Mokwepa - My Progress :)

[mokwepa]

@ billyt: yip, im a field guide. They pay me to look for dangerous animals all day long

[zippy]

@ billyt: yip, im a field guide. They pay me to look for dangerous animals all day long

Do ya look for them through a rifle scope??

[mokwepa]

Nope. That part I do in my spare time. I take photographers out.

Oh yes, I dont use a scope, im a handgun hunter. Open sights for me

[zippy]

Manly man. I tip my hat to you sir.

I personally love the taste of venison (deer), but just can't be bothered to go out and get it. So I eat alot of beef and chicken. it comes so conveniently packaged.

[mokwepa]

Meat is meat and a man must eat

I disagree with trophy hunting but accidentaly got into the books. I hunt for food.

Back to the bikes, man.....that tire is hard without a kicker. Lots more practice to come.

My boyz oset arrived at my folks. Cant wait to show my son.

[zippy]

I have no problem with hunting, I have no problem with a trophy being hung on the wall to commemorate the hunt. But the meat best damn well be used. You kill it, you grill it! (I think you and I basically agree on the hunting thing, except I am too lazy to do it )

Meat is meat and a man must eat

I disagree with trophy hunting but accidentaly got into the books. I hunt for food.

Back to the bikes, man.....that tire is hard without a kicker. Lots more practice to come.

My boyz oset arrived at my folks. Cant wait to show my son.

ok enough personal opinion on political/hunting issues

Tire = More throttle, perfect timing and more unweighting (bounce) of the rear suspension.

Your riding experience will now be a million times better because you will be riding with your son. You will still ride just as crappy as always but you will be having more fun riding like crap because you can share it with your son. enjoy!

[billyt]

Mokwepa

After years of riding rocks and tyres. I can tell you tyres are actualy harder to get over! Why? When you compress the front end in to a rock it does not really absorbed any of the energy and pretty much returns in back into the front forks helping you unload.

A tyre on the other hand compresses in a little when you drive into it, absorbing some of the front fork energy subsequently making it harder to unload the front forks.

Then if you do get partly up on the tyre there is usually so much grip from the rubber to rubber contact throwing you off.......

Edited August 2, 2013 by billyt

[copemech]

Hi copemech.

I had a short ride now but quit before I hurt myself or my bike. I rode like such a dork and made tons of dumb mistakes I usually don't make. I just wasn't feeling it today.

The diagram doesn't do my course justice. Most of my obstacles dont have a run up or at least a very short one. My bigger obstacles have a bit more of a run up until I can handle them better.

Oh well. Bad days riding but ill try again tomorrow.

PS: I did get up my tire without a kicker, but not on the first few attempts. Getting the hang of it now.

Give yourself some room at first, then tighten things up as a challenge. Basics are key, not Big maneuvers.

So, lets say you gat between two of them parallel logs less than a wheels distance apart. even the smaller ones. A Floater is key here in getting out. Another basic sometimes lost in the day of stop and hop, but a good floater can get you out of many jams!

[mokwepa]

All the advice makes sense, now its getting the coordination to communicate with my brain.

With the 3 smaller logs, I change the spacing and angle of them all the time to vary that part of the obstacle. I usually have the first 2 a wheel width apart then the 3rd one a bike length from the 2nd. I try float over the first 2 then as I clear that the 3rd is right against my front tire, then I do the hop frt hop back over.

[rob214]

a bad day riding is better than a good day working. if you can get up a new obstacle on one of the first 50 tries it's to easy. practice hard................

rob

[mokwepa]

Advice needed please...

Im battling to get traction on my front wheel when doing full lock turns on soft ground. My front wheel drifts or slips causing the bike to move forward instead of turn. Im expecting the bike to turn but it drifts and I loose balance. What am I doing wrong?

Ps: today I left my obstacles and did the boring groundwork stuff, my weaker point, but I guess it just has to be done.

[zippy]

If you have an old front tire it will not grip very well. Many riders neglect the front tire. But there is a very noticeable difference with a new front tire. OK got that out of the way

You may have too much air in the front tire, 6 psi is considered standard but sometimes less is better. When turning and the motor "surges" forward if there is too much air in the front tire the tire is somewhat rigid and will not absorb the forward force from the motor, and the whole tire unit will skid forward. At a lower pressure the knobs of the tire (footprint) will stay put and the sidewall flexes to absorb the forward motion from the motor. (I really hope that makes sense)

technique: slip the clutch and moderate the throttle, also lean the bike the direction you wish to turn. wanna turn right, lean bike to the right. Now only lean the bike, keep your body straight up and down ( leaning slightly opposite direction)and your knees bowed out. That way you have more room between your legs to move the bike and can use your body/legs as counterbalances when the bike is leaned to the side a bit.

Or just say to heck with it and do a nose wheelie and hop the rear end around

[mokwepa]

Hi zippy. Thanks.

Must be my tire, its very old. The rest of what you said is what im doing unless im on the gas too much and not soft enough with the clutch.

Frt is 6psi, rear is 4psi.

[mr neutron]

Getting through a tight turn on slick terrain is tough, Mokewepa! Whether it's snotty type of mud, or loose marble sized clods of dry dirt/rocks/gravel, it's not easy.

Try to lean the bike as as much to the inside of the turn as you can, while you keep your (your body's) weight as a counterbalance to the outside. You'll have to bend at the knees a good bit, and sorta squat down to do this. The inside knee will be bent quite a bit to allow the bike to lean. At first it feels funny, but eventually, you figure out it works pretty darn good.

As Zippy said, modulate (slip) your clutch, to help things roll/flow smoothly as you turn, along with your rear brake. Keeping a little "tension", or pressure, on that rear brake helps a bunch. I generally try not to even breathe on my front brake. It seems like even the lightest pull on the lever sends the front end diving while I'm leaned over for a turn, and will make me dab.

When this is done right (you won't see any videos of ME for that example ), your motions on the bike just sorta "flow" smoothly, and you "ride away like a champ". It looks really sweet, and works for getting around stuff even better.

As I've been learning, I've kinda adopted the attitude that if I can learn to turn tighter, it allows me just a little more space to set up for whatever obstacle is next. So I spend much time learning to turn. The weird thing is, I didn't like practicing turns at first. Then, after getting quite a few dabs while turning in the competitions, and kinda liking a challenge, I've began actually liking to practice turns. I had to be creative to make it fun. I've set some deals up that I can't clean (yet), but they did help in my last Trial last weekend.

Now, this doesn't mean don't practice the logs, tires, rocks or whatever. Learning the timing, technique, & unweighting & such are invaluable, and lots of fun. It looks cool, too! But if you compete at the typical beginning level, cleaning the turns in sections seems to really help your scores......

Oh, did you get that OSET for your son? That looked like a good one!

Man.I wish it were within my means to come see what you get to see over there. My wife would like that too. She just got a Canon 7D camera, and likes wildlife photography. Here, she mostly gets pics of deer, and occasionally, elk. Nothing that wants to eat us, but are themselves great to eat....... Ooooh, that reminds me. my elk season just began. Man, so many distractions......

Jimmie

Edited August 3, 2013 by mr neutron

[mokwepa]

Thanks mr N, ill keep practicing.

Had a fairly good afternoon in the office today. Just need a leopard now for my current guests.

Got my boys oset, its with my folks in the big city so hell only see it next weekend when I go down for my first trial.