• There has been a recent cluster of spammers accessing BARFer accounts and posting spam. To safeguard your account, please consider changing your password. It would be even better to take the additional step of enabling 2 Factor Authentication (2FA) on your BARF account. Read more here.

ADV/DS ride Lake Berryessa/Knoxville OHV/Rayhouse Rd.

I am not great about doing the things I know I should be doing, either. Also, in order to loosen the grip on my handlebars, I find that it REALLY helps to focus on gripping the bike with your legs. That said, DukeD is much more qualified to give dirt riding advice. I still suck in the dirt. Badly. :p
 
Take a training class maybe?
Star Man said:
For safety reasons, I don't usually ride the dirt by myself. I did on this ride. It was eye-opening. Knoxville OHV (should be called Rocksville OHV) is not considered all that challenging. Still, with it's many rock gardens and water bars and ruts, it requires your attention.

I've always wondered why I suck so much on the dirt and do OK on the tarmac. This past Sunday and without the distraction of a group of riders all around me, I was able to really concentrate on what I waws doing and what the bike was doing. Then it hit me... the front wheel was dancing all over the rocky surface and that was upsetting me. Being mainly a road rider, I was used to the front tire assuring me that it was firmly planted on the asphalt. Any other signal from the front end was a sign that trouble was ahead.

Now, I don't fall often because I've learned how to survive on the dirt (too many trips to Baja where you're on your own and far from any kind of help). But I don't have as much fun as I'd like to have. I'm too cautious and too careful. That gets me through safely but I probably don't look like I'm having a good time. For example, I spent most of my time at Knoxville grinding it out in 1st, 2nd and 3rd gear. And, I worked up quite a sweat doing it.

My GF said I should sell the little Kawi and give up dirt riding. I'm not ready to do that. I do enjoy the challenge and the thrill of it all. However the risks of hitting the ground are still there... and I don't bounce as well as I used to. I may be over-thinking this. Ideas????
Click to expand...
 
When I started riding dirt I a good friend of mine who rides often said I should ride standing up for more control. So I started to stand up here and there to incorporate this new tactic for better handling and now when I'm in the dirt I am standing 90% of the time.

Everything is soaked up by the bikes suspension and your legs plus with a light grip on the bars like everyone else is saying its all a winning combination.
 
The 2nd Sunday ADV/DS ride has been an excellent opportunity for BARFers to explore the dirt, motorcycle touring, dual-sport riding, and adventure touring. For many of us the experience has opened new horizons and/or confirmed the motorcycling dimension that suits us most.

Greg - My 2 cents:

The root cause of not enjoying any ride are:

  1. working too hard (it's about having fun :sex) and
  2. lack of confidence which is most often due to too much bike and riding above your comfort level or ability to be in control.

Solutions:
  1. Suspension! Excessive front tire deflections on most bikes are caused by way too much compression dampening, and springs that restrict full use of the travel. This has a significant impact on confidence. When your bike isn't affected my most terrain and you have traction your confidence goes up.
  2. Ride a lighter bike (than the KLR250 :wtf ) . This makes a huge difference in confidence as you can actually 'muscle' the bike to control it. If you can't loft the front to pivot and plant the front wheel anywhere you'd like, the bike is too heavy for you in the dirt. If you can't reach the ground while going through the rock gardens or slippery uphill steps to stabilize, the bike is too tall. Trash around a CRF150 or TTR125 at Oliver's Mystery School and you'll agree.
  3. Take up trials... the Europeans figured this out long ago. Trials will teach you bike control at a much more comfortable pace and how to find traction.
My reality check: I ride along (not just across) the rocky creek beds with running water without issues on our trials bikes, but at my skill and strength level, it would be a hand full even on our 'lightweight' GasGas Endurocross 300 or KTM200. I believe I've discovered my riding limits and preferences.

You use to ride a Tiger on this route before the KLR250. It only took 1 ride for Terry to realize that a R1200GS is too much bike. undertheoaks use to ride a KTM990ADV on this ride but realized it's too much bike, and not much fun for a dirt rider. I use to ride the Tiger and the DR350 on this ride. Palada use to ride his F800GS but is now on a WR250R, I heard Titus58 was looking for something lighter than a V-Strom. Once he figured out his WR450F was too heavy, DukeD got a KTM200 ... once the ADV manufacturer hype wears off and reality sinks in, if you still fancy dirt, most riders convert to lighter dedicated or plated dirt bikes.

Funny - undertheoaks, who's quite accomplished in the dirt, hasn't ridden his Husky TE450E since he started playing in his back yard on his GasGas trials bike. :rofl Whenever I consider a difficult route, I prefer the trials bike... too easy: we don't sit, no issue reaching the ground or re-positioning the bike. :twofinger
 
Last edited:
Formal training helps big time. Rawhyde may have been overkill, but the #1 thing I learned was confidence. They would take us to place where everyone's reaction would be "are you serious? You gotta be kidding!" Then we would just do it until it became second nature. Once you build up confidence on top of a little skill you will find yourself riding through ruts and over large rocks and through sand on purpose!
 
