A weekend off-road (long)

So, in my ongoing study to see how much abuse a mid 40s body can take I
spent the weekend doing a 2 day enduro school.

It's the Yamaha Off Road Experience (again) but this time it's angled at
competitive riding.

So this is my fifth and sixth full days of off-road riding so I didn't
expect greatness. I wasn't disappointed. Or surprised.

It started, on Saturday morning, in an MX park type place with sessions
on cornering, riding posiition, lines and jumping. I managed to cock up
a slippery downhill on the way there so had a decent crash early in the
first day. Nothing spectacular, just a hard crunch onto the ground. 3
hours there. and at the end I was a lot happier with my riding than the
start, especially with a long sweeping corner where the rear was
drifting most of the way towards the end of the session.

Then lunch, followed by a trail ride to an area with some gritty, wet
uphill climbs, granite downhill (covered in water in places) and then
some whoops [1]. No serious crashes.

An hour or so watching Geraint Jones show how to prepare a bike, what to
look for, plus changing a tube and then putting a mousse in... and then
putting the tube back.

Sunday started with a morning session on climbing steep hills and steep
descents. The descents were hard but I learnt a bit more about using a
higher gear, putting my weight back and letting the bike go a little
faster (on a closed throttle) and spotting suitable braking points to
scrub speed periodically. A helpful session. We then started trying to
climb the section that we'd been going down. Alll went well until I saw
a couple of bikes fallen in the track on the way up (width about 5
feet). I got around one but lost it and fell onto the other bike,
burying my hand in its rear wheel. Ouch. A bit of time on some ruts and
a few more hills followed, including starting from a standstill on steep
stuff (which when there's limited grip is harder than expected).

Second session on Sunday was a muddy forest section. I managed to lose
it slightly but since we were in a deep rut caused by forestry equipment
my leg saved the bike from falling over. Ouch. We then did a few
circuits including some more whoops. We'd been taught to ride them by
using a high gear, the instructor (Greg Evans, 2010 European Senior E2
Champion) showed us a method of jumping combinations of whoops and
hitting the ones we couldn't jump with the underside of the front wheel
(by pulling a small wheelie). I tried this once and it seemed to work
well. I tried it a second time, with more speed... I guess 30-40mph? I
jumped badly and landed with the front wheel into the face of a solid
mound of dirt and rock. The bike spat me off and cartwheeled once or
twice, I didn't see because I was too busy flying. Landed on my head
and rolled a few times. Still nothing hurt beyond a stiff neck.

After this we did this circuit in reverse and then went back to the farm
for lunch. On the way back I managed to take a wrong turn so tried to
turn around in a narrow track. Got onto a verge... which wasn't a
verge. It was horrible boggy stuff covered in moss. Bike ended up
stuck, upright on its own and buried up to the swing arm. Instructor
eventually helped me drag it out.

Sunday afternoon was a trail ride. Quite fun but clearly I wasn't
trying because I didn't lob the bike.


Seriously good fun. A weekend on a hired bike with fuel and repairs
thrown in for 290 quid. Learnt a lot. Will be back... maybe in January
for another enduro school.

If anyone wants to try some off road stuff out you could do a lot worse
than give this crowd a ring:

http://www.yamaha-offroad-experience.co.uk/


[1] Series of mounds a few metres apart,

 

wrote:

Sounds like fun to me. Thanks very much for that, I'm thoroughly
enjoying the vicarious mid-life crisis through your amusing posts. And
I've saved ~300 quid by not getting hurt and muddy, too.

Keep taking the painkillers, 'cos I bet your neck's stiff today.

 

Neck I've forgotten about.

Leg's sore, wrist and thumb too. Plus rib's complaining a little on
deeper breaths. It'll fix.

I think I need a Michelin man style rubber suit. Puncture resistant.

 

http://hellforleathermagazine.com/2009/08/jorge-lorenzo-crashes-in-dainese-airbag-suit/

 

I didn't realise he'd given up wicket-keeping.

 

<checks time>

And we're off.

 

[...]

I really must try that some time.