Yes Emily

Yes Emily, girls can ride motorcycles!


Wednesday, August 20, 2014

My Off Road Adventure or Yee Haaaaaaaaaaaaaa! Way More Than My Money's Worth!

The day dawned with the promise of sunshine and fair weather. I was up at 6 knowing I had to be at the S.M.A.R.T. Adventures Rider Training area at 8:30. My lunch packed, my 'official photographer' and I headed to the dirt lot, thoughts of "What the hell am I doing here?" still flashing in and out of my mind.
First things first, fill out the waiver. The statements on the waiver alone were strong enough to almost make me change my mind before the adventure began. They are a very friendly, open and inviting group of people at SMART and Clinton Smout was on deck to greet everyone as we arrived, assuring us all we were going to have fun. His love of adventure riding and his dedication to teaching riders of all levels to ride off road well and safely was clear and evident. Both Clinton's sons are also certified instructors.
Next, gearing up. SMART provides all of the gear needed for riding...
and helpful instructors for the newbies who can't figure out how to fasten the darn boots.
Before hitting the dirt there was a short classroom lesson about the basics of dirt riding, the possible dangers and the safety record. Clinton's lesson included a graphic demonstration comparing old bones and young bones and used past accidents as very good examples of what not to do if you want to avoid an ambulance ride.
In the end he offered a gentle escape route to anyone who wanted to change their minds, no face or cash lost. I darn near took it! (Clearly there was fear in my eyes.)
All riders were fitted with a bike (SMART is sponsored by Yamaha,) this one felt right to me ... the instructions kept coming... and there we were, the only three gals, ready to go with two instructors.
Not yet, do not start your engines ladies. "First, we'll push you just to make sure you can find the REAR brake." The break and shifter are quite different and much smaller on this Yamaha compared to the Star and a bit more work to find with the big boots on. After sufficient pushes, enough to satisfy our instructors that all three of us could stop it was time to try some sand...
and a gentle little mogul.
Let's step back to the last post. Remember I looked at this little dirt track with fear. Hey, it wasn't so bad after all. You can really feel the rear tire slide around in the soft sand but with a few loops, knobby tires and such a light bike - I was gaining confidence. "Great, now we're going to the real course." What? This wasn't it? There's dirt, hills, mud. What more do we want? (If I had known the night before what lay ahead, I probably wouldn't have gotten out of bed!) "Follow me ladies ..."
 
Crossing the 3 Line Road we head toward the "Farm," "The motocross track" and to the "Trails." (The photos stop here since it isn't safe to have unexpected pedestrians, cameras in hand walking along the trails but check out this link to Google Maps for a satellite look. From the satellite image you can see the farm loops and the motocross track. What you can't see are the actual mountainside trails looping up and down for many kilometers through the deep forest.
Our first trail lesson, standing up. Yahoo ... never expected I'd be standing up riding a bike, doing moguls having a ball.  Of course there has to be that first crash. Before we started the stand up circuit the rider behind me let the clutch out (abruptly) with the bike in gear. Her bike leapt forward taking mine out, ripping the chain off her bike. (Lesson learned, stay behind that rider.) She felt terrible and it really coloured the rest of her experience ... I actually had to thank her. My biggest fear had been going down; check, I survived.
Next trail lesson: the log. The SMART training scaffolds your skills, building on each skill. Having sufficiently mastered stand up riding, now came using that skill in a real experience. Ride over an 8" log across the trail (many times.) Apparently logs are no problem but short turns at the bottom of the mud hill can be and along with that first turn came my first nap in the mud. And still I'm thinking, hey this is no big deal. Easy peasy right? Then I hear the words, "Ok ladies we're ready for some real riding!" What, this hasn't been it? It's 11:30, aren't we heading back for lunch?
Yee Haaaaaaaaaaaaa, this ride gave me way more than my money's worth and way more than I had expected. An hour of slinging dirt bikes through logged out, washed out, mud hole packed, rock infested, tree root covered up and down hair pin trails all enshrouded under a tree canopy so dense that Google's satellites can't find them and always prepared for an emergency stop (remember the rider I vowed to stay behind!) Mud was flying from front tires, back tires and every stop was a sideways stop. What an adrenalin trip. The sweep following behind me was always encouraging, "Nice stop (again)," and my personal favorite ... "magnificent save, thought I was going to have to go searching in the bushes for you after that last one." (Actually, I was just as surprised as you were buddy!) That one was the talk of the club house when we got back, and I couldn't describe it to you if I wanted to other than a nano second of sheer maddness, slinging a bike sideways one way, back the other, rear end up an embankment, mud flying, heart pounding, hanging on, focusing ahead, out of the corner.
Then came the lunch stop, where we were all given the opportunity to bail on the second part of the day (with no loss of face or cash again.) And when it was time for part two, I was the last gal standing. My instructors were off to take over a large half day group of newbies and I had a personal trainer for another hour and a half of off road trail riding. She knew I was getting a bit tired. It's dam hard work controlling the bike 99% with clutch and throttle, standing up most of the time! After two more (shall I say, impressive) mud slinging corners and one more little nap in the mud on an easy corner (isn't that always the way!) We stopped for a bit of break then headed over to the motocross track for some easy riding to end the day.
Yee Haaaaaaaaaaaa again! Here I am at the end of the day ripping up some sand on that training track that looked so scary the day before. Will I be ripping up the trails again soon? Not likely since I can barely stand up or sit down today (what a workout for your upper legs, holy crap! Maybe I shouldn't have gone for the hike and the swim after the trail riding adventure, 'nother lesson learned!) Will I have more confidence riding the Star through construction? Most likely. And best of all - nothing broken, very little bruised ...
and only one minor flesh wound.
 
