When you look at the seat on a motocross bike, it’s pretty long. But you only need to use about half of it. The front half.

Motocross proverb #1——motocross is won in the corners.

Corners: the only place you really need to sit down, or when you are on the starting line waiting for the gate to drop. The rest of the time you need to be standing up.

There are two body positions in motocross: standing up and sitting down.

You sit in the corners……Stand up everywhere else.

If you watch faster riders at the track, you will see they practice these techniques.

When you sit up on the front part of the seat, close to the tank, you’ll put more weight on the front wheel. The shifting of your weight forward helps the front wheel stick in the corners. As you exit a corner, begin standing up and shift your weight to the rear. Stand up tall, don’t squat.

When you stand up and shift your weight to the rear of the bike, you get maximum traction, because most of your weight is over the rear wheel.

Put your bike on your stand and climb aboard. Stand up tall with your hands on the bars. Stand up with your legs straight. Then bend your knees slightly. Don’t try to squat or crouch, it just makes your legs cramp and you’ll get tired sooner. Squeeze your knees to the seat/tank junction.

This will enable you to control the bike in the air, through whoops or anywhere on the track. With your bike on the stand, alternate from standing to sitting and back. If you sit down too far back, slide up to the tank with your elbows up into the attack position. Use this technique to familiarize yourself with the standing/sitting transition.

Standing——squeeze the tank sitting——-outside peg weighted and push against the tank with your outside leg. Try to put some weight on the outside peg. Use your inside leg for balance……By sliding it on the ground, lifting your leg up underneath the handlebars or just keep your foot on the peg. Lean forward with your head over the bars. Look forward, up the track, not down at the fender.

Don’t ride bowlegged.

Don’t ride in a crouching position.

Your thigh muscles are the largest muscles in your body. When you stand up, you are using those muscles as extra suspension. You can absorb the hard landing from bigger jumps if you are standing up when you land, those big muscles will flex and soften the landing, working in conjunction with your suspension. Try landing while sitting down and you’ll only do it once.

If you ride sitting down all of the time, you won’t benefit from the ability to change the center of gravity on your bike. And you won’t be able to ride the rough parts of the track without slowing down. It may take some time to adjust to standing up more, but your body will appreciate it and your lap times will reflect it. Now, start standing up !!!!!!!