My second half decent dirt bike outing

My second half decent dirt bike outing

Postby dutchy » Fri May 23, 2014 11:50 pm

Thought I'd put up a quick little ride report in regards to my first dirt attempt. Some people might have already read a little bit of yarn via my Facebook but I'll go into a little bit more detail for this write up. I've just edited the title because I have been taken out for a good ride with another friend before this one.

For the fantastical abridged version read here http://dutchysstuff.weebly.com/1/post/2014/05/dirtbike-debauchery.html

The other weekend was my fathers 60th so plans were made to make the weekend trip from Warrnambool to Maryborough way. My brother and I decided we'd sneak in a morning ride nearby before the birthday gathering so the YZ450f (for those that didn't know what bike I have) was loaded onto the trailer. On the morning in question my brother Aaron, a family friend Rieve, and myself rode the bikes from where we were staying into the bushland nearby. Both of my riding buddies were on early KTM 250 2strokes if you needed to know. There had been rain during the week so there was no dust, wet grass/leaves/rocks/branches, and the occasional nice big puddle. I started the camera I had mounted on the side of my helmet and off we went.

I'd decided early that I would try to "give shit a red hot go" because I wanted to start getting the hang of some basic techniques to clear ditches/obstacles and my first opportunity came when I watched Rieve creep off the side of the bush road. The road fell off at the side into a gutter but then there was a mound immediately after. After the mound there was a bit of a drop off. If I wanted to look cool I had to try to lift the front to mono/coast into the gutter then launch out off the mound to clear the drop off on the other side. I knew this was a basic skill that would always come in handy so I had a crack.

The mono into the gutter was pretty light on. I got the front over the gutter but not in any impressive manner. I think this is what set me up for the massive failure to come. Because of this initial failure I gave the bike A good squirt to clear the ditch. It was a real good squirt, maybe too much. The bike went upright and I held on but then realised that I wasn't going to be able to put it back down and threw the bike aside. I ditched to the right and commando rolled out of the fall. Aaron reckons that from the rear it looked like a very impressive manoeuvre. We all had a laugh and then went to watch it on the camera only to realise it wasn't recording at all........DAMNIT!!!

We spent some time after that riding some fire tracks here and there. The fire tracks were good. I was able to learn a bit about turning the YZ and getting slowly used to wrapping on the throttle to flick the back out a little. It was all about just getting comfy. We found some random mounds in the middle of the bush and Rieve started just randomly launching off shit. I'd told Aaron earlier that there was no way I was going to try and learn to jump a dirt bike in an area where I would be surrounded by trees but I eventually found this cute little single launch to have a crack at throwing it off. I used to do stupid things on BMX bikes so I've always understood the basic feeling of jumping two wheels and figured I'd just apply what I knew. I always knew that to jump a dirty you have to know when to put the throttle on in the approach so I kept that in mind. I didn't do too bad. I got both wheels of the ground a few times, albeit only barely. It was fun though. If there was something bigger with a bit of room about it I might have given it a crack.

Here's a GIF of one of one of my first ever (puny) jumps.

Image


After we were done here it was time to go home. We wrapped it on and headed out at a well faster pace on some nice big straight tracks. I was hitting some big puddles at speed but figured I wanted to try clearing the front wheel going through them. Just take the weight off the front an come into them on the back wheel. It was another thing I wanted to try. Big mistake. I gave it a few cracks and I could feel the front lightening up but never lifted. I figured I have a real go at one puddle and up come the front again, this time at speed, and my dismount was no where near as cunning as the last.

Aaron was riding behind when he saw me eat shit, and by "eat shit" I mean throw my bike down the road while I slide along the dirt, clay, rocks, sticks and shit. He told me later that he thought for sure I was going to come out with something broken. Glad I bought all the gear when I bought the bike because I have no doubt the armour saved me some pain. Other than some minor bumps, bruises and scrapes I was still all good. So was the bike. I checked the footage only to see that the damn camera wasn't running again.......FARRK!!

I came off a couple of time but i've still chalked it up as being a pretty fun day. You gotta learn somehow right?? :lol:
I plan on living forever..............so far so good!!
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2010 KSRC MotoGP tipping champion

1998 ZX7R
1982 GPZ 550
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dutchy
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Re: My second half decent dirt bike outing

Postby BrettZZR » Sat May 24, 2014 10:15 am

Better edit the title again - I was expecting to read about your missus handling the dirtbike!

(-8
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Re: My second half decent dirt bike outing

Postby lunatick » Sun May 25, 2014 10:30 pm

Good stuff :kuda:

How good is it when you throw a dirt bike down the road dust yourself of, pick up your bike and keep going
I wish road bikes were that forgiving :roll:
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Re: My second half decent dirt bike outing

Postby RustyAs » Wed Jun 04, 2014 7:15 pm

Great stuff!!!

I say to my son when we are going at it
"if you dont have an off,your not tryin"

Good work on wearing the gear, it will save your arse, literally along with your hands, forearms, elbows,shoulders etc etc

Keep at it, one day it will just "click", then you will get to enjoy it

Cheers
If everything is under control.......your going to slow

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Re: My second half decent dirt bike outing

Postby Possum » Thu Jun 05, 2014 12:42 am

Fun huh ;) :kuda:
It all comes down to how you ride it.....
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