1st Ride Since the Class

[4EverOrange]

What a difference in my riding, and I was on a track! lol My turning speed was double the speed!

I started out in the backyard practicing my turns. I start doing the figure 8's through a couple of trees. By the time I was done 3 of the guys watching me decided to give it a go. The first guy, I had to show how. :) My Dad did it, but his form was way off and it looked like he was fighting it. And Mark, my husband, did it first try, twice as fast as I did. lol He is amazing to watch on a bike.

After getting a feel for the bike again, and practicing my wheelies, I headed down to the track. Holy cow could I rail those corners. A friend of Dad's was on the track. He waited and let me pass him, then tried to 'race' with me. It only took me a couple of laps to get a 1/4 lap ahead of him, at which point he gave up. :aj:

If you weren't able to take the class, I would really recommend at some point in time enrolling into some sort of course. I really feel like I should ahve done this years ago!

Thanks to all who arranged the weekend! I am looking forward to next year! Maybe next year the advanced hill really can be upper cell phone!

 

[altagirl]

Congrats on the improvement!!! I'm so jealous - wish I could have made it out there. Any tips/advice you're willing to pass on to the rest of us?

 

[GETMETOCA]

Here is a link to Nicole's Tips: http://www.girlrider.net/articles/oregonschool.htm

BTW 4EO --- AWESOME!!!  :thumb:

 

 

[altagirl]

That's a really good link. Quick question - should you grip the tank with your legs or not? The page says: "2.) Don't Squeeze legs to tank or frame" But my husband keeps telling me to do just that - and when I remember to do it - it seems to help make it a smoother ride (when I don't the rear end of the bike has a tendency to kick out to the side when I hit a rock or something odd). So I'm confused. Does this just apply to certain situations?

Leann - what did you change that made your cornering so much faster? I was working on just that last weekend (there's a pseudo-track type of thing that has a whole bunch of bermed corners in the desert where we ride) but obviously didn't have nearly as much success...

Isn't it the best feeling in the world to make improvements like that! That's awesome that you're schooling the guys!

 

[4EverOrange]

Not gripping the tank was what made the cornering difference. When I grip the tank it throws my weight off balance. By keeping my legs 1inch away from the bike, I can throw the bike into the corners and I feel totally and completely balanced and in control.

I had always heard to grip the tank too. But let me tell you on the track it made a HUGE difference. I could throw my bike into the corners like I never dreamed of being able to. To top it off, not once did I feel out of control. I was in complete command of the bike. It felt awesome!

 

[4EverOrange]

Oh and not gripping the tank and standing, makes it easier to recover from bobble such as rocks and ruts. You can manuever the bike underneath your body.

 

[GETMETOCA]

Originally posted by 4EverOrange
Oh and not gripping the tank and standing, makes it easier to recover from bobble such as rocks and ruts. You can manuever the bike underneath your body.

 

Ditto.  I think the only time Nicole said to grip the tank is if you are going down a steep hill and you need to reposition and move your weight back. It also helps take weight off your arms.

 

[Girlrider]

You girls are good! Natalie you have a good memory. altagirl what you need to do to see what I mean is have your husband hold your bike up while you are on it. He would be in front holding the forks. Once he is holding then stand up and keep your knees in a comfortable relazed position, not gripping the tank. Then have him lean the bike to the right and see what your legs do to compensate for the lean of the bike. (If you do it right you will spread them and put more weight on the outside peg to counterbalance). You won't feel like you are going to tip over. Then try to the other side. Then straighten up and now grip the tank like he tells you and have him lean the bike again. After you do this tell me if you felt more comfortable gripping or not gripping. If you grip then you can't counterbalance your weight when the bike bounces around or leans from side to side. And remember our bikes acutally turn better if they are being leaned. Now since he told you to grip and you tell me your rear tire is bouncing all around then I would have to guess he told you that you need 15lbs of tire presure which would explain why they rear end is bouncing. WOMEN NEED ONLY 10lbs of tire pressure. 12 AT THE MOST! I rode my GG250 in the ISDE in France (So 200 miles a day for 6 Days) with 10 lbs in front and rear and had NO flats but good traction. Try it and let me know how it goes.

 

[altagirl]

Cool - I'll definitely have to try that tomorrow night!

