We spent a bunch of time on hard pack clay trails infused with rocks (typical VA terrain). Some of the hills were pure jumbled bunches of rocks (think baseball and soccer ball sized gravel). Some was more of a "loumey" terrain with sand/dirt mix. It had rained a lot, so there were lots of puddles and a lot of general slipperyness. I found my weak points were located in sharp turns with berms that you were supposed to use as banking for turning. I could never get it right and would wash out the front wheel and take a tumble. It even resulted in one very nice over-the-bars tumble when I washed out the front, hit the berm, and went flying.
I have to say -- it was a blast. We only went about 28 miles, but it was fun and very tiring. I road raced motorcycles briefly about 10 years ago, but hadn't been on a bike since then. This was waaay different, but very enjoyable in a completely different way. I have to admit to being a bit bashed and bruised, but generally fairly well off. The friends I went with said I did quite well for the first time out. I attribute that to a combination of previous motorcycle experience, mountain biking experience, and jet ski racing experience. It still resulted in a half dozen spectacular wipeouts, albeit at slows speeds (10-15 mph). Thankfully, the body armor works fairly well. (Note to self: make sure elbox pads are tight enough to not slide up your arm when you hit the ground, leaving big road-rash skids up your forearm.)
I was riding a 4-stroke 450cc bike that worked pretty well for me. (might have been a hond CR 450?) It was nice that it was very torquey and could easily grunt it's way out of low RPM pulls. This reduced my need to shift, which was quite helpful given the fact that I hadn't ridden a bike in 10 years and the clutch/shift/brake/turn/throttle thing was much less natural than I remember it. The clutch was cable driven and VERY stiff for my weak wrist.
On the day after, my forearm is very sore and rashed from my first fall. Otherwise, I've got a small bump on the knee and my quads are getting more sore by the moment. Overall: not to bad for my first experience.
Some notes to myself for pointers:
- Riding standing up is the way to go. It allows the bike to move around under you and react to bumps much better
- When standing (or sitting), keep the pegs in the arch of your foot, not balls. Not sure why, but it works. Definately keeps your calves from tiring, as well.
- Motocross boots are heavy and have NO feel to them. (Shifter or brake) You learn to get more of a feel of whether the brake is working from the way the bike reacts.
- NEVER react by grabbing the front brake. There's not enough traction usually, so it will most likely just wash out the front wheel. Learn to use the back brake.
- When in doubt, give the bike blips of throttle. It behaves much better when it has a little momentum.
- Dirt bike leaning/balance is the opposite of road bike. With a dirt bike, you lean the bike over, but stay upright on top of it. Use the back wheel to brake/throttle slide and get it pointed right, then accelerate. (Road bike you slide down inside the bike, keeping it leaning up to get more ground clearance.)
- Most of the time, you want to keep your weight forward to avoid wheelying. Expecially going up hills.
- The suspension's ability to go over huge rocks and bumps is amazing. Use it.
- When sitting, get forward in the V of the saddle so you are near the center of balance. Tendency is to sit back, which means "wheelie."
- Don't even think about going out without the right gear unless you plan on doing nothing but roads. And frankly, that might not even be wise. More armor is better when you are learning. (heavy boots, knee guards, elbow guards, chest protector, gloves)
- It is waaay more tiring than I expected. That might have been a result of the hill climbs and rock scrambles we were doing which requires quite a bit of concentration and bouncing around.
- Camelback is good. Drink a lot.
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