First Real Off Road Training

Well, I am feeling all of my 54 years today. Jay and I did a day at RawHyde Adventures in Castaic, CA last Saturday. It is now Monday and I'm finding it increasingly difficult to move. Not in a bad way - just in that way when you know you had fun but now you are paying dearly for it. The actual training was really only about 4 hours long but I have to say they were able to cram a lot of good things into that 4 hours and I came away with a bit more knowledge that will hopefully keep me safe while riding off road on my motorcycle.

There were 7 of us in the class. I chose to ride the F800 GS since it is what my bike is and I thought what better way to learn to ride my bike. The huge difference being when I dropped the bike, it wasn't mine.
Jay was riding a larger bike, the R1200 GS - he did really well on it. He went for the older oil head even though there were brand new water heads. I should have tried one of those because my friend Cindy has one and I'm sure I will never get the offer to ride hers but I figured if I liked it there would be hell to pay. So I stuck with the 800. :-)

One of the training grounds was a large dirt area with a slight slope on the top section. This would be important for me later in the day.

One of the training areas.

We started off riding around in a large circle standing on the pegs and going as slow as possible. It is fairly difficult to balance and go as slow as possible, I mean REALLY slow. Standing straight up, eyes always looking forward and not at the ground in front of the bike, keeping the body relaxed. Uh huh....yep...OK. We all did pretty well at it, of course two of the riders were seasoned dirt bike riders so they were probably bored but they didn't complain.

Jim decided to take us up and down the driveway after that. I went second and of course held up the group. I have decided that men just don't have a built in fear gene. They just go for it, balls to the walls. Needless to say, I was the last one to go back up the driveway. LOL I'm OK with that, who needs pressure anyway.

Jim Hyde leading the demo rides.

The driveway that goes up to the camp is really an adventure in itself. In fact one of the fellows wife who dropped him off that morning told him she would wait at the bottom of the hill for him that evening, she would not drive back up that road again. HA I actually was becoming quite relaxed with the driveway by the end of the day but I was so exhausted I couldn't stand on the pegs or really focus much more.

Our next drill would be starting off fast and locking the back brake when we got to the instructor. What??? Who wants to lock the brake??? Especially in dirt???? Well, we did it. Of course the guys were all a bit faster than me. Just as in my road riding class the instructors kept telling me I needed to go faster. I go at my own pace!! When I'm comfortable I go faster. So, I went as fast as I could, slammed on the back brake and came to a skidding dusty halt. Well, that wasn't so bad after all. Next...stop while mostly using the front brake. Apparently you use the front brake 90% of the time on dirt. Really? No way!!! Unless you are turning a corner you will use the front brake. OK - wasn't really too bad. Although it was during this drill that Jay took a spill and did a somersault, landing in a flurry of dust with the bike upside down. He was fine, I was afraid we had just bought a bike! :-)

Then came the serpentine. Turning really tight corners, in dirt with 2 of the corners on an uphill slant turning back downhill while moving your body to the left or right depending on which way you are turning. I hit the dirt twice in this drill, both on the uphill corner. I really need to perfect my dismount, it was not pretty! But, I jumped (crawled) up and got back on the bike finally finishing the whole course without a spill. It was after this one I took a break to get some water and do some body part inventory. OK, nothing broken - all is good. The others went off to do the sand and more corners. I was happy to just sit there for a minute.

We had a great lunch and conversation. In the afternoon you could demo ride three bikes both on and off road. By this time I was really too exhausted to even try to hold the larger bikes up. I decided to just hang out, take some photos and enjoy the scenery. By the end of the day their were only two of us who didn't drop a bike or pitch themselves off in the dirt, this would be the two with prior dirt riding experience. I know it sounds odd but I was actually glad when I did my first dirt bath. It wasn't fun but it also wasn't as bad as I had imagined. I wasn't so glad when I did it again but maybe next time I go down I will be able to just jump off gracefully. Or like one of the other riders told me I need to get the running dismount down like he does. HA

Jason who does the running get off and Audrey who works at the camp.

Yes, they have their own wine label. 

I was soooo happy that I had my new boots on. I ended up with a tiny little scuff on my upper shin area. If I had not had those boots on it would have been a quite larger area. I believe in All The Gear All The Time (ATGATT). I always have and always will. There was suppose to be two women in the class but unfortunately the other one had a crash on her way to the class and found her knee cap staring back at her. She didn't wear protective gear. It may be really, really hot at times but as many have said - it's easy to sweat but it's not so easy to put skin back on body parts. I also believe in freedom of choice - to each his own but I hope that if and when one of my fellow riders go down they will be as protected as possible.

My next training happens in late May. Between now and then you can find me doing squats, lifting weights for upper body strength, doing the core strengthening exercises and continuing my walking routine. Of course this is when I can move again. Even with the unintentional get-offs I really do enjoy this new style of riding so I plan to do whatever I can to make it an enjoyable experience.

As soon as we get back to the Pacific Northwest I will be able to practice the moves I learned last weekend. Stay tuned!