Body positioning for dirt riding︱Cross Training Enduro 

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Body positioning from crosstrainingen... How and when you move around makes a huge difference to your dirt riding, so start standing on the pegs and get moving! We cover cornering, uphills, downhills, traction and more in this enduro dirt riding techniques video featuring Ruben Chadwick. Body positioning is also critical for endurocross skills as it has a trials base. See www.wdtc.org.au... for a full list of our enduro training tutorials.
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Body position accounts for much of trials technique - with such light bikes where and how you move your body has a huge impact on what the bike does. This happens less with a heavier enduro bike, but it is still a critical part of good riding technique. When tackling technical terrain on a dirt bike, many of these trials strategies for body positioning. Cross training is the application of trials techniques to dirt riding and it can make a huge difference!
LEGS & ARMS
First, you will be standing on the footpegs as much as possible in technical terrain. There are many situations when sitting on the seat is best for dirt riding such as:
- conserving energy on an easy section
- through the apex of a flat corner
- paddling through extremely rough terrain
- the terrain is too challenging for you to stand on the pegs.
If you are new to dirt riding you will probably need to sit down at first until you master the basic skills. But once you've covered the basics, there is no excuse for continuing to always sit on your bike if you want to improve your riding.
You should always have your legs and arms bent to act as shock absorbers. As things get faster and rougher, you will crouch more into what is often called the attack position and this is a standard dirt bike riding position. Most of the time you will be hugging the bike with your legs for extra stability. But some situations require your legs well apart and your boots about an inch away from the bike. If you are doing full lock turns, this allows you to lean the bike over which results in a tighter turn. Also, if the front wheel could be deflected in rocky or slippery terrain, having your legs apart increases your chances of being able to keep the bike going.
If there is poor traction up a hill then you will put more weight to the rear for extra traction. It's common to see riders lose traction on hill climbs because they keep their weight too far forward.
BALANCE
When riding your body position will usually be neutral and balanced - you can always check your balance by taking your hands of the handlebars and see if you move forward or backward. Obviously this means to stay balanced you will lean forward on hill climbs and lean back on descents.
There are times you focus your weight to the rear. When riding in soft sand you need to keep the front wheel light to prevent it sinking. When riding on rocks you want to keep the front light so that have more chance of recovery if the front wheel is deflected.
HANDS & WRISTS
On any modern bike the clutch and front brake should be easy enough to use with only one finger. Ideally you should always ride this, as the trials riders do. Fatigue often sets in for less experienced riders because you are gripping harder than you need to. You should only need to hang on tight while the bike is bouncing around a lot - remind yourself to hold the bars loosely the rest of the time. Your wrists should be straight when standing on the footpegs, so adjust your levers to suit.
REAR BRAKE
Your foot should always be covering the rear brake for immediate use. Trials riders often teach themselves this by riding with the rear brake constantly on, but just varying it to suit the conditions - it's not a bad idea for cross training too.
BODY POSITION WHEN SITTING
As explained in other sections, cross training will focus on having you stand on the footpegs most of the time. However, there are times sitting on the seat is better, or you are simply too buggered. Most of the time you will want your crotch as close to the fuel tank as possible - that's why all modern dirt bikes have seats that go so far forward. The only time you will slide back on the seat is for monster hill climbs you will need to paddle up, and accelerating hard out of corners so you get weight over the rear wheel for traction.
You can view a cross training video on body positioning here.