Adventure Camp

Where Does The Time Go?

Well, Adventure Camp has come and gone. All in all it was a good experience. I learned a bit more about riding my bike off road and met some really nice people. 

We arrived at camp around 3:30 on a Friday, I had reserved a tent and cot so I just had to pull up and unload my stuff. The tent turned out to be large enough for 2 so I told my friend Claudette to just bunk in there with me. She got another cot and unloaded her stuff. It's amazing how much 'stuff' we can haul on those bikes! 

They fed us dinner, we met the instructors and then we hit the hay excited to awake to our first day of training.

Training Begins

I'm now realizing that most any training involving these large dual sport bikes is going to be slow speed maneuvers. The whole first day was non-stop action. We learned an aggressive stance and rode most of the day in that stance. We went through a muddy ditch, over small logs (some went over large logs) and we learned how to turn the bike around on a hill after stalling it going uphill, we did a single track trail which scared the bejeesus out of me and we did stops and starts. I'm sure there was more but it's all kind of a blur at this point. It was a long day and we were pretty tired after we ate so we all hit the sack again in great anticipation of our 2nd day of training.

Day Two

This day started out with a bang. I was in a group that started the day on a crazy single track trail, up and down and round and round. Needless to say, I was the second to the last to come in. The last one had turned off somewhere along the way and the instructor couldn't find her. She was fine, just decided she didn't want to do the trail. I felt the same but by the time I would have turned around there was no way to do it so I just kept going at my own pace. 

We then met up with the whole group in the large field and started doing off set weave around cones and this is where my fun ended. I was doing great, I thought. Really trying to lean the bike on the tight corners while getting my body offset to balance. It was the same tight right turn that bit me. Down I went and this time it was a bit painful not to mention knocking the air out of me. I landed on my right side with my bent arm under my right rib cage. My ribs were on fire and I couldn't get a breath in. Now just having one of these would have been bad enough but both at the same time was a bit disconserting. Lucky for me there were two instructors nearby who were able to get me to relax, catch my breath and assess the damage. I knew my ribs were not broke as I know how extreme that pain is but I wasn't sure that if I had cracked the ribs so we took it slow. Ended up having the paramedics come out to check me over and we determined it was just bruising. So, lucky for me one of the gals had driven down and towed her bike and she had room on her trailer for another bike. And she lives by me! So my camp ended with me riding home in the truck. 
By the next day I was feeling a little sore but nothing like I had been told would happen. Not much bruising and not much pain. Apparently this granny has strong bones and bounces too! :)

Overall the camp was fun and informative. The instructors were really helpful and the camp site itself was good. If there was a down side there were a lot of us who felt like there were too many people in the class itself, at times it was a bit chaotic. We were suppose to be broken up into groups but that never happened so it was 26 or so bikes going every which way most of the time. I guess that is good skills for riding in a parking lot. 

After having done this camp I look forward to seeing what others have to offer. I'm pretty sure I won't do this one again. I've heard of another company starting up in the area that has great reviews and will be looking more into that one for future training. Hopefully it will have smaller classes for more one on one.

Future Plans

In the mean time, I'm signed up for one more training this year. It is next month and one day only with a man named Coach Stroud. I've heard wonderful things about him and I'm hoping he will be the one to be able to figure out what I'm doing wrong. I'm going to get that damn right hand turn if it's the last thing I do!! 

New Shoes

One of our BMW club members offers to change out tires for $20. That is a great deal!! We took my new tires over and it took him and hubbs almost 4 hours because the tires on the bike were sooooo hard! I felt really bad and offered to pay him more but he wouldn’t take it. He said it would be $30 next time. HA What a nice guy. So my bike now has new off road tires. I went with the TKC 80’s on both front and back. So far I’ve taken it on the local gravel roads a couple of times and they seem to be working great. On the road they also feel very good, a little squirrelly feeling for the first 10 miles but I got use to them quickly and now they feel fine. Jay is going with Metzler Karoo 3’s. 

I’m really looking forward to getting some good training. Right now I’m good with riding on the forest service roads but when I hit loose or smooshy road bed I get a little tense and I know the more relaxed one is the better things go.

Here are some photos from our recent off pavement rides.

Baker Lake

This is where I turn around.

Beauty in the Woods

Jay and Kelly's bikes taking a break.

Stopped by a big orange gate.

