Master the big footprint in mud, grease
Content
Motor skills, braking, balance, traction: all our tips for making outside of bitumen ...
Lessons learned from the ubiquitous internship at Honda Adventure Center Wales
Ah, Africa, its vast desert expanses, thousands of kilometers of sandy tracks, its palm trees ... It makes you dream! Yes, but it's far away. However, there is no reason to sacrifice the urge to go off-road or off-road with a long trail. But our ecosystems are more humid, and the playground closest to you is likely muddy undergrowth. Therefore, Le Repaire invites you to consider this matter with a series of tips that have been validated in the Honda Africa Twin during an intensive internship at Honda Adventure Center with at least four-time world motocross champion: Dave Thorpe as teacher.
First point: balance
Before jumping two meters above a pile of logs, you may need to start with the basics. Because the joys of off-road work are primarily due to the unstable nature of the surface. So, before you even think about moving your bike, if you are new to it, you already have to think about driving it in a dead end ... So some tips to avoid getting into trouble before you even start!
First, consider that the bike is less unstable in steering than the right handlebar: there is a leverage effect that lightens the wedge. This will make it easier to maneuver on the left side of the bike, use the large handlebar as a lever, and press the car against the pelvis to limit loss of balance. Natural logic in relation to the side of the crutch, but which can be easily changed, for example, get out of a bad corner on the right side. The idea is to always make the mass of the bike work in your favor.
Thus, an easy exercise might be to place the bike upright, without a crutch, on a level surface and move around it, changing the support points and limiting the contact points to only two fingers. There is no longer a question of strength, but of grace and balance. Put it straight down, just hold the wheel, then go to the luggage rack, just hold it with two fingers, go around the luggage hanger, go to the other side of the wheel, then just hold it by pinching the bubble and end your move.
Thanks to this type of exercise, you will already begin to domesticate your motorcycle and realize that you will not always have to fight with it.
Second point: position
We do not ride a motorcycle in TT as we do on the road, and we have to learn to stand. And for this it is not enough to stand up like a bonobos in the middle of the evolutionary phase and assume that everything is in order. Because the devil is in the details. Let's start in order: legs? Instead of just having your toes on the footrests, you'll have to move a little further and rest right on the arch of your foot. Rest assured, the large TT boots allow you to lock onto the large notched footrests. Another advantage of this position: direct access to the rear brake control, which is more emphasized in the TT than on the road.
Another detail: fingers and handlebar grip. Obviously TT practice is shaking. And like a sailor clinging to the rudder with force 8, the biker will hold the rudders tightly along the way. So we will have to hold the pen firmly, but also with two fingers!
On the left side, practice holding the steering wheel with your ring and ear; the index and middle fingers are then intended to be operated by the clutch, and the guard of the aforementioned clutch must be adjusted in relation. This way, you can go a millimeter, for example, at a pier, standing with footrests, holding the handlebars firmly with two fingers (plus your thumb) and working the grip with the other two. Same punishment on the right side, you will have to learn to brake with one or two fingers to be able to perform this maneuver while standing.
The legs and arms are well positioned, the rest of the body should follow without coercion: the wrists are flexible and not broken on the handlebars, the shoulders and knees are flexible, also ...
Turn your feet!
Now that you are ready to move forward, you can also alert yourself immediately. Fat, on a plate, sticks (but that's good), but it slips on the floor. Loss of motor skills, poor directed strength, ruts: these will all become your daily life. Having said that, you just realized that it is not necessary, or at least only with the steering wheel, which you will have to turn, given the effect it will have on a surface that is not very sticky and tough.
Thus, it is by pressing the footrests that you will begin to influence the direction of the car. Which is good, since you are not on your toes, but if you read (and saved) the previous paragraph correctly, on the soles of your feet. If the exercise seems unnatural, practice doing small slalom along the cones ... until it feels natural.
Acceleration, thrust, thrust
The last important detail to move forward: understanding and managing your motor skills. A more or less important part of acceleration will be diluted in riding. Exhaustion can become significant, even fatal in the event of a difficult climb: it is better to arrive with a good impulse and climb an obstacle with a minimum of gas than almost stop and climb a large amount of gas ... to be in the middle ...
So reading the track is critical: Is one part of earth (or dirt) more promising than others? In the case of ice skating, can I rely on stones or roots to restore my motor skills? Should I take a rut and allow myself to be guided or, on the contrary, cross it to get around the obstacle? This is a good read ... and understanding the terrain is essential: this will determine your speed and acceleration rate. On large modern trails, often equipped with traction control, it will be necessary to test upstream (again, a flat but muddy surface is enough to understand everything you need to know), find out what level of skating and traction allows each of the possible modes.
Another pleasant difficulty: braking, especially when going downhill. The mistake would have been to let the electronics control everything, and ABS took matters into their own hands. Because in the case of almost zero grip, the ABS control panel will constantly "release the brakes" and you risk not only not stopping, but above all, taking a much higher speed than you would like! Again, you have to walk step by step, feeling the potential for gripping the front trail in braking ... and then you may be positively surprised by the "grip" of modern TT tires. A good compromise is to put ABS on the bikes that are equipped with it in “TT” mode: the back can be locked, which can help turn, while you are almost guaranteed not to lose the front.
Do you want to conquer this forest?
Walking through the undergrowth along a large trail is a source of pleasure. Of course, we could also do it on an enduro bike, but it would be more brutal, athletic, less versatile and less silky ... And then you need a trailer to get home while the big trail knows how to do it.
Resting very close to a stream, looking down at the valley below from the greatest possible vantage point, approaching centuries-old trees or picking mushrooms, these are all situations where large trails thrive. A pneumatic lift should not be neglected if the floor surface is oily, and never forget the peculiarities of this type of driving. Methodical and modest training (more than 250 kilograms of death, which you prefer to avoid!), Learning to read the field (as on the road, the role of the gaze is important), learning to put the gas, not braking, to get out of difficult situations (paradox for tourists, but it works ...) and, above all, build a reliable will. This is often what makes the difference between a crossed obstacle ... or not! Finally, as always on your adventure, avoid being alone.