Over thinking is the most exhausting thing you can soon a bike.
I use ly knees and legs more than any other part of my body, my arms are simply to guide the bike as it hunts for thenway out of what ever Ii put it into, if I begin to feel my neck, I stop exhale, take a deep breath, and shake my head, shoulders, arms, torso, then legs.
Once I'm all loose again I go back and enjoy it.
 
That was my second dirt ride in like forever. I still don't feel very confident, by I don't expect to for a while. Practice makes perfect. I was following Tim and was amazed at how effortlessly he made it look. I'm still figuring out a lot of things about off pavement riding. Still messing with bike set up (handlebars). Still figuring out when to sit and when to stand on pegs. Also speed. First ride few weeks ago we were going relatively slow and this Sunday it was a fast pace. There are a lot of information that I'm trying to process and understand, but what helped a lot is following more experienced riders and seeing their body English and lines they were taking.
Waiting impatiently for the next ride.
 
Hey Greg - great post and questions....And lots of good feedback :thumbup

My 2 cents:
- STAND UP...almost all the time...then as you get better and more comfortable you can pick & choose when/where to sit...I was tired and my feet felt on fire after Sunday's ride b/c I was standing for the whole 2nd half of Rayhouse road.

- your body needs to be forward while standing, triple clamp in line w/your neck so you could read your number plate if you had one, and yes, let the bike move around under you - it's much like mogul skiing, where your legs are bouncing right/left thru the bumps but your upper torso is steady and moving straight ahead

- as Dean noted, speed/momentum is your friend, in that you approach your obstacle at a comfortable speed and then as you engage apply some throttle - the power settles the bike, drives you through the obstacle, and at the same time unweights the front end allowing it to more easily cross the obstacle...get the front end across, apply more power if needed and the rear will follow...in really dicey terrain it may be bouncing wildly like a bronco but if you,re standing up, you just let it move around under you while the momentum carries you both forward

-grip with your feet and legs as Aaron and Gwen noted...and be flexible...I liked Gwen's approach about if you can feel it in your neck, you're too tensed up...time to relax, take a breather, then try again.

- get some dirt training - does wonders for skill and confidence; see my post here - Mike is awesome, I learned amazing things from him...and Rich Oliver is on my wish list for the future :teeth

- practice - keep at it, and you will continue to improve

- crashing - no one wants to crash, but in dirt it is more likely and usually minor/much less severe than anything on the street - so try not to worry about it...riding dirt overly cautiously can backfire, as you're not using the bikes power as noted above to overcome the terrain...I have binned the Vee numerous times and expect to do so in the future, but as I've gotten better in the dirt the crashes are fewer and for the most part gentler...my bin was kinda a v low speed hit the ditch and fall over on Sunday :teeth...and I figured it out later...I had not stopped and thought about my line thru the ruts but kinda just went into the first one, AND I was not carrying enough momentum :p

Hope this helps! And look forward to actually :ride with you next time :thumbup :teeth


T
 
Anot her thing that helped me was to take the advice of woodschick and seavoyage and get a little bike. Nothing gives you the confidence like a little bike. The confidence carries Really lightens whatever you are riding at the moment,

Something else that helps me is knowing my track. I need 5 inches at the most for a line and sometimes the rut is the best line. Ruts used to be my biggist fear now I treat them as a tool.
 
Thanks everyone for all the great suggestions. I very much appreciate all the helpful comments.:thumbup :thumbup
 
Oh and Greg: Don't listen to your wifey. Dirt is where the fun is at!
 
Collar bones don't count as bones :thumbup

One more fundamental rule of motorcycling
Always get your legs out of the way if you lose it!!!

Greg already knows that one I'm just reminding myself :teeth
 
Titus58 said:
- crashing - no one wants to crash, but in dirt it is more likely and usually minor/much less severe than anything on the street - :p


T
Click to expand...

This made me chuckle, because Tim rides the only bike that is large enough to crush you to death if you crash.
:laughing
 
:twofinger
[youtube]FJBhB2PREqI[/youtube]

Good riding with you guys! Thanks to those who helped me wake up my bike, after it took a nap in the rock garden. I'll try to remember names next time. :ride
 
Cool video.

I like the end shots in the Tunnel. You look like an alien.
 
I really want to go one of these Sundays! My 2nd Sundays are full until December :( Maybe I can reschedule something.
 
Nice video Richmond! I couldn't stop laughing at the beginning of the video when I dumped the Vstrom. Good times.
 
Great video Richmond :thumbup You really captured the feel of the ride...good soundtrack with the engine sounds in the background and I loved the crashes :twofinger Amazing contrast/brightness...that a UV filter on your camera?


T
 
Great video! For the life of me I don't know how you guys go so fast in the dirt on those big duallies. Nice transitions to keep us in the meat of the action.

Rebekahlynn, you really should rearrange your schedule to make one of these rides, you'd love it. Your XT225 will do just fine, might be kind of out of breath on the road sections but will shine in the dirt. In the winter they close one of the gates and we usually switch the route to either Mines Road/Frank's Grange or Carnegie, or whatever Seavoyage conjures up for us.

Oh and is that you in your avatar? :wow "I'm a married man, I'm a married man, I'm a married man":teeth
 
I moved some stuff around and am planning on the August ride :ride

and yes, that's me :blush
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top