whoops...we all love them right? necessary part of any one's bag of riding skills. first, there's no replacement for practice. you have to do a ton of whoops to get faster. practicing good technique is as important as practice. if you can, tape a pro race and watch a whoops section over and over again to see how the pros do it...this will give you a mental image of the body position you should be working towards. simply said you have to keep the front light. the balls of your feet are over the pegs, your backside as far back as possible without locking your knees, your arms extended but certainly not locked at the elbows. all this while maintaining throttle control and staying loose enough over the bike so you don't get tossed around at the suspension does its thing.
think about what happens while going through the whoops. the front hits the next whoop while the rear is hitting the previous whoop. this doesn't always happend simultaneously. the front can be compressing while the rear is unloading and versa vice. the arms act as pivot points and the last set of shock absorbers before the impact hits your body. the feet, ankles, knees and hips are all pivot points and shock absorbers that also help maintain your body position over the bike. so, you have to maintain an calculated and changing mix of "give" and "resistance" during this whole process as well as throttle control and speed through the whoops. again, practice, practice, and more practice.
so how do you ride them?
ken