Originally Posted by MattoftheRocks

I’m of the belief that most people should view a non-recumbent bike as being far more like a horse or skateboard than like a bar stool with wheels. The saddle is mostly there for steering/stabilizing and you should step off the bike and find a bench when you feel the need to sit.

You should be free to constantly swish the saddle around beneath you for all kinds of maneuvering as a priority for safety and for fun, and secondarily for having your spine decoupled from the punching & vibrating bike frame. I’ll only set the saddle high & forward enough that the nose is at the highest part of my Bottom Dead Center leg’s thigh when winds are prescribed to be bad enough that I know I’ll be down in an aero tuck just to go over a jogger’s speed and I’ll be stuck like that for over 30 minutes. Most days it’s ~2” down & an inch back from commonly prescribed road bike fitting standards to just be out of the way for flowing the bike through debris/pothole loaded paths & roads and especially for doing city traffic hard braking where I have to get my hips way behind the saddle, but still high enough that I can brace against the sides without a ton of friction on my thighs.

stand on the pedals with your core engaged holding your hips back, back straight, and shoulders forward & loose like you’re on skis or a surfboard. If you’re not racing anyone, stick it in “inefficient” high gears so you can Step-N-Wait-Step-N-Wait at a leisurely walking to jogging pace when you’re not coasting.

when accelerating from the sitting position you’ll be pushing forward on the driving pedal like you’re in an office chair scooting in reverse- a typically undeveloped muscle set for most people. With your hips floating between the stem and saddle, you’ll be simply setting >90% of your mass on the driving pedal and using closer to the same set muscles you’d use just walking up some ~350mm stairs. They’re there ready to be used.

Only touch your soft bits to the saddle top to read the road/trail surface. Don’t conspire with gravity to squeeze your sitbones down through your soft bits to try to connect your spine to the vibrating bike (aka sit) for more than two minutes for every ten minutes of surfer/skier/cowboy pose riding you do.

Be loose. Let the bike shake & rattle beneath you while your lower back & glutes act like a spring to float & throw your torso through the landscape. Use the sides of the saddle a little for power through headwinds or loose ground and for steering. Use the bars for power or braking when needed, but try to keep your touch light there as well most of the time; keep your arms loose.

Work those pedals. Press them with the balls of your feet on the spindles on rough ground, stomp on the spindles with your heels when the ground is smooth enough for it.