Standing up and out of the saddle will get your body into a strong, balanced position that enables you to react to the terrain and transfer your weight around the bike quickly and efficiently when things get rough.
1. Head - Keep your head and eyes up, looking down the trail. What you see at your front wheel has already happened - look ahead and give yourself time to react to what's coming up.
2. Core - Keep your lower back straight. Don't let your core be the weak link - maintaining a strong position allows effective power transfer from the top to the bottom of your body.
3. Hands and Arms - Keep your hands feeling light on the bars and cover your brakes with one finger. Shoulder back, relax and allow your arms to bend and extend freely to aid bodyweight transfer.
4. Legs and Hips - Get your hips back and bend your knees so you have room to move both up and down over the saddle. Always be ready to jump, yet ready to drop - imagine a goalkeeper's stance!
5. Feet - Keep your bodyweight directed through your feet, with heels dipped. Standing on your feet and not balancing on your hands means your center of gravity will be low and over your pedals, whatever angle your bike is at.
Variations to Practice:
1. Pitching Downhill - On undulating, keep your weight through your feet and allow your bike to pivot at the bottom bracket by keeping your arms and legs loose. If you stay stiff your weight will unbalance you.
2. Reset - Take the bike out of the equation and stand in your strong position. Bounce up and down on your feet then get back on your bike and try to replicate the heavy feet, light hands feeling.