As Thursday was a public holiday here, (remembrance of those who gave their lives for our freedom in WW1), we decided to go riding. Henk was going away for the weekend to compete in an enduro, and I hadn't ridden the weekend before (he'd competed in another enduro), so I knew I had to get on my bike for a change.
Over summer, the club's been running rides in a clay-based forest, which have been great fun apart from the first ride where I think I broke my thumb or some stupid bone near it (on the first ride of the day so that ruined the day). (At the beginning of the season, the KDX was feeling too tall and I commented somewhere that by the end of the series I should be okay with it there - I was).
Anyway, this forest has helped my confidence and Thursday was going to be my riding buddy's first day on her new bike (handmedown from her husband - RM250). This bike does not inspire confidence with either the rider or the person riding with her/him, as the number of times it's either been towed out or pushed out of the forest has long been forgotten. But the problem has been fixed (jury is still out on this, but looking good so far). The XR200 had been sold, so it was the RM or no riding.
She did really, really well. I kept telling her that by the time she was used to the bike I wouldn't be able to keep up and we spent the day pushing each other along. I preferred to be at the back due to the previous problems - I didn't want her stuck somewhere with the bike broken down. The only hassle she really had was the bike stalling on downhills, but we'll practice those and I still think the idle should be turned up to make the bike easier for her to ride.
I managed to dump my bike once while out on my own - I thought the track went straight ahead and didn't make the turn (in the trees, but the guys I was hoping to keep ahead of didn't get past me, but then again, were they even behind me?).
My friend had a few problems adjusting to the height of the bike (hmmm, she thought the track went straight ahead when it didn't and dumped it on a nice sandy corner & couldn't touch the ground, doh, maybe we should've looked better lol). (Jen, that was at the lookout where we waited for the Fantic to stop boiling its brains out).
The trails were easy, but we still had a good day. The best thing about it was the fact that my friend no longer has her XR200 and I think she was enjoying riding more (her last ride on the XR, she commented, as the bike came off the trailer, that she hated the bike).
Basically I'm starting to enjoy riding again, which has been a pretty long fight for me. Henk's got quite a few races coming up he wants to do, so who knows, if I don't get my ride time, I'll follow Andrew's advice and just go & do one to enjoy the experience of something different ;) Time will tell. In the meantime, I think I'm back to my old self (a good or bad thing, I'm undecided).
Michelle
Over summer, the club's been running rides in a clay-based forest, which have been great fun apart from the first ride where I think I broke my thumb or some stupid bone near it (on the first ride of the day so that ruined the day). (At the beginning of the season, the KDX was feeling too tall and I commented somewhere that by the end of the series I should be okay with it there - I was).
Anyway, this forest has helped my confidence and Thursday was going to be my riding buddy's first day on her new bike (handmedown from her husband - RM250). This bike does not inspire confidence with either the rider or the person riding with her/him, as the number of times it's either been towed out or pushed out of the forest has long been forgotten. But the problem has been fixed (jury is still out on this, but looking good so far). The XR200 had been sold, so it was the RM or no riding.
She did really, really well. I kept telling her that by the time she was used to the bike I wouldn't be able to keep up and we spent the day pushing each other along. I preferred to be at the back due to the previous problems - I didn't want her stuck somewhere with the bike broken down. The only hassle she really had was the bike stalling on downhills, but we'll practice those and I still think the idle should be turned up to make the bike easier for her to ride.
I managed to dump my bike once while out on my own - I thought the track went straight ahead and didn't make the turn (in the trees, but the guys I was hoping to keep ahead of didn't get past me, but then again, were they even behind me?).
My friend had a few problems adjusting to the height of the bike (hmmm, she thought the track went straight ahead when it didn't and dumped it on a nice sandy corner & couldn't touch the ground, doh, maybe we should've looked better lol). (Jen, that was at the lookout where we waited for the Fantic to stop boiling its brains out).
The trails were easy, but we still had a good day. The best thing about it was the fact that my friend no longer has her XR200 and I think she was enjoying riding more (her last ride on the XR, she commented, as the bike came off the trailer, that she hated the bike).
Basically I'm starting to enjoy riding again, which has been a pretty long fight for me. Henk's got quite a few races coming up he wants to do, so who knows, if I don't get my ride time, I'll follow Andrew's advice and just go & do one to enjoy the experience of something different ;) Time will tell. In the meantime, I think I'm back to my old self (a good or bad thing, I'm undecided).
Michelle