Body On Lock When Riding Ruts

Railing a rut perfectly is one of the best feelings in the dirtbike world. Picking where the wall is strong enough to hold you and then fully committing to the required lean with maximum speed is like that feeling you had as a kid when you are fully cranked on the local swing set.

Sadly, much of the time our confidence level is not that high, if ever. And if there is one riding tip that I struggled with, it was the idea that you should be locked into one body position in a rut.

Ruts are already hard enough in that you lose the steering aspect and are forced into running one exact line. "Now you want to take away my ability to use upper body movement for control? No thanks."

Some people probably feel the same way about many of the things I tell them to do in ruts. Scan my eyes ahead? Use only my pointing finger on the front brake? A small first turn of the throttle? They would rarely say it, but there is often that look that says, "I hear what you are saying, but I'm probably just going to keep doing what I am used to."

However, the truth does have a pesky way of working its way into our subconscious. Then, with a little dedicated practice that truth can reward us with more than its fair share of goodness. That is certainly how I have found this skill of locking my body into one position for a rut, and I hope it will help you as well.

Strength

Despite our best efforts with a spade while coaching riders, ruts are never perfectly smooth. Even the best ruts often have some kind of a hook where they suddenly angle tighter or fade away, and bumps can be caused by anything from bad throttle control to a rock or part of a rut collapsing like the top of a wave.

This makes a strong body position so important. That style where you lean your body the same angle as the bike rather than leaning the bike more than you, so that the bike can soak up those hits that would otherwise mess you up. Leaning with the bike also has the added benefit of making it less likely that your footpeg will catch too much dirt.

It takes away the temptation to wiggle; those moments of micromanagement that only serve to take away from your flow.

Staying strong is difficult but is so much better than the alternative.

Things to Try

Keeping your feet on the pegs is the best way to keep your upper body strong, whether sitting or standing. Of course this is not always the best thing to do, especially when your inside foot might hit the ground, so there comes a time to put your leg out.

Ruts are one time when I do recommend a straighter inside leg if you put your leg out, so long as you can keep that leg high. Pointing your toe also helps. It is a strange thing. Do those two things and your whole body locks into the bike like magic. Bumps and kinks affect you less, helping you to focus on having the right speed for whatever situation you have gotten yourself into.

Maybe instead of bursting the throttle for that bump you just tense your core or push on the outside footpeg instead. Worth a try?

Like I said at the beginning this is scary stuff. There is no denying that. You might deny that there is any truth to the idea that I put forward here, and that is fine. I truly wish that I could agree with you because I don't like being locked in place. Yet there it is again, the experience you get when you do lock in and the bike soaks up a bump like it wasn't even there. Pesky.