Thanks Clinton and your crew for an excellent day.
Thanks Ron for taking the photos. Next time bring the GoPro. Who knew you had a GoPro and would leave it at home?

25 comments:

  1. Great action shots. You write of your experience with so much enthusiasm... are you getting back for another course or even flirt with the idea of getting a dirt bike?

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    1. Sonja - thanks to my friend Ron for snapping the photos. I am definitely flirting with the idea of a dirt bike. Another course, well I think before I take an intermediate level I need a little more practise at Novice level though I was told with all the recent rain and logging that has happened, the trails we rode were actually intermediate level.

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  2. Woot! Sounds like you had a blast! I loved it, went twice, but the recovery period for each is a few days (due to the couch potato factor) but I bet if you did it more you wouldn't be as tired. Good for you!

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    1. Dar, I'm sure regular off road riding would make a significant difference. I think 5 1/2 hours solid riding, trails and dirt was a bit ambitious for my first time out. (Yet another lesson, right?)

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  3. So much awesome contained in one post. I am so glad you got a taste of dirt riding and how much fun it can be.

    Did they make a dirt addict out of you? Time for a second bike?

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    1. Trobairitz, I'm all for dirt now, the trails were a bit intense ... will let you know more when my muscles recover from this time.

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  4. I remember the Star in the gravel in Bellafonte.

    If we ever do that again, I can see you barging into the gravel laden hairpin and powering through the turn with the rear tire slipping sideways and spewing a yard of gravel in my face.

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    1. David, give me some knobby tires and a light bike and I'll try to sling some gravel your way.

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  5. Very cool description of your experience. I used to dread sand and gravel when I first started riding but, for me, the right tires on my street bike did wonders. And I look forward to opportunities to stand while riding. Virtually impossible with forward controls like your V-Star.

    So, when do you pick up a dirt bike?

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    1. Thanks Richard (I know it was a bit wordy, but I had no pictures of the real ride.) You are right about the tires and bike style and what you can handle comfortably. I'll see what I can do about a little sister for the Star. What would she be? A comet?

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  6. Very impressive Karen; you did what more (most?) of us should do. Loved the commentary by your Sweeper. :)

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  7. Very descriptive view of your riding! Congratulations on not opting to save the cash. An experience you will never forget and will find valuable even on the road with the Star.

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    1. It's an experience I won't forget, at least not for a few days (I have more than a few muscle groups that won't let me!) But I have all of my blood, most of my skin and a smile I won't be able to wipe off my face ... Yee Haaa!

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  8. Sounds like you had a great time in spite of your original trepidations. And you will be more confident on the VStar with this experience, even if it doesn't have knobbies..

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    1. It was a blast Canajun though I'm wondering what the largest size tube A535 is sold in. (Glad I conquered the fear!) I hope it helps with riding the Star all the while thinking about bikes that wear knobbies well (just for kicking around the back 40.)

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  9. Karen:

    I keep thinking that I need to try something like this but while I am not a fan of gravel, I like the idea of riding on those trails and enjoying more of the outdoors. It's just that we don't have anywere around here to ride a small dualsport

    good for you for being so brave

    bob: riding the wet coast

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    1. Bob, it's nice to stretch the limits every once in a while, challenge yourself so you feel like you've accomplished something. Lucky for me I have space to ride an off road bike.

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  10. Trial riding is such a lot of fun - it's been years since I've done it and would love another trail bike...

    Next you'll be punting a big Adv bike hard over some fantastic metal roads...

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    1. Andrew if they only made those Adventure bikes in sizes small and medium instead of large, extra large and ginormous!

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  11. sounds like you had a great time. Kudos for you for hanging in there!
    PS: google the Remsen Barn Festival that is coming up in September. I passed thru last fall [the Adirondack Moose Festival was nearby and the same weekend too] and thought it might be something you and some nearby riding friends might enjoy for an overnight tent trip.
    Cheers

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    1. The Remsen Festival looks wonderful and Google says it's only 2.5 hours from me (though for me 2 hours always turns into 4 - blame it on the small gas tank.) The bad news is I'm not part of any local riding groups and my few (2) friends (who ride) have a sad view of camping. The good news, you've given me a great idea. I love fall festivals and there must be dozens within a day from where I live. I'm going to have to start searching.

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  12. You sound like you had a 'bang up time'. Can't wait to hear more about it.

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    1. Not too many bangs and most of the time I was up, that's a good thing!

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  13. Yay! There seems to be a wonder at what you did. Isn't that a great feeling! I suspect it will be as wonderful next time and a little more fun during :^)

    Thanks for taking me along with you.

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