 

[Mini_Thumper]

Nicole:

When I told my husband what you said about not gripping the tank, he said " I read that in one of our dirt bike magazines". So, now that he is home for three months while his leg heals . . . he is bound and determined to find the article and show me why they said to grip the tanks. Needless to say . . . I'm going to follow your advice because Andrea showed me what would happen if I gripped the tanks . . . I almost fell over.

I'll be sure to let you know what he finds, and maybe we can find the cause for so many of us thinking we need to hang on for dear lives with our knees!

Thanks again for all the pointers . . . I'll be back next year to do the uphills and downhills that I missed out on this year!

Sarah

 

[KDXgirl]

Coming from a horseriding background where I was told more times than I can remember to "grip with your knees!" was hard on the dirtbike. I did a training school also the other weekend and we were told to grip with your legs when standing, and on the trainers bike (Oz champion enduro rider) you could see where he had been gripping on the frame above the footpegs cause there was no paint left!

 

[4EverOrange]

I have always been told to grip the bike too. If I would have tried it Nicole's way and it didn't work I would go back to gripping the bike. However that is not the case. Just go out and give it a try. It may take a couple of turns to get the feel, but in the end it will feel right.

BTW - This is all assuming you are standing. I am not sure what the protocol is for sitting.

 

[pyrofreak]

What would be the protocal for gripping the tank/frame when sitting?

 

[Girlrider]

Let's see, sitting. The only time I really sit is on a jeep road in which you don't need to grip as you are not going over too much rough stuff. (I never sit on rough stuff anyway) I do sit on REALLY steep up hills similar to the one the advanced girls were riding. If you are going uphill again I don't see the need to grip. I am not going to tell anyone NOT to grip but when I teach I do teach what I personally think is the best technique. I am 5-8" and 125lbs and in my last year of racing enduro I was in the 250A class and finishing mid pack. To get to that point I had to master techniques and skills so that I was less fatigued then the men I was racing. I don't have the same amount of muscle as the men to move a 220lb bike around. To me gripping takes energy to squeeze and that is energy that can best be used somewhere else. When I squeeze I can't move the bike left and right to compensate when it bounces around. I took up Observed trials full time last year and in trials we often have to ride long loops. At the Oregon National it was 16 miles plus the sections and we had to ride fast to get 2 loops done in a short time. I had to ride the tight single track fast and if you have ever seen a trials bike there is no tank to grip yet we can ride those things fast. To be honest if they could go farther then 20 miles on a tank of gas I would race those in enduro. But back to squeezing and sitting. Take a look at the top road racers and see if they are sqeezing the tank. The only time I see them doing that is on a straight section to keep their body close to the bike for less air resistence. But what do they do when they hit a turn. They put one leg out as they lean the bike and then slightly shift their bum to the outside to weight the outside peg allowing the tire to get more traction. Same principle as what we taught at the school. Practice both ways and see what works best for you. If gripping works best for you and you are less fatiqued after 100 miles then do it. Good Luck!

Nicole

PS Not gripping means your pants last longer :)

 

[altagirl]

Thanks! My husband gave me the "That's not what I've always heard" line too - but it seems to be a common theory. I'm definitely looking forward to testing it out tonight!

 

[gospeedracer]

I too had always heard about gripping the tank with your knees and until last weekend I was a gripper, but after experiencing the difference between Nicole's technique and gripping with my knees I'm a firm believer in Nicole's way.
Andrea saw me ride by on a trail and commented I was still gripping too much with my knees so when I tried it again without gripping the difference was amazing. It was as if a light bulb had gone off and I finally saw the light! :thumb:

 

[NVR FNSH]

The only time I can think of that I grip the tank is in a sand wash when the bike starts getting squirley/swapping back & forth and clamping with my knees, along with getting my weight back, add throttle helps straighten it out.

I do this twice a year - Jawbone at New Year's and Reno in February.

Brian

 

[MudnRocks]

I was also a big time gripper until the ladies weekend. My frame, plastic and boots will testify. Andrea held my bike and I did the grip or not to grip control test, it sold me. Not gripping is only part of the process you also have to use proper stance and body english to make it all work right. What a huge difference it made "for me" in control and flow while riding.

My husband is still more of the gripper mind and thats ok. He has his style and rides how it works for him and I have my style and I'm going to ride how it works best for me. I must say he was impressed with the improvements he saw that weekend.