On our way to find some dirt roads.

Claudette and her TW

My bike - BMW F800GS

PLANS…

In May a couple of girlfriends and I will be taking the off road training offered by PSSOR here in Washington state. After that Jay and I will ride down to Klamath Falls, Oregon where he will be taking the same training. Then we have the rest of the summer to play until we head south to our new job with Amazon.com in Nevada. We have the Touratech rally in June on the east side of the mountains and then once we get settled in down in Nevada we can find some roads around that area to play on until our job starts. After the job ends in December we will head to the Yuma area where we plan to leave MARV while we do a Baja Mexico ride. Although most of the roads in Mexico are paved there will be some areas of sand and gravel while we make our way to the beaches where we plan to lay around and drink Cervesa’s while we enjoy the sunsets. 

I have to say, I have met so many wonderful people in the world of motorcycling. I would have missed out on so much if I had never started riding my own bike. Sometimes fear keeps us from doing the very thing that will open new doors and allow adventures to begin.

My next post will be all about Adventure Camp so stay tuned...

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!

Another Adventure Begins

Well, I've been told if you sit around too much you will become frozen but if you keep moving you will live long with great vitality...or something along those lines. 

For the past 6 years I've enjoyed riding my motorcycle on all types of paved roads, and yes at time a little detour down a dirt road but the majority has been paved. After spending the winter in Texas and Arizona and seeing all of the dirt roads leading off to mysterious places I got to thinking it would be so nice to be able to head down those roads without worrying about wrecking my street bike. So.......I've decided to take up off road motorcycle riding. Yes, I am 54 years old and am the proud grandma of 2 beautiful girls. Time just won't stop ticking though and I figure if I'm going to learn to ride off-road there is not better time than the present. 

I begin this journey by purchasing a 2009 BMW F800 GS motorcycle while Snow Birding in Mesa, AZ. My friend Claudette thinks I'm a bit over spontaneous but I know myself and if I give thought to anything too long I end up changing my mind so many times that by the time I'm ready to make a decision I've forgotten what I'm trying to do.

By now you all may be asking yourselves, isn't she a little too old to start something like this? I really don't know the answer to that and believe me it's crossed my mind as well but if there is one thing I do know, if you don't try it you will never know.

My next purchase for riding in this fashion was some Adventure boots. I decided to go with the Alpinestars Toucan. They had great reviews and are gortex so while riding at home in the Pacific Northwest my feet should stay dry and warm. They will give my lower leg, ankle and foot greater protection than the boots I use for road riding. I already own Olympia riding pants and coats so for now I will start out with that and go from there. 

A few of my friends back home have also decided to drink the kool-aid and have also purchased off road bikes. Three of us are signed up for an off-road adventure camp back home in May but in the mean time I found the Rawhyde Adventure Camp in California and it just so happens to be close enough for us to make it to a one day bike demo/training while we are still down in this area. Unfortunately we couldn't quite spare the expense of the full weekend training right now but once Jay gets a bike we will make it a must-do on our list. The bike demo will be a bonus for us though because Jay ( my hubby extraordinaire and super duper bike mechanic, jack of all trades ) has not gotten his bike yet so he will be able to demo three bikes on and off road. This is unheard of! You can rent plenty of off road bikes but they will not allow you to take them off road so this will be a wonderful opportunity for him.

My first day off road was spent on the Apache Trail between Roosevelt, AZ and Apache Flats, AZ. I rode the F800 and Jay rode his R1200 C. Needless to say, my suspension gave me a much better ride that day. I absolutely LOVED it, and that was without knowing what the hell I was doing! The scenery was gorgeous and the thrill and challenge of riding in the dirt was exciting to the very end. 

I then set out to find a class. I found the Rawhyde classes but couldn't afford them right away so decided to wait to attend one until I got home. A friend and fellow rider had taken the PSSOR course and found it very helpful for her so that will be the first of many. In the mean time I found some valuable information on getting in shape for off-road riding. I've been walking every day using MapMyWalk on my cell phone to keep track of my progress and have started to get serious about core strengthening, something my chiropractor at home has been after me to do for years. Between those two things, some stretching and cardio training I should be in a better place to take on the dirt roads once we get home.

If you wish you can follow along with me on this journey. My writing skills leave something to be desired but really, it's all about the journey anyway isn't it!