If you are anything like me, you will find yourself so seduced by the comfort afforded by the seat and general design. You will cruise along on your rides and doing the usual bicycle necessities of steering, braking and changing gears without much thought.
When the terrain dictates or your desire to go faster occurs, the tendency is to just bear down on the pedals a little, or a lot more, as necessary. Unlike a conventional bike, you really cannot “stand” on the pedals for that added ability to pull up on the handlebars and create a significantly greater reactive force. However, you can do something quite similar.
On the Avatar, normally you simply remain in the same position but do all the extra “pushing” with your legs and feet – with your butt remaining in the same comfortable position.
Try this. While one of the best features of the Avatar is the ease of steering – requiring next to no effort and can be accomplished with two fingers – use that steering bar to add some extra reactive force to the pedals by stiffening your arms straight and pushing forward. Correspondingly, your upper back will press heavily into the seat. While you really cannot push completely straight ahead, you can push at least at about a 45 degree direction. You will know it as your butt / weight will be lifted off the seat slightly. I find this makes a big difference in the amount of power applied to the pedals. The problem is, I find I cannot sustain it very long. Good for short hills and maybe someone who is a much stronger rider than me can maintain this position longer.
Len Vreeland mastered this technique on his 1981 cross-country record attempt. So much so, that he attached thick foam pads on the ends of the steering bar to protect his hands over time. Safe to say no-one could charge up hills on the Avatar like Len.
Anyway, here are a couple photos that help illustrate:
