I lift off the seat and stand on the pedals when going over rough spots. The definition of a rough spot depends on which bike I ride. My normal commuter bike has 26x1.75 Continental Contact tires. Running about 60psi rear and 52psi front, they can go over all but large potholes without jarring me too much. My road bike has 700x23c tires. I have to stand on the pedals much more when riding over rough spots on the road bike. I don't lower the pressure on the 23c tires below 110psi because I don't want to risk snake bite flats. I would step up the road bike to 25c or 28c tires, but there is only about 3mm clearance between the rear tire and the front derailleur clamp with the 23c tires.