Silver Penguin
Silver Penguin
MSF Dirt Riding Class 05-07
This isn’t the way that most people would celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary but we’re not most people. Taking this class was something that we both wanted to do, and we had a blast. Of course, we’re both paying for it today with sore and aching muscles.
The Honda Rider Education center in Colton CA has an off-road training center, adjacent to their regular MSF range. The Environmental facility offers education to the local community as well as a place to learn to ride dirt bikes. Four different habitats are re-created including desert and chaparral.
Honda provides everything the fledgling dirt rider could possibly need, even cold drinks. We were kitted out from top to toe, in Honda red, black and white gear. The vast array of gear is all clean, fresh and tidily arranged. The sizes ranged from little kid up to very big guy.
Coach Eddie looked after us for the day, providing personal instruction for just the two of us. It didn’t cost a whole lot more to have the semi-private lesson. That way, we didn’t have to spend a lot of time on the basics of riding a bike. Those lessons moved through real fast, as we satisfied the requirements to move to the next step.
Andy was assigned to ride a Honda 250 which was a perfect fit for him. Initially, our coach had chosen a 150 for me but the seat height was way too high. The 100 allowed me to have both feet down flat, which was a great novelty. There are very few bikes that allow me to do that. Later, I learned that this bike has just seven horsepower. It’s a tenth of the power that my little Ninja has, and an even smaller fraction of the FJR’s power. Still, it was plenty for what was needed on this occasion.
The first exercises involved riding around cones on the practice pad. We had to get used to the slightly squirrelly feel of the bikes on dirt. Normally, that kind of feeling induces me to panic, knowing that bad things are going to happen very soon. There was a lot to learn about riding position. The use of correct technique allows better control of the bike, with less fatigue. Sure, I understand and appreciate that, but once on the bike, I kept forgetting. It was the same thing with getting on and off the bike. I’m conditioned to keeping the bars turned left, and not retracting the side stand until I’m astride the bike. This was all new and different, doing things the opposite way around.
So we rode around, and around the cones. It’s no exaggeration to say that I had enough to think about during this basic drill alone. Posture had to be considered; sit forward, balls of the feet on pegs, elbows up and look ahead. Now add in some counter weighting for the turns. Lean the bike, weight the outer peg. Elbows up. Now do it all standing up. Add a gear shift here and there. The skills were transitioned towards making tighter turns. I completely forgot about using the friction zone. Sure, it’s instinctual to do it on a street bike, but my brain was full of the other stuff. Time for a break!
We learned about riding over obstacles, practicing with a small then a bigger log. I could handle the smaller one OK but the bigger one left me feeling out of control as I got over it.
After partaking of Honda’s generous supply of ice cold drinks, we did some trail riding. Coach Eddie led us around the park at a very gentle pace. We rode over basic trails, rocks, mud, sand, bigger rocks, a wooden bridge and some hoop-de-hoos. I lost count of the number of ‘Oh sh*t’ moments, when I was about to fall off the bike. Amazingly enough, I stayed more or less upright. At one point, I fell behind the leader and didn’t see the path he took. I saw him waiting for me just ahead, and set my course towards him. I saw him laughing as I tackled a steep dip with lots of rocks, in a very clumsy manner. As I breathlessly fought my way back onto the trail, he pointed to the easier way around that he had taken.
The sand pit had been refilled earlier that day, and soft sand pushed up to the tops of the hills with a bulldozer. Our lesson about riding along the side of a hill was complicated by the deep, soft sand. I wasn’t at all keen on that. We learned how to do a u-turn and a K-turn on the side of a hill. I can’t say that part of the class was too much fun though. I was petrified for about 95% of that section.
After lunch, we had our choice of what we wanted to practice the most. I wanted to build my skills with the slower turns, so we did a lot of that. We rounded out the class with a few laps of the trail.
I could hardly believe that there was so much to learn. Having ridden on the road for a while, I’ve got a pretty good idea of how to do it. Sure, there’s still a lot to learn but I know what I’m doing for the most part. This was all new. I’m back to being a complete beginner, which doesn’t sit too well with me. I wanted to be GOOD at it, immediately. I guess I’ll resign myself to having to practice. At least that will justify the shopping spree on the way home. We spent a big chunk of $$ at Chaparral Motorsports.
