Popping my Cherry at the weekend

[snerkler]

Going off-roading for the first time on sunday

My wife bought me a 1-2-1 off-road training day with overlander trail tours http://www.overlandertrailtours.co.uk/

Really looking forward to it. Hopefully after this I'll have the confidence to try my GSA off-road.

I read another thread on here regarding some off-road tips so I'll be sure to use these. Can anyone give me any advice on avoiding breaking any bones, as I can't afford any time off work? Have thought about wrapping up in bubble wrap but it might make it a bit hard to get on and off the bike

Will be riding a Yamaha WR250 I think. Been having a look at them, and the seat height is even higher than my GSA on its high setting

Will post how it went if I make it back in one piece

 

[the beer hunter]

Going off-roading for the first time on sunday

Can anyone give me any advice on avoiding breaking any bones, as I can't afford any time off work?

Dehydration will tire you out like a mudderfecker, take a water supply & have some breakfast.

Start exercising your thigh muscles now, you may spend a lot of time in the saddle paddling the bike along.

Look fwd to the photos, just take it easy & have a good time.

Don't get demoralised if you drop it, we all do it.

 

[VAL. H.]

Going off-roading for the first time on sunday

My wife bought me a 1-2-1 off-road training day with overlander trail tours http://www.overlandertrailtours.co.uk/

Really looking forward to it. Hopefully after this I'll have the confidence to try my GSA off-road.

I read another thread on here regarding some off-road tips so I'll be sure to use these. Can anyone give me any advice on avoiding breaking any bones, as I can't afford any time off work? Have thought about wrapping up in bubble wrap but it might make it a bit hard to get on and off the bike

Will be riding a Yamaha WR250 I think. Been having a look at them, and the seat height is even higher than my GSA on its high setting

Will post how it went if I make it back in one piece

If you can't justify having time off sick with broken body parts, you'll be needing a decent pair of proper ankle clamping MX boots (if you can move your ankle, their not proper boots) normal boots won't do. Also get yourself some body armour.

You don't need to spend a fortune, £50/60 quid for boots and £40 on the armour will do fine for occasional gentle off roading. Ebay's a wonderful place


Val.

 

[Timolgra]

Hopefully after this I'll have the confidence to try my GSA off-road.

I read another thread on here regarding some off-road tips so I'll be sure to use these. Can anyone give me any advice on avoiding breaking any bones, as I can't afford any time off work?

Best advise, given your concerns, are to avoid the first sentence above

 

[Doc Savage]

Before you take a GSA off road, it's probably best if you can throw something smaller around off road, have a bit of fitness and be able to lift the bike up...

Take some zip ties too.


Good luck

 

[snerkler]

If you can't justify having time off sick with broken body parts, you'll be needing a decent pair of proper ankle clamping MX boots (if you can move your ankle, their not proper boots) normal boots won't do. Also get yourself some body armour.

You don't need to spend a fortune, £50/60 quid for boots and £40 on the armour will do fine for occasional gentle off roading. Ebay's a wonderful place


Val.

Would defo buy some proper boots and armour if I enjoy it and want to take it up more regular. Don't wanna fork out money for my first try out though. On saying that £100 on gear is certainly a lot cheaper than taking time off work

 

[snerkler]

Just been back on the website and OTT provide all protective clothing except helmets, so I'm guessing they'll have proper boots and armour

 

[snerkler]

So I made it back in one piece

I must admit, I thought I was a gonna on a couple of occasions, but somehow stayed on. Really enjoyed it, although I didn't really think a lot of it was suitable for a novice, who's never ridden off road before and never ridden a bike on nobblies before.
Maybe I was expecting the wrong thing, but I was expecting on a Novice 1-2-1 day to be on trails like these:-

and maybe progressing to something like this:-

But many of the trails I faced (including the first) were very rocky and very rutted, and many were rocky covered a lot of large loose stones/rocks which seemed to act like marbles under the tyres. They were very steep at times, similar to below but steeper and more loose stones

We were stopped by the police doing 'routine checks' on bikes, and even the other experienced bikers that had also been stopped were saying how tough one of the trails was I was about to descend

Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed it, but I think that the trainer had lost track of what it's like to be a complete novice, and what he considered easy certainly wasn't what I considered easy. I ended up 'paddling' along a lot of the time. He kept saying that have faith in the bike, it's capable of doing it. I'm sure it was, but I wasn't. He also tried to show me how to slide the bike around corners which is fine, but I was just getting used to the bike moving around underneath me without deliberatley trying to get the rear swinging round on me

After lunch I did ask him if we could go on some more gentle trails, and to be fair we did for a while and I absolutely loved it. However, we soon went back to the rocky, stoney steep ascents and descents and I was back to paddling again. I always gave it a shot, but once the front broke loose on that particular section (usually downhill)I lost my bottle and was back to paddling.

Please don't get the wrong idea about the trainer though, was a very nice guy, very patient and encouraging. I would recommend his tours, but just not for complete novices who have not taken their brave pills. I'm sure some will take to it a lot faster than myself (although he did say I had good bike control, just needed to get my head round what the bike was capable of), and some might appreciate more of a challenge on their first excursion, but for me it was too much a lot of the time.

Oh, and by god is it tough going, especially in the heat yesterday. God know how much fluid I lost. And yes I feel about 100 years old today with all the aches and pains

Like I said, I did very much enjoy it, and would love to do more, but it will certainly be on easier stuff for quite a while.

