This video shows outtakes from the video I posted last week and gives more insights to the rider’s techniques. Amazing to watch.
Archives for posts with tag: riding
My partner’s partner, Nathan, introduced me to a YouTube channel called MotoTrek recently, which looks like a great place to learn skills and techniques related to off-road adventure riding. Bret Tkacs, the guy doing the instructing, gives clear overviews of the techniques and explains the basic physics involved. Check out this video of him showing how to tackle deep river rock. What he can do with a motorcycle is impressive stuff.
If you’ve got some time and would like to see some amazing riding, check out this full-length, GoPro video of Jonny Walker winning the 2014 Red Bull Erzbergrodeo Hare Scramble. Even just the first few minutes make for great viewing. Check out the hair-raising jump at 1:31.
The Erzbergrodeo is a four-day event held in Eisenerz, Austria. It closes with the Hare Scramble, which looks like one tough race.
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From Clement Beauvais and the guys that did the Long Live the Kings video we posted a while ago, here’s one called Riding September. Just a fun video about the joy of getting out on the road.
This film from the 1960s shows the then popular sport of motorcycle scrambling, which eventually would turn into enduro. It’s a fun little film.
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Australian off-road motorcycle racer Chris Hollis enjoys a relaxing day at home in New South Wales, piloting his KTM around the back forty. Pay close attention at 0:36. That’s a nice move.
I like seeing a guy ride with this much speed and skill. Well done. And well shot by Shane Fletcher. The music is M83, “We Own the Sky.”
Titus Canyon, all photos: Gus M.
Bay Area WCXC reader Gus M. sent in these excellent photos of a ride he, his wife, and some friends took to through Furnace Creek in Death Valley. He reports that there’s a little more going on than in nearby Stovepipe Wells, including few restaurant options, gas station, post office and even a swimming pool and cell service.
See the rest of the photos, and an area map, after the link. Thanks, Gus! Read the rest of this entry »
Check out these guys enduro riding in Greece. Great skills and even better footage.
Rice Fork, flooded last March, was crossable in November.
If you look closely (or click on this photo) you’ll see my spare gas can lying on this rutted section of Forest Road M3. These were typical road conditions for the first 10 to 15 miles.
Click here for a downloadable .gpx file of this trip for your GPS device.
In mid-November I went to the Mendocino National Forest, north of Clear Lake, solo, to see if I could circumnavigate the Snow Mountain Wilderness. I tried to do it back in March in the Montero but the snow melt-swollen rivers were too deep to cross. This time I brought a dirt bike. I didn’t think I’d be able to cover the estimated 60 or 70 miles in the truck, at least not in a day—10 mph is about average on rough roads. I figured I could easily double that on the bike.
I got up early, was in the woods, and on the bike by noon. Within a few minutes I had crossed Parramore Creek Rice Fork (the one that had held me back in spring) without a problem. OK—I stalled the bike mid-stream and had to dunk a boot in the water to keep from falling over, but basically no problem. From there my wet right foot and I headed north on forest road M3—see map below—and things got a little more serious. At one point, after slamming through a deep puddle in an especially rutted section of road, I stopped and thought, “Should I take a picture of that for the blog?” I decided yes and headed back. There in puddle lay my spare gas can. Sheesh.
After an hour of bouncing two wheels over mangled dirt, I had covered only 11 miles, about as much as I could have covered on four. I doubted whether I’d make it round the whole loop. That morning though, much like a 17th-century captain hoisting the flag of his patron saint, or an Indian taxi driver with dashboard shrine to Ganesh, I had attached a photo of Archangel Michael to my handlebars, well, a photo of a statue anyway. It helped. Despite my fear of heading alone into the wilderness, I felt a certain solidity in the journey and pressed on.