This isn’t the way that most people would celebrate their 27th wedding anniversary but we’re not most people. Taking this class was something that we both wanted to do, and we had a blast. Of course, we’re both paying for it today with sore and aching muscles.
The Honda Rider Education center in Colton CA has an off-road training center, adjacent to their regular MSF range. The Environmental facility offers education to the local community as well as a place to learn to ride dirt bikes. Four different habitats are re-created including desert and chaparral.
Honda provides everything the fledgling dirt rider could possibly need, even cold drinks. We were kitted out from top to toe, in Honda red, black and white gear. The vast array of gear is all clean, fresh and tidily arranged. The sizes ranged from little kid up to very big guy.
Coach Eddie looked after us for the day, providing personal instruction for just the two of us. It didn’t cost a whole lot more to have the semi-private lesson. That way, we didn’t have to spend a lot of time on the basics of riding a bike. Those lessons moved through real fast, as we satisfied the requirements to move to the next step.
Andy was assigned to ride a Honda 250 which was a perfect fit for him. Initially, our coach had chosen a 150 for me but the seat height was way too high. The 100 allowed me to have both feet down flat, which was a great novelty. There are very few bikes that allow me to do that. Later, I learned that this bike has just seven horsepower. It’s a tenth of the power that my little Ninja has, and an even smaller fraction of the FJR’s power. Still, it was plenty for what was needed on this occasion.
The first exercises involved riding around cones on the practice pad. We had to get used to the slightly squirrelly feel of the bikes on dirt. Normally, that kind of feeling induces me to panic, knowing that bad things are going to happen very soon. There was a lot to learn about riding position. The use of correct technique allows better control of the bike, with less fatigue. Sure, I understand and appreciate that, but once on the bike, I kept forgetting. It was the same thing with getting on and off the bike. I’m conditioned to keeping the bars turned left, and not retracting the side stand until I’m astride the bike. This was all new and different, doing things the opposite way around.
So we rode around, and around the cones. It’s no exaggeration to say that I had enough to think about during this basic drill alone. Posture had to be considered; sit forward, balls of the feet on pegs, elbows up and look ahead. Now add in some counter weighting for the turns. Lean the bike, weight the outer peg. Elbows up. Now do it all standing up. Add a gear shift here and there. The skills were transitioned towards making tighter turns. I completely forgot about using the friction zone. Sure, it’s instinctual to do it on a street bike, but my brain was full of the other stuff. Time for a break!
We learned about riding over obstacles, practicing with a small then a bigger log. I could handle the smaller one OK but the bigger one left me feeling out of control as I got over it.
After partaking of Honda’s generous supply of ice cold drinks, we did some trail riding. Coach Eddie led us around the park at a very gentle pace. We rode over basic trails, rocks, mud, sand, bigger rocks, a wooden bridge and some hoop-de-hoos. I lost count of the number of ‘Oh sh*t’ moments, when I was about to fall off the bike. Amazingly enough, I stayed more or less upright. At one point, I fell behind the leader and didn’t see the path he took. I saw him waiting for me just ahead, and set my course towards him. I saw him laughing as I tackled a steep dip with lots of rocks, in a very clumsy manner. As I breathlessly fought my way back onto the trail, he pointed to the easier way around that he had taken.
The sand pit had been refilled earlier that day, and soft sand pushed up to the tops of the hills with a bulldozer. Our lesson about riding along the side of a hill was complicated by the deep, soft sand. I wasn’t at all keen on that. We learned how to do a u-turn and a K-turn on the side of a hill. I can’t say that part of the class was too much fun though. I was petrified for about 95% of that section.
After lunch, we had our choice of what we wanted to practice the most. I wanted to build my skills with the slower turns, so we did a lot of that. We rounded out the class with a few laps of the trail.
I could hardly believe that there was so much to learn. Having ridden on the road for a while, I’ve got a pretty good idea of how to do it. Sure, there’s still a lot to learn but I know what I’m doing for the most part. This was all new. I’m back to being a complete beginner, which doesn’t sit too well with me. I wanted to be GOOD at it, immediately. I guess I’ll resign myself to having to practice. At least that will justify the shopping spree on the way home. We spent a big chunk of $$ at Chaparral Motorsports.
