Webmaster posted on February 17, 2010 13:16
Over the last few months we have covered the six key points of being in the correct standing position and the huge benefits associated with executing these correctly. To make sure that you are in the correct position the easiest way to do this is to practice it in the garage on your bike whilst it is up on a stand. You should also practice moving from front to back with your body while the bike is in this stationary position. Next you would want to go out to a flat paddock and ride around at a slow pace to not only get comfortable with this positioning but to also learn the skills of operating the controls smoothly while standing, especially when you get in the full body extension positions to the front and rear of the motorcycle. This is critical to be able to operate the controls when your butt is touching the end of the rear fender or your head is in line with the forward tip of the front fender. The more the advanced the trail situation the more the need their will be for you to move further forward and/or back on the motorcycle. This exaggerated body movement, and your ability to effectively utilize it, allows you the opportunity to greatly increase your chances of successfully conquering these advanced situations.
Next would be for you to move onto an exercise like the “Stop and Go”, where you ride along and gently come to a stop using both front and rear brakes while leaning to the rear of the bike, then move your body position to the central position on the motorcycle while stopped for a moment before then leaning over the front of the motorcycle and accelerating away. This body movement helps to counteract the forces of the deceleration and acceleration, not only allowing you to conserve energy but also to slow down and speed up much quicker and easier. As you get more comfortable and skilled with performing this exercise you would then start to practice this in a more advanced setting such as doing it up and down a slope. The steeper the uphill the further you will need to position your body over the front of the bike when accelerating, but not as far to the rear of the bike when decelerating. Vice versa for a downhill situation.
From there you would transition this exercise into a gully situation (steep downhill, short flat ground transition, then steep uphill) where you need to combine smooth, controlled full body extension movement on the motorcycle with excellent use of the controls; brakes, throttle, clutch, and steering. Start off with an easier gully and then work your way along to the steeper, more challenging portions of the gully situation, that also have less transition between the down and up hill. By increasing the technicality of your training exercises in small increments, the better the learning experience and results will be for you. Doing this allows you to remain as safe as possible while making it easier for you to push your skill limits into the next zone, and enables you to build upon the soaring confidence that you are gaining. Once you are comfortable, confident, and skilled at one level it is time then to push to the next level by continually challenging yourself and making progress in as safe an environment as possible. This holds true for no matter what the rider’s skill level is from beginner right through to highly advanced. All that is different between these two is the level of the trail situation that it is applied to.