 

[Spout]

Glad you enjoyed the day.

Aren't the Peaks trails wonderful.

I'll put you down for the next GS trail ride we do

 

[NI Phil]

Snerkler,
By the sounds of it you did very well.
I'm a lot less experienced than the others I go off-roading with and I have some of the same fears as you.
I'm still not too happy descending on tracks when the stones are moving around. (Probably as there seems nowhere soft to land)
When I have a bit of a moment it sometimes takes me a while to settle down again.
The rest are very supportive but I find that if I'm doing well they immediately raise the bar and take me somewhere else where I will be uncomfortably out of my depth and scared s***less again
I am slowly gaining confidence and I'm amazed at what my Berg will happily go over with a wee bit of momentum

Hang in there

 

[snerkler]

Aren't the Peaks trails wonderful.

Yes, very much so. Although scary at times

I'll put you down for the next GS trail ride we do

Only if it's really easy going

 

[snerkler]

Snerkler,
I'm still not too happy descending on tracks when the stones are moving around. (Probably as there seems nowhere soft to land)

The descent on loose stuff is definately the worst, once you front starts sliding it's very difficult to get it too stop. Deep narrow ruts are tricky too, I struggled to keep the front tyre from hitting the sides of the rut and they would grab and shoot me off course.

Great learning experience, and taught me a lot about what level I'm at and where I need to improve.

I don't think I'll ever be taking my GSA on some of those routes though, too big and heavy. I might have to get myself an enduro bike. I'll break the idea to my wife gently

 

[Giles]

Wow. Looking at some of the pics then I'd have thought that was quite a challenge for a new bloke. Esp on yer 1200. You did well
The thing to do now is to keep it up. Either make the effort to join Spout one day, or do some home work on the net and try and find some simple byways near you that you can pootle along at your own pace. Glad you enjoyed your self.

 

[snerkler]

Wow. Looking at some of the pics then I'd have thought that was quite a challenge for a new bloke. Esp on yer 1200. You did well
The thing to do now is to keep it up. Either make the effort to join Spout one day, or do some home work on the net and try and find some simple byways near you that you can pootle along at your own pace. Glad you enjoyed your self.

If you pay close attention to my posts you will see that I didn't do it on my GSA I don't think I would every try some of the trails I did yesterday on a GSA.

It was on a Yamaha WR250. Very strange to get used to how high the gear lever and rear brake pedals were, couldn't just flick my foot to change gear. Asked if it was set up right and he said yes. Also took a while to get used to the engine characteristics and the nobblies. But once I got used to it it was a hoot. Strange thing is it made riding my GSA feel odd on the way home

 

[Giles]

Aaahhhhhh !!!!!!!!

I sort of scan read it !! (And have just made the same mistake in somebody elses thread on their fuel tank range !!!)

Oh well, what are yer complaining about!!!!! Get up, stand up, look up and just let it go !!!

Only kidding Snerkers, I don't think I'd have fancied the rocky stuff on a GSA.
(Your mountain bike pics? - I do quite a bit. Have a couple of good mountain bikes including a Marin Mount vision that I take to the Peaks or Wales from time to time .... )

 

[snerkler]

Aaahhhhhh !!!!!!!!.
(Your mountain bike pics? - I do quite a bit. Have a couple of good mountain bikes including a Marin Mount vision that I take to the Peaks or Wales from time to time .... )

Nope afraid not, I just 'stole' some photos from here and google to give examples just so that if any novices were interested in going on trails with OTT they'd get some idea of what it would be like

 

[Giles]

I see.

There's something about rocky stony paths (esp downhill) that really plays gremlins with your head. Sometimes speed is your friend, and that extra bit of momentum will float you over the gnarly bits, but your brain is screaming at you 'brake brake...'.

Glad you had a good time.

 

[snerkler]

I see.

There's something about rocky stony paths (esp downhill) that really plays gremlins with your head. Sometimes speed is your friend, and that extra bit of momentum will float you over the gnarly bits, but your brain is screaming at you 'brake brake...'.

Glad you had a good time.

Yep you're right, it's all in the head. But it's hard to pluck up the courage to go faster when you see those hard jagged rocks underneath you knowing that they'll hurt if you fall off

Maybe if my 6 numbers come up and I didn't have to worry about work I'd be a bit braver/more care-free

 

[Cooky]

I went for a day with this outfit aswell on a 1-to-2 with a friend. I was a complete novice and my friend had a lot of off road bicyle experience. The 'training' was a 3 minute chat about how to position your body off road and then it was straight on to very challenging trails as described by Snerkler.

I enjoyed maybe 20% of it and for the rest I was completely out of my depth. There was nothing novice about it. After a couple of hours one of the instructor's mates joined us and from then on it was like being on a rideout with people who are way better than you but who won't give you any guidance.

My mate enjoyed it more but he's quite an adrenaline junkie and was more comfortable off road anyway. He went back for more a few weeks later and smashed his knee up and ended up in hospital.

I haven't been off road since

A

 

[GrinningGSer]

Those pics that you posted, showing examples of the tracks that you did, are most certainly not novice suitable. I wonder if they are doing this all wrong

For sure , if you do this on a GSA, then your learning experience will result in some serious damage to you or your bike. You need to experience some simple falls first, so that you can feel limitations. The GSA id great offroad on tracks like your first photos, but dont decieve the abilities of yourself or the bike, a GSA is not suitable for hardcore offroading.