Bike Positioning for Mountain Biking

Video Transcript

Hi, my name is Debbie and I will be talking about bike positioning. There are three basic bike positions while you’re trail riding. The first is whenever you are not pedaling, you want to keep your pedals level, meaning one foot in front of the other. When you are seated and pedaling, its okay to have one foot down and rest momentarily. Most of the time you want to be up off your saddle, back a bit, and pedals level. When your pedals are level, your weight is balanced and you have more control over your bike. When you’re out of your saddle, you have more control over your bike and can move around easier and stay balanced. The two other positions are for descending and climbing. When you’re descending you want to be behind your saddle. You want your behind behind your saddle, not up above the saddle. This is to keep you from going over the handlebars. The opposite is true of climbing. When you’re climbing, you want to be able to scoot forward, bend down and bend your elbows so that you have your weight more balanced over both wheels. The hardest thing about climbing is keeping your back wheel from spinning, and your front wheel from doing a high-ho-silver. The best thing is to remember to stay loose, keep your hands loose on the handlebars. You don’t want a death grip on your handlebars. Stay out of your saddle as much as you can for control, and keep in mind that you are always shifting and making minor adjustments to your body position to stay balanced to negotiate the obstacles you find on the trail. Level pedals, butt back, spin and have fun.

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