bewley, an outright winner of the Australian 4-Day Enduro, told Transmoto that standing "extends your vision, meaning you can look further through a corner".

Cody Webb, a SuperEnduro world champion, told Dirt Rider that when he has to sit in the rocks, "I always try to stand up again as soon as possible because I'm in more control standing."

This is the position you return to between every move. Riders call it the attack position. Dirt Rider's definition, from motocross instructor Dean Olsen, is short: "balls of your feet on the pegs, legs bent, head over the bar."

• Feet. Balls of your feet on the pegs, toes pointing forward. That lets your ankles work and keeps your toes clear of rocks: the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) advises keeping "the balls of your feet on the footrests so your toes do not hang below the level of the motorcycle frame." The ball of your right foot also puts your toe over the brake pedal.
• Lower legs and knees. Grip the bike with your lower legs and knees. Bewley says "gripping the bike with your calves while standing helps keep the rear-end from kicking sideways."
• Knees and hips. Bent, like an athlete ready to move. Stand up with your legs, not by pulling on the bars. Bewley: "use your legs to push yourself into the standing position". Cross Training Enduro adds a cue: bend your legs but keep your lower legs vertical. That puts your hips towards the back of the bike for traction, and the work goes mainly to your quads.
• Back. Flat, leaning forward from the hips so your weight is over the pegs, not behind them.
• Elbows. Bent and slightly out, so your arms can move with the bars.
• Hands. Light. You hold the bars; you don't hang on them. Webb: "Most of my weight's on the pegs. I'm not pushing on the grips."
• Head and eyes. Head roughly over the bars, eyes up and well ahead. The MSF's advice is simple: "Look well ahead on the trail."

A useful test: on smooth ground, relax your grip for a moment. You shouldn't tip forward or back. If you do, your weight is in the wrong place.

The neutral position is where you start. Terrain moves you forward, back or sideways from it.

Climbing. Move forward. The steeper the hill, the more your chest goes over the bars. The MSF advises that for steep hills you "stand on the footrests and lean well over the front wheel in order to shift as much weight forward as possible." Too far back and the front lifts and wanders off line. Keep your knees bent so your legs can still absorb ledges and roots.

This matters most on long, steady climbs. Rich Larsen, who coaches hard enduro and presents IRC Tire's riding videos, warns that riding a steady incline in the hips-back motocross attack position will tire you in the first 100 feet and bring on arm pump. On a steady climb, Larsen moves much further forward: inches off the seat, pushing down through the pegs on the balls of the feet, knees ahead of the toes. Larsen's test: "You should never feel as if you're hanging from the handlebars."

Descending. Move back. The MSF's advice when descending is to "transfer your weight to the rear." Push your hips back behind the pegs, keep your knees bent and your arms bent enough to steer. Your legs, not your arms, resist the bike pitching forward under braking. Grip with your knees so you don't slide forward. The front brake lesson explains why.

Both are covered in more depth in hill climbs and descents.

Move your hips to steer; let the front wheel find grip. At trail speed you steer a dirt bike as much with your feet as your hands.

• Inside peg to turn in. Pressing on the inside peg tips the bike into the turn. The Trials Training Center teaches it as "steering with your feet": "Initiate the turn using footpeg pressure, by pushing the inside peg to make the bike lean." Bewley calls it "footpeg steering".
• Outside peg for grip. Once the bike is turning, weight on the outside peg loads the tyres into the ground and keeps you balanced while the bike leans under you. Dirt Bike Magazine's full-lock turn drill has you "weighting the outside peg". Outside-peg pressure also stands the bike up as you leave the turn.
• Knees. Squeezing with your knees keeps the bike straight in rough ground. Russ Pearson, a Hare and Hound champion, told Dirt Rider that in rock fields "you should be standing and gripping the bike with your legs."
• Bars. Light hands let the front wheel follow the ground. Fighting every deflection with your arms just tires them.

There's a balance here. Grip too hard and the bike can't move under you. Webb's advice in the rocks: "I never try to grip too much in the rocks; you have to let the bike dance a little bit sometimes underneath you." Grip when you need the bike to stay straight. Loosen when it needs to move.

Sit with purpose on long, smooth sections to rest, not because you're collapsing. Good reasons to sit:

• Recovery. A smooth fire road or easy trail is the time to rest your legs and breathe.
• The tightest, slowest turns. Daniel Milner, an Australian A4DE winner, told Transmoto that it's only "around the really tight corners" that he'll "even consider sitting."
• Small hills. The MSF's advice for small hills is to shift your weight forward "by sliding forward on the seat", which keeps the front down and on line.
• Getting unstuck. Webb puts weight on the seat to get out of trouble in rocks, then stands again as soon as he can.

Where to sit. Cross Training Enduro's advice is to sit with your backside in line with the footpegs, usually right at the front of the seat. Keep your elbows up and out, and keep your toes on the pegs so your boots don't point down into the terrain.

Bad reasons to sit: fatigue you could have trained for, or fear of a section. If you find yourself sitting through terrain you'd stand for when fresh, that's a fitness problem. The strength and mobility lesson helps.

Start on easy, open ground. Every drill is about feeling where your weight is.