On the steeper and slipperier hills it is also more critical that you stand up so as you have the ability to get more weight over the front of the bike if you need it to limit any big wheelies, but more importantly so you can get more traction. A lot of people think that you get more traction on uphills if you sit down. Well, actually that's wrong. Not only can you gain more traction by standing but you can also manage that traction much better. We like to call this the leveraging technique.

To do this the most effectively your goal is to have the front wheel just skimming across the ground or possibly pulling a very slight wheelie. In this position the total combined weight of you and your bike is being leveraged onto the rear tyre to provide maximum possible traction for the conditions present. This enables you to then use more power. You control the precise height of the front tyre by adjusting your body position - too high, move forward, too low, move back. Again, this technique allows you to apply maximum power and gain maximum traction for all conditions - the key is to be able to move your body weight to your advantage.

Sitting down doesn't allow you to do that anywhere near as effectively. When there is big variations in traction over a small distance you can get a better advantage in gaining traction by coordinating more aggressive pulling on the bars and the bouncing down of your body weight on the slipperier portions of trail. This leveraging technique is a little more tiring, and definitely way more forearm fatiguing but it provides you better ability to conquer the hill. If you didn't make it and get stuck on the hill because you were sitting, and thus were limited in making it over the top by the negative results associated with that seated position, well you're now going to expend a whole heap more energy trying to make it the rest of the way compared to what you would have used when standing up.

You can learn more about this technique and many others in the new DirtWise Advanced Instructional DVD - Volume #4 coming out in mid October 2012.  Visit www.shanewatts.com  for more information!

Keep on Roosting!
Shane Watts


discuss this tip in the Off-Road Riding Technique Forum

This post has been promoted to a wiki