There are perfectly valid reasons for this:
1. Comfort
2.
Poor bike setup
3.
Concern about going over the bars (OTB)
Rotating your wrists forward and moving your elbows forward stabilises this position as it moves
the weigh and control up to the chest, which is
made up of stronger muscle groups. This position
can be maintained sitting in flowing smoother
trails or standing when the trails are rougher or
speed increases. If standing you can stand with
arms and legs a little straighter to make it more
comfortable and easier to maintain and then
sink a little lower for short periods when you need
that little extra stability.
Comfort
Normally the most comfortable position, especially for those new to mountain biking, is to ride
in what we call the “riding to the pub position”;
where you are sitting reasonably upright with arms
fairly straight. This is the most comfortable position
to cruise on fire trails but isn’t great for stability, as
your weight is mainly on your rear wheel.
Bike setup can make getting into a forward table
position easier if you try lowering your brake lePoor Bike Setup
vers a bit so that in a forward position you have
Often brake position and bar height are set for a straight line down your forearm through your
a comfortable ride to the pub position rather wrists and into your fingers. This will help promote
than stable riding. This will once again move your that natural forward position and take a lot of
weight backwards, impacting ride stability.
strain off your wrists compared to having levers in
a higher position.
OTB
Most people are concerned about going OTB To confirm you are in a more balanced position
and tend to move back to avoid it. Unfortunately, there are a couple of things you can do. If you
not weighting the front wheel properly actually in- are on a dual suspension bike and it is set up well,
creases the chances of an OTB. There is a culture when you bounce up and down the suspension
that came from old bikes with road geometry that should react evenly at both ends. The other thing
said you need to ride back on the bike on any- you can do is move forward ‘til you feel pressure
thing bumpy or downhill. With modern bikes these on your thumbs on the handlebars, and back til
days are over.
you feel pressure on your fingers on the handlebars - you are looking for that sweet spot in the
middle where you feel relaxed. Try this: Put the
So how do we get into this more stable position? magazine down, grab your bike and go cruise
around and get the feel of this position, if it’s new
The key to body position is to lean to a forward to you start on easy terrain until it feels natural
position where your chin is over your stem with and progress onto harder terrain.
your wrists rotated forward and elbows high with
your back flattening out. You can keep your bum Once you are comfortable with this new body
over or on the seat.
position, the next step is to work on relaxing and
letting the bike move around under you. If your
bike is moving your body around you are a passenger. If your body remains stable and it’s your
bike that moves as you go over rough ground,
then you are a rider. As the main time we fall off
a bike is when our body moves in an uncontrolled
direction, if we can get to the point where going into rough ground our body position is set and
stable and the bike doesn’t buck us around, we
are going to be safer, more stable, faster and
much smoother.
A common mistake when initially learning to move
your weight forward is the tendency to tuck your
elbows in and your wrists low. This puts you in an
unstable position as all your upper body movement is controlled and held with the triceps (small
muscle group at the back of your upper arm),
which doesn’t allow for a good range of movement and fatigue quite easily.
34
Time to go and put this together. Spend some
time, slow down, think about your position and
how you are moving on and with the bike. It may
take a bit of time to get comfortable with all this,
but it’s worth the time. Once you have it dialled,
your flow will improve and that feeling we spoke
about at the beginning of this article will only get
better! Want some help with your riding ? Visit our
website www.dynamicmotivation.com.au