Reply to thread

Message: [QUOTE="Feanor, post: 854549, member: 55364"] Thanks all for the wonderful replies and encouragement! To date, I don't think I've ever experienced such a strong sense of "fellowship" (for lack of a better word) in any of the other activities I've tried in my life, than in off-road motorcycles. And I Fence, shoot, practice archery, road cycle, and engage in numerous other activities. I'm convinced this is so because there is an element of risk with dirtbikes, and because of that, a mutual respect (even grudgingly given sometimes by those who might not see eye to eye) to any and all who participate. Its a strong affinity between those who share in a common danger, perhaps not unlike that soldiers in the field might experience. Razrbakcrzy, I felt exactly as you did in that I was desperately worried that I would be a "nuisance" to the more experienced riders and would end up detracting from their own fun... I let them know about my concerns and they just laughed and said that it was always easy to go somewhere and blast around with riders of the same caliber or even go nuts on the track, but to be able to hook up with someone new who was really excited about getting good, and have an opportunity to teach them the right way, and watching them have success, that was as "cool" as anything on the track or trail... And I REALLY did get the feeling that they felt genuinely about that... It was fun too sometimes stopping at the side of the trail and listening to their little pow-wows as they consulted each other about their own individual opinions and techniques about how to tackle certain sections... The climbs (beginner climbs) definitely don't hold the same fear factor for me as they once did as the hill always looks 10 times more intimidating from the top looking down or bottom looking up than it does as your powering up it... (I still can't believe some of the near vertical ascents some guys were doing!!! That's ALOT later for me!) At the top of one short climb one of my friends mentioned that you really aren't even going that fast, its the sound of the motor and the vibration that makes you feel like your ripping along at some breakneck speed, but in reality, you're only really doing something like10 mph (if that for that particular climb) and if for some reason you did lose traction or forward momentum, you just end up plopping over with almost NO speed. Thinking about that displaced most of the fear and made more of the fun factor come thru... Going down a steeper, more slippery downhill was probably the most nervous I got during times on the trail... There was always a feeling of being right on the edge of a long tumbling ride down... I was having a devil of a time because I wasn't using the front brake at all and relied completely on the rear brake and engine braking... this because of bits and pieces that I'd gleaned about using front brake from MX magazines etc... Then as I was in one rear sliding/skidding trip down a section (and horrifyingly picking up speed) suddenly my buddy was right next to me and shouting over the motor noise... "Less rear brake... use the front too... tap tap tap.... go straight and tap the front brake, you'll slow down... but don't lock up the front" In a few seconds of alternately pressing and releasing the front brake while still using the rear and engine braking I was down to a crawl and could even reliably bring myself to a complete halt on the downhill! That was Epiphany #2 during the ride after the "pressing the knee into the outside of the bike in a turn" epiphany :) Another example of how valuable it is to ride with nice people with practical knowedge and not the perpetuation of misinformation because I was interpreting what I thought made sense from a magazine about a completely different dirtbike application :) From then on, the descents were more like "ok... here we go, nice and easy..." instead of the previous "A downhill.... crap!" I really like my friends quote at the bottom of one hill "Start out slow and pick up speed after you know the kind of surface you're on... Never start out fast downhill thinking you can slow down later, because I don't care if you're McGrath (I found out who the heck he was later :) ) if you start too fast on a no traction downhill, you can't cheat physics... I still can;t stop blabbing about the day because it was so much danged fun! At the end of the day, talking to the wife of one of my riding friends I mentioned again how I felt bad because I thought I stunted their fun by being the newb... but she said "You're friends right? that means that you have to share alot of the same feelings about things... would you have fun spending the day teaching someone new things?" "I said, of course I would!" "There you go then" she responded... "Now shut up and have a beer..." LoL! Dirtbike enthusiasts are philosophical too! :) Have a good one all! Feanor [/QUOTE]

Verification: Which ocean is California closest to?