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Six
off road riding skills
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Skill
1. Look where you want to go.
You look at the pothole
. . . you go right through it! You look at the stone in the road . . .you go over
it. The eyes are the gun sight of the brain and therefore there are a few important
rules for the way we view the trail / track / sand road ahead of the motorcycle.
1) Keep your eyes up and look down the trail! Your natural reaction will be to
look at the ground in front of the motorbike. Look as far ahead as the trail,
speed and common sense allows. Your perception will naturally assimilate the rough
terrain and lead the front wheel along a good line. Do not look down! Do not look
at the rock in front of your wheel! Do not stare at the pothole in the road! Do
not gaze into the pool of soft mud! Look where you want to go and the bike will
naturally follow an invisible line towards where you are looking.
If you see a large rock or pothole do not allow your eyes to ’fixate’ on it. Take
it in and then allow you eyes to continue to move beyond or to the side of it.
The bike will follow your eyes and avoid the obstacle automatically.
2) Keep a ’wide angle view’ of the trail ahead - look at everything in general
but nothing in particular. (This same technique is used by trackers in the African
bush to spot game.) This not only helps avoid fixation but will allow you to spot
stray animals, pedestrians and farm vehicles.
3) Keep an eye out for the tell-tale dust trails from approaching cars or farm
vehicles.
4) Keep a look out in your rear view mirrors as local farmers are not afraid to
drive fast.
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Skill
2. Need for Speed.
This is difficult
as the natural reaction is to travel too slowly. The track ahead will be covered
in loose stones and sand. All you want to do is shut off the gas! Don’t do it!!
Slow down a little and then just before the loose stuff starts accelerating gently.
If the bike twitches and moves around . . . gas it a little more! Once you are
through the bad patch you can slow down a little if you want to.
The amount of stability a motorcycle has depends on its forward motion. More speed
helps it punch through and over the bad surface. Generally as the bike travels
faster and faster you will find that it becomes more balanced, stable and maneuverable.
Going too slowly over rough terrain will cause the bike to move around more and
perhaps cause you to panic. Within reason therefore go a bit faster than you are
comfortable with. Here as some suggestions . . .
• 10 - 40 kph for a trail or path not suitable for ordinary cars
• 40 - 60 kph for a road in poor condition (narrow, with ruts, bends, potholes
and loose stones)
• 60 - 80 kph for a typical dirt road (reasonably straight, offering a good line
with reasonable traction)
• 80 - 100 kph for a good dirt road (straight, offering a good line with good
traction. The verges should be clear of trees and bush because at this speed you
do not want an animal to step out in front of you)
Because you need to keep the throttle open when travelling through the loose stuff
do not approach bad patches too fast or in a gear that leaves you in the middle
of the power band. Choose a lower gear at the bottom end of the power band so
that you can accelerate gently!
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Skill
3. Lean forward, arms bend and relaxed.
You are travelling along a dirt road. Suddenly your eyes take in a bad patch
covered in loose stones and sand! Your eyes grow big, your arms go stiff and your
body recoils from the horrible sight!! Don’t do it!! You cannot steer through
it with stiff arms. Move forward to meet the foe eye to eye! Grip the tank with
your knees, arms bend and fluid to make small steering movements as you power
through.
The worst the road/track surface, the more important this becomes. Move your butt
forward. Lean forward from the waist moving your head and shoulders closer to
the front wheel than your butt. This does not mean resting/pushing down on the
handlebars with your body weight - this makes manoeuvring impossible. Your arms
must be bent, never locked - elbows out wide away from your sides.
Grip the tank firmly with your knees and push down onto the foot pegs with the
balls of your feet. This makes you and the bike into a single unified unit where
your body weight is as much part of the steering process as the front wheel. Your
upper body should be relaxed and free to move about easily.
Should the surface of the road deteriorate even more, keep the gas open!!! A decelerating
bike will flounder. Push down hard on your foot pegs. You will naturally find
yourself standing up which is the correct thing to do. Do not use the handlebars
to pull yourself up - their job is to steer, not pull!!
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Skill
4. Keep the bike upright when cornering
Your first ride on dirt roads is not the place to counter steer and lean your
motorcycle into the corners! Instead keep the motorcycle upright, tyres 90° to
the road surface. Yes, this will mean going slowly around the corners but speed
can come later.
As you get more confident you will want to corner more quickly. The secret here
is to get lots of downward pressure on the outside foot peg as you corner. This
keeps the motorbike firmly on the road and prevents the centrifugal force of cornering
from throwing the back wheel outwards. The easy way to do this is to stand with
your weight on your outside foot. In this position you can even lean the bike
into the corner
Very fast cornering off road using the accelerator to twist the bike around is
an advanced skill and can come later (assuming you have a bike light enough to
make this skill viable)
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Weight
forward, legs bent, elbows wide, foot down hard on the outside footpeg as you
go through a turn.
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Skill 5. Braking
You should have little need for hard braking when riding your motorcycle off road
if you follow these three pointers
• Approach corners and difficult patches with the old adage of "Slow in and fast
out".
• Keep your eyes up. Look down the trail.
• Ride defensively, anticipate problems.
Your gearbox and rear brake should give you all the stopping power you need. Unlike
riding on road, locking your rear wheel up on sand is not a problem. If you need
the extra stopping power you can progressively pile on the front brake until it
shows signs of locking up - then ease off a little.
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Skill 6. Pressure on the foot pegs
If you ride a heavy dual sport bike e.g. BMW GS1100 / 1200 then pressure on the
foot pegs becomes important. ’Stomping’ on the foot pegs can provide a huge amount
of leverage to get your bike to weave to and fro missing potholes and boulders
in your path when riding a straight, narrow trail with a technical surface. Stomping
on the pegs (imagine someone stomping in a vat of grapes) is an excellent way
to lighten the bike and flick it from side to side, weaving between the obstacles.
You stomp on the side you want to turn towards and lift the other leg by allowing
your knee to bend.
Typical "Grape Stomping" terrain. Stand up, legs bent.
NOTE: You don’t do this to turn a fast corner! You must stand on the outside footpeg
as you enter the corner to keep the back wheel from breaking and sliding away
as you gently gas it around the corner. (With a light MX bike you give it a lot
of gas to MAKE it break away and thereby use the rear wheel power to assist you
to turn the bike).
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