Fun In the Dirt
fun in the dirt
HOW-TO
E. WARNER
PURE ECSTASY is the rule of the day while riding a fine dirt bike at high speeds over extremely rough ground, avoiding rocks and holes, steering into and out of winding turns, coming over a sudden rise in the ground with a long controlled wheelie, becoming airborne, then touching down again with the rear wheel first, and always in absolute control.
Newcomers may learn to perform this way, without any serious physical injury, without excessive damage to an expensive motorcycle, in approximately two years of assiduous practice.
Frequent trips around the neighborhood streets, with intelligent caution, soon give newcomers sufficient assurance that they can handle their machines on pavement and other relatively smooth surfaces. However, sooner or later, the majority of novice riders will turn off the road and make those first exciting, never-to-be-forgotten ventures into the dirt playgrounds of motorcycle fun.
Watching other riders gleefully roam the dirt trails, playing hilarious games, striving mightily to outdo each other, the newcomer senses an awakening of truly enthusiastic interest in an exciting new sport.
Once out in the dirt, newcomers should first very carefully study the riding position of the more experienced riders. It should be very apparent that these riders usually keep their legs tucked in close to the machine, gripping the machine with their knees now and then.
The close observer also should see that the experienced riders constantly rise to a semi-standing position. In this way, they can shift body weight in any desired direction. In this way, they can completely ignore the most violent pitching and bucking of the bike between their legs.
This is a very important point that the newcomer must grasp. Also, it might be the one idea that the newcomer will find most difficult to accept at first.
A rider has much better control of a bike from a semi-standing position than from a seated position.
The newcomers naturally will wish to go blasting up a few hills, especially after watching other riders do so. Therefore, they must remember that the real problems usually will occur when they are forced to come to an unexpected stop on a rather steep portion of a hill.
After getting hung up this way, under no circumstances should a newcomer ever allow a bike to start rolling backward downhill. In this situation, there is no way to recover. A serious fall is almost inevitable. Lay that bike down. Drop it quite hard if necessary, but don't start rolling backward.
To fully understand this situation, a newcomer might start up a slight incline sometime and then deliberately come to a full stop. Here, he must keep the engine running — he must prevent the bike from rolling backward with the use of either front or rear brake. He may not be able to reach the rear brake pedal with his foot — because that foot is needed on the ground to hold up the bike. Using the front brake and the throttle simultaneously will require more experimentation — and a lot of practice.
Next, he must push off and continue on up the hill. This alone will require extensive practice because it is not an easy thing for a tyro to do. If continuing on up the hill seems impractical, the newcomer must horse the front end of the bike around until he can safely push off and descend to level ground.
The newcomer should never approach a steep, bumpy hill with his feet off the pegs and legs spread like a pair of wings. He probably will slip backward on the seat until all his weight is directly over the rear wheel. In this situation, the rider will be bounced up and down unmercifully. At the same time he will be exposed to a very painful bump in the groin. And, with the rider's weight directly over the rear wheel, the bike could easily rear up and loop over backward with a very sickening crash.
During the initial stages of learning to ride in the dirt, newcomers should approach every hill in an alert, semi-standing position. They should carefully choose an imaginary line up the hill, then follow that line.
With experience and practice, these beginners soon will surprise themselves, and many of their friends, by easily and safely running up almost any steep incline, with the additional ability to stop at any time, under complete control.
The most serious trouble any rider ever will face is an uncontrolled descent down a very steep, bumpy hill. In this situation, there is no way to get off the bike. There is no way to get away from the bike. It's just hang on, pray, and ride it out!
Many experienced riders somehow are reminded of these downhill experiences while at home in bed, and sound asleep. On these occasions, they usually awaken, rise up and mumble something with a breathless, silly giggle, then roll over and return to sleep.
During the initial period of learning downhill technique, novice riders should avoid using the front wheel brake. This technique can be slowly acquired later on. The rear wheel of a lightweight bike can be skidded all the way down a hill without much trouble. However, a big, heavy bike has a tendency to fishtail, even swap ends, with the rear wheel locked and skidding. Engine compression sometimes has a better braking efect — on a big bike — than the rear wheel brake.
The synchronized use of both front and rear brake is truly an art. This skill will permit an experienced rider to take a bike down unbelievably steep places. Newcomers probably will be amazed to watch riders in the Master division of English Trials compete against each other, especially in climbing and descending hills that are almost vertical cliffs.
With good sense and a little caution, there is one way to learn and practice control of the front wheel brake; that is, drive forward in low gear with the front wheel locked and skidding. On loose dirt or wet grass, an experienced rider will be able to travel ahead about 10 - 15 ft. with very little trouble. This is abusing the bike, of course! However, it's worth the time and effort, and probably a few falls. Also, a person can easily obtain good riding balance this way, especially in a semi-standing position.
There is nothing quite so spectacular as a motorcycle being ridden on the rear wheel only, with the front wheel high up in the air. It also is a never-ending source of pleasure and excitement to perform this tricky maneuver in front of a lot of people. Naturally, it's the result of extensive practice. It should also be understood that the experienced riders usually have performed many modifications to their bikes to suit their own individual requirements. Therefore, with these thoughts in mind, the average rider easily can learn to do controlled wheelies in complete safety.
Newcomers will, of course, have a long way to go. They will first have to learn to lift the front wheel momentarily off the ground with a quick burst of power. Traveling at a slow speed in low gear, this can usually be done just as the front wheel rises over a little hump in the ground. After extensive experimentation, the newcomer soon will be able to lift the front wheel off the ground at will — in first or second gear.
