HOW TO BIKE
EPISODE 3
Eyes up, elbows out, knees slightly bent. You've heard it all before. But what does that all really mean and is it all necessary? Ben Cathro breaks down body position and explains how he came up with his very own philosophy: The Boss Stance.
0:00 - Intro
2:15 - Eyes Up
2:34 - Elbows Out
3:12 - Knees Bent
4:21 - Heels Down
5:19 - Weight Centered
7:06 - Advanced Weight Distribution
104 Comments
I didn't realise this until I started videoing myself practicing and once I did I spent six months stretching twice a day and doing some of Lee Likes Bikes hip hinge strength moves (from the recent Joy of Bike YT vids) and generally working on my hamstring flexibility.
Nothing has made more of a difference to my riding than doing that, suddenly I can get my weight back far enough for manuals easily, stay centred in the bike properly and my heals drop naturally now, rather than being something I have to concentrate on doing. I really can't recommend working on your hip hinging enough if you don't already have that flexibility. It felt like the missing foundational step to so many of the skills to me.
Once you're aware of it you can instantly spot the good riders, they all have that great flat back riding position.
Since I'm a master at this technique, I should create a counter video to Ben's unhelpful nonsense.
Try it on some flowy tracks you're comfortable with to get you a bit further forward, then put them back to normal when you feel comfortable in the central/neutral position on the bike
So, a big press on the F&R suspension works with drops where you have to travel distance to the landing, a tiny press (and I really mean tiny, so tiny it might be quite literally shifting your bodyweight to your heels rather than having flat feet, but even with this being a tiny movement it initiates the front being unweighted) on tall/big/steep/fast drops to establish control.
The other thing that Ben kinda touches on is 'being fluid and moveable', but what he doesn't say directly that I do when I coach is that - as you come in to land, or AS you land, that is when you're moving back into that central position so you're ready for whatever comes next. You pull whatever body position you 'need' to do to get off the drop so that both wheels will land roughly at the same time, but you're really trying to make sure you're back to the 'Boss Stance' immediately.
I like to think about it as if I'm pushing a shoppingcart over a rough road. Seems to go hand-in-hand with the flatter enduro-style brake levers while downhilling.
from what ive seen both can work as long as they are bent and the rider is maintaining a good hinge with hips open etc
Same goes for dumbbell flies.
You have to be pretty mobile (naturally mobile normally) to get those elbows way forward and have power.
Personally I am mechanically poor so it's elbows back a bit for me just like drop pressups and flies.
Dunno if this is somewhat related with tighter trails in the UK
(And then right as 26" XC bikes started to slack out a bit, 29ers started to take over and for a long time used steeper head angles to "fix" the steering feel. For example, the 1st gen Tallboy had a 71 HTA until 2013!)
It's a shame because the earliest MTB pioneers, though some did come from road biking backgrounds, were often bringing in moto influences. And many of the early klunkers were much slacker because of the cruiser frames they were built from. I wonder how different mountain biking would have looked in the 90s and today if that heritage had stayed dominant
Now im just waiting for a video on how to carry speed through berms (i.e. how to trust the berms and the bike).
After many years on a full susser I recently swapped to a hardtail as my only bike. Question, would you say body position should remain consistent across both suspension and non? I find with the hardtail I ride more comfortably/in more control by hanging slightly further back than I did on the full susser. Do you think this is appropriate or is it more likely unconscious fear pushing me back to safety?
Also, keeping my weight centered or forward helped impacts upwards on the rear wheel use my weight on the pedals as a fulcrum point to rotate the frame and push down on the fork. In other words the fork travel and tuning can be important in how the back of a hardtail behaves and feels too!
Mid stroke support is definitely critical for a fork to work well on a hardtail.
For more deeper insight into “boss” posture, here’s a link where Chris explained it to the last detail. And its called Prime position. point1athletic.com/news/foxdialed-prime-posture-post-script
PS: Ben needs a longer bike though...
BTW
Haas = Intense Factory Racing
JK, would watch.
How would you improve - Given the resources you have that we all dont have ?
Are you disappointed with 15th in a Brit only competition?
Ben is a good lad, skilled enough and altruistic enough to give everyone some good tips... so what's the point with being "only" 15th in a brit competition? What about you? Does size matter or are you still trying to figure out while measuring it?