Have fun trying this out. Happy Trails.

Kimberly

 

[E-Ticket]

Another really good reason for *NOT* gripping the tank tightly?

What do you think happens when your bike bounces sideways off of a rock or tree root? Yup. It goes *really* sideways..... *really* fast.

And if you're gripping the tank with your knees? You go with the bike... sideways... *really* fast. Which is usually the precursor to a bank or bushes trip. :scream:

And if you riding with your knees loose? The bike whips sidesways.... and suddenly you have 2 - 8" to react to the bike! Which translates to letting the bike slew sidesways why you keep your body centered in the direction it was originally going. And when it baps back? You're still loose enough to catch the sideways rebound going the other way!

Watch the "good" hillclimbers on steep, rocky, or hard hills. The bike is moving back and forth under them... all over the place... while their loose knees and legs and acting like little balancing points... and keeping their upper body still and moving/focused forward.

Try it on your next slippery section. Keep your knees loose around the bike and let it move under you. It works!

Cheers! - E-Ticket

 

[altagirl]

Hey - that really did help!! I felt so much more stable everywhere. In fact, it got me into trouble, because at the end of the day yesterday I was feeling a bit overconfident while flying through a gully with endless tight turns, whoops and rocks (probably my favorite section of trail anywhere) and was feeling so good I ended up going significantly faster than usual, hit a rock, and after a quick string of recoveries wound up with the front tire off the trail and in a pile of off-angle loose gravel - resulting in a pretty spectacular cartwheel. Luckily no damage done to either me or the bike other than a few new gouges in the bark buster plastic... Oops. Anyway, we did about 5 hours of pretty challenging terrain yesterday - other than that end of the day wreck, I was really impressed with how much smoother I rode keeping loose and standing nearly all the time. (Hands are more sore than usual though.) Thanks for all the great advice!!!

 

[4EverOrange]

Alta-

Glad it worked for you! I know how that going too fast thing goes. I did the exact same thing in Central Oregon this winter. I was feeling so good, and keeping up with everyone, that a rock came out of nowhere. Talk about crapping my pants. I thought for sure I was going down, but I kept the wheels on the dirt. :)

 

[altagirl]

Yeah - I think what really got me going is that I was leading. And even though I can usually keep up (or stay pretty close anyway) - once I'm the one up front I start thinking I'm going to hold someone up and have a tendency to go a little crazy. Sometimes I think it's good for me - because I push myself more and find out I can handle more than I've been trying - and other times I find out exactly where my limits are!

 

[Lissa]

I've learned there's times to grip and times not to grip. In rocky terrian you have to have a bit looser riding style to compensate for all the loose rocks beneath the wheels. I'm still learning to get comfortable with riding rocks myself. In the sand and tight woods(my fav) gripping the bike here and there is necassary. It has taken me a while to adjust to a looser riding style in the rocks. In the sand I grip the bike and control it alot from my hips and use my arms less. On the turns I loosen up but keep control in the straights with my knees. Same for tight woods, I scoot up as far as possible on the seat and kick the back-end around between the trees. Doing this has made the rocks transition hard, believe me. A lot of bobbling and scaring the cr*p out of myself till I loosened up and adjusted my riding style.

Anyway, learning something new that actually helps you go faster is always great. Schools are definately helpfull!

 

[DoubleBlip]

I'm intrigued with this "to grip or not to grip" thread. It's very cool that you all are 1) remembering 2) using 3) discussing this topic. You are right about times to grip and times not to. Screaming down a sandwash, I would grip more than I would if I was riding a pile of rocks for instance. Watch a top motocrosser or offroader (and I mean a factory hero, not a local hero), and you will see they don't death grip the bike. To be fast you have to be able to manuver. There are alot of guys out there that can ride pretty fast with alot of bad habits. Of course, they get around pretty quick so that must be right...not! Most women don't have the strength and height to muscle a bike around, so we really need to know the proper techniques.

Keep practicing!
Kerrie

 

[E-Ticket]

One other small but really important item:

If you're "gripping" the tank.... you're not relaxed....

Any time you ride "looser" and more relaxed -- you'll put less *random* input into the bike (from bumps and jiggles) -- and you'll burn *way* less energy.

Remember what Nicole said, "... it's all about energy conservation...."