When you come to a tough section on a road or trail, you may ask yourself should you stand or should you sit? On this in depth episode, we talk to an expert rider and trainer, Chris Birch, and a rocket scientist and physics expert, Mark Nesbit, to learn about standing, sitting, what’s happening when we do and why traction has everything do to with the direction your wheels are pointed.

Show Contributors:

Mark Nesbit:

Mark is a physicist by education, who worked at the European Space Agency for 30 years.He’s quite literally a rocket scientists, having spent his career designing spacecraft. Mark has ridden motorcycles most of his adult life, he has helped prep race motorcycles for the track and off-road, and has also worked on setting up cars for racing.

Chris Birch:

Chris is a life-long motorcyclist and has been an off-road riding instructor in New Zealand since 2007. He first started out as a trials rider and moved on to enduro riding in his teens. He’s an eight times national enduro champion in New Zealand, and is New Zealand’s most successful Dakar Rally competitor finishing 27th and 2nd in the rookies class in 2012. He’s now one of KTM’s highest profile Adventure Ambassadors. Chris has a background as a mechanical engineer which gives him a unique perspective on the physics of motorcycle riding and the techniques. He now runs his coaching business full time and spends most of the year travelling around the world running coaching clinics and going to adventure bike events.

Website: http://www.chrisbirch.co.nz