IT’S TIME TO ATTACK
THE ATTACK POSITION IS BY FAR THE MOST IMPORTANT POSITION YOU NEED TO LEARN WHEN RIDING A DIRTBIKE. FROM CONQUERING ROUGH SECTIONS TO HITTING JUMPS AND RIDING THROUGH LONG DEEP RUTS, BEING COMFORTABLE AND STRONG WITHIN YOUR ATTACK POSITION IS A MUST.
START WITH THE FEET Our first point of contact with the bike is our feet. Our feet placement should be the ball of your foot on the footpegs. It is very common for riders to ride on the middle arch of their foot. Now, this isn’t necessarily the wrong way. However, it is far less efficient than being on the balls of your feet. Being on the balls of your feet gives you more feel and control of the bike by placing your centre of mass slightly further back.
Your feet should be as close as possible to the frame, with your toes pointing in and squeezing the bike for maximum control.
THE BEE’S KNEES
Next up, we have the knees. Our knees should be slightly bent while our shins remain vertical. Your knees should never travel forward in front of your toes when standing. A common problem I see with riders’ attack position is they stand very upright, causing the knees to be in front of their feet. This brings their weight too far forward in front of the centre of mass, causing a light rear-end and a very unsettled bike underneath you.
IT’S ALL IN THE HIPS
Having the correct hip position and being able to move your body around the dirt bike confidently is a must for building your confidence and comfort in the standing position. You must be able to differentiate between hinging at the hips and just rounding over from your lower back. When we hinge properly from the hips, we can maintain a nicely aligned back from the buttocks to the shoulders instead of looking like a humpback camel. When we have a good hip hinge, this allows us to utilise our
THE CHICKEN WINGS
Do you struggle to keep your elbows up?
Always tucked down by your sides? Maintaining the correct elbow position will give you more confidence and control of the front end. When our arms are dropped low by our side, we have weak control of the handlebar movements from side to side, forwards and backward during bumps and braking and accelerating. When the elbows are kept high, this gives us another point of the body to work like suspension and absorb the forces produced through the handlebars, just like our knees help absorb the up and down forces from the rest of the bike. Not to mention, when the elbows are kept high, it’s easier to keep the fingers on your controls at all times and place less strain on the wrists.
THE HEAD
Last but not least is the head position. Most importantly, your head should always be looking up and forward so we can have a clear vision well ahead of us. If you’ve done any coaching or read anything about vision on a dirtbike, you’ll know that you should always look ahead, at least 3–4 bike lengths in front of yourself. If you’ve done all of the above steps correctly, you should be able to look down and see that your chin piece of the helmet is directly above your bar pad or cross brace. If not, you may need to adjust yourself by hinging more or less at the hips, depending on where you’ve found yourself and what direction you need to go.
GETTING COMFORTABLE
Now, if your position was like this already, congratulations, you’re off to a great start. However, if this feels super foreign and uncomfortable for you, great. It’s time to go practise lap after lap until this becomes comfortable. Happy riding.