The immediate advantage of lifting the front wheel up into the air this way is that the rider will avoid many teeth-shattering bumps by simply floating over them. With the front wheel in the air, the rear wheel and rear suspension absorb all the shock. This technique is of particular value while passing over a washboard surface.
It should be understood that this is advanced riding, in which an all-out dirt model is being used. Furthermore, there is no intent to encourage dangerous abuse of a bike in any way, or the impractical use of a particular model. It goes without saying that many street bikes should never be taken into the dirt. Also, this is being written mostly with the intention of suggesting how newcomers can avoid the heartbreaking experience of damaging their bikes. Everyone should readily understand, also, that there is a vast audience here — a very wide degree of rider experience — and a tremendous variety of motorcycle machinery involved.
During the initial stages of learning to lift the front wheel off the ground, newcomers should devote a little time and attention to bringing the front wheel back down to the ground by using the rear brake. Often this will cause the front wheel to come down quite hard and abruptly. However, the rider will develop the habit of having his foot on the brake pedal. Later on, when serious attempts are being made to do wheelies, there will be less danger of looping the bike. Also, many times the bike has a tendency to fall slightly to the side. It would be definitely to the advantage of the rider to create the habit of allowing the bike to fall in such a way that he can always keep one foot on the rear brake pedal.
It is much easier to do long controlled wheelies up a slight incline than on a flat surface. Also, the rear tire should be fairly well deflated to eliminate buildup of unwanted speed. The most common mistake that newcomers make is being over-anxious. The immediate result, of course, is damaging the bikes. Just a very few cautious wheelie attempts, once a week or so, will soon give almost anyone the skill he seeks.
In doing wheelies, there is a balance point that a rider must find for each bike being ridden. Once this balance point is known to the rider, it can be held — with ease — by continuous on-off use of the throttle. It must be understood, again, that the bike should be of an adequate size to accomplish this maneuver; the bike should be stripped down; the bike should have proper gearing; and there are many other preparations and modifications that can't be conveniently discussed here.
In attempting to do a wheelie, a rider might approach a long, smooth dirt incline in second gear, at about 10 mph, with a very soft rear tire, elbows out and rather high for better balance, most of the body weight well back on the saddle and over the rear wheel, both feet firmly on the foot pegs, the toe of one boot also firmly on the rear brake pedal, the brake pedal probably having been slightly modified in some way for this kind of maneuver, and with a very strong hold on the grips. The rider, then, can suddenly bring on a sudden burst of power — at the same moment firmly pulling up and back on the wide handlebars.
In the event the bike starts to drift or fall off to one side, the rider can simply reduce power. In the event the bike rises up too high, the rider can bring it down with hard rear brake. If the incline is sufficiently long, a rider might make two or three wheelie attempts during one run. In the event that real disaster occurs, when it becomes necesasry to "abandon ship," so to speak, there should not be much speed developed. The rider must step off the bike and try to land running.
It's truly a heartbreaking experience to see a fine bike go flopping onto the ground, with broken parts falling in many directions. After seeing this happen once or twice, a rider might understandably lose interest in doing additional wheelies. However, if a rider is determined to learn to do wheelies, in spite of the possibilities of damaging his precious bike, he should at least spend many weeks in careful experimentation and practice.
Getting airborne with a bike, while charging around in the dirt, is truly a very exciting experience. A rider may never get off the ground more than 2 or 3 ft., but it couldn't be more exciting if it were 20 or 30 ft. This is especially true during those first few times in the air.
Usually it is as much fun talking about these motorcycling maneuvers as it is being in the saddle. A friendly Greeves rider once said, "I was 'way up there, where the birds are. I was waiting for the ground to come back. I had her in perfect control, but I lost it when I landed. I got back to the bike before the engine quit, picked her up, and was on my way again. Man, oh man! I've had the time of my life today!"
When getting airborne with a bike, the rider must have the front wheel higher than the rear wheel as he leaves the ground, while in the air, and as he touches back down again. The rider can soften the landing impact by absorbing his own weight with the leg muscles and by allowing himself to be bounced down onto the saddle. A semi-standing position is normally used, while approaching a jump, while in the air, and when landing.
If power is reduced before the bike leaves the ground, the front wheel will be lower than the rear wheel, when the bike is in the air, and when the bike returns to the ground. Very serious difficulties, to say the least, usually develop when the front wheel lands first. In this situation, the rider has very little control, and could easily go into a hard fall.
The perfect jump is performed by turning on plenty of power until the bike is well into the air. Once airborne, all power should be turned off to prevent the engine from revving up unnecessarily. However, a "blip" or two on the throttle, while in the air, will let overyone know that everything is under perfect control. After landing, plenty of power will be needed to prevent the front wheel from striking overly hard. In many instances, it might even be easy and quite safe to recover from a small jump by going into a controlled wheelie.
It doesn't take long for the newcomers to catch on to these things, and then to move up and into competition. In the presence of eager spectators, with the screaming clangor of many engines, with the acrid penetrating stink of burned fuel, all the human senses are sharpened from a delicious inward tingle. Like ancient hunters and warriors and gladiators, here is a chance for today's young men to compete, to excel, to demonstrate strength and bravery with feats of derring-do. Their pulses go crazy, and nothing else seems to matter — just to lean hard into those turns, lunge high, bring in full power, stand up, hang on, and stay in front of that pack!
