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Report by - Paul King (Kingy)
i2i Training Day
Date - Sunday 27th October 2007
Having had the WR for a few months now and having ridden it a few times off road
I felt there were lots of areas that weren't making sense to me. I thought that
years of track riding would be a good base, but in all honesty it isn't. I was struggling
with simple things like fast gravelly or muddy turns (quick direction changes) and
lacked confidence/technique with steep climbs and jumps. I'm sure that with time
and practice things may have dropped into place but I spotted a thread on the TBM
forum that Manchester TRF had block booked an I2I Training day. I checked it out
and it looked perfect. I had intended to join the TRF anyway so this was a good
reason to sort it out. Did that and the day was booked.
Met up with Andy (bacon butty Andy), Glen (GFoz), Swampy and Andy (Dickspanner) at Birch services. I met
loads more top lads during the day but can't remember all of their names. Sorry
for that but a great day in good company.
After driving though near torrential rain conditions we arrived at the venue which was about three miles outside Helmsley
in Yorkshire. The circuit looked quite technical and was clearly very slippy (it
was still raining but much lighter). The bottom area was a few bomb holes and hills
around an open area with some jumps. You then climbed up to an open field with a
long 'back straight' then sharp left and back across to the bottom area again. We
got split up into three groups and the format was training in the morning so get
techniques sorted with drills and then jumps and free practice in the afternoon.
The Instructor (Tom) had three other instructors and between them they kept the
groups flowing throughout the day so everyone got maximum on-bike time. (To the
point that some packed up at the very end of the day even though we were given the
course to do as we wanted for a last few laps). It worked very well. The instruction
was clear and simple - with the instructors jumping on their bikes and giving practical
examples aswell. Excellent for a newbie like me as it was impossible to misinterpret
what I was being told. That didn't mean I could do it - just that I understood it!
Morning Session.
First a few laps to see where the course went. It was def slippy.
Very slippy. I was simply riding up and over what I knew would later be jumps (because
I couldn't jump them!) and some of the turning in the mud and the wet grass was
down to luck and engine braking rather than control!
Main areas covered in the morning:
Body Position / Turning the bike.
Front braking.
Rear wheel steering.
It was quickly apparent to me that my position on the bike is wrong when it matters so I wasn't
able to control the bike as well as I could and was working much harder than I needed.
Each area of training complimented the next so you could appreciate the changes
you were making - and you understood what you were doing wrong - and importantly
WHY it was wrong. It all made sense. The part I had most difficulty with was cornering
as it's the exact opposite of what I've been doing for years! I had no problem with
changing my seating position, but instead of leaning into the turn with the bike
I need to stay upright and push the bike in. That just didn't feel right and I didn't
settle with it until the afternoon. It meant I also had to wait to get the rear
wheel steering working as it's a big part of that - but it was worth the wait when
it did click!
By the end of the morning I was feeling much more confident on the
bike - especially through the faster sections of the circuit as the better body
position meant I was controlling the bike without trying to muscle it about.
Afternoon
Session.
Steep climbs and descents.
Jumps. Laps (follow the leader)
Laps (free circuit)
Once the technique had been explained for the climbs everyone seemed to get that
(and descents) without any problems. It was (to me) an extension of what we had
done in the morning (control/ body position) so just made sense straight away.
Now
it was onto jumps! I was really looking forward to this but at the same time apprehensive.
Tom explained the technique - which is nowhere near as straightforward as I thought.
Its simple, but easy to mess up for a beginner. Each group got several runs to try
the jump out. Some lads who had been to the courses before and had a fair bit of
experience were straight up in the air. Others, like me weren't! I had about four
attempts but none were any good. On the fifth (my last) I saw Glen knelt down with
the camera. Did everything as before but this time added more speed. Hit the jump,
quick push on the forks before take off and...I jumped! No idea if Glen caught
it on camera but I got thumbs up from Big Tom (there were two instructor Toms) and
he later told me that the extra bit of speed was all I needed as the technique had
been right. Needless to say from there on in anything that could be jumped was jumped
in one fashion or another!
The afternoon had seen it dry off and the sun was out.
Perfect conditions and great to practice all of the newfound skills. The format
now was Group 1 out - Group 2 ready to go straight out when they come in, then group
3. We started with 'follow the leader' where Tom took a mixed course so we could
practice all the new skills we had. Whilst it was great, we had this altered to
free laps. Much more fun!
It was great to think back to early morning when I was
tootling around concentrating on staying on and not much more! Once we got the free
laps I was circling much quicker. Whilst the jumps were great the biggest thing
for me was the newfound cornering skills:
Leaving the bottom circuit there is a
small climb into the top field leading to the 'backstraight'. The field was coned
out so you accelerated forward (straight line) then had a long left hand bend into
another long straight before a sharp left hand drop off. I'd struggled with this
earlier as I had neither the control or the speed. I was now powering across the
first straight, then dropping the bike in whilst sat right forward for front end
grip - so I could smoothly accelerate doing the 'rear wheel turn' then up a gear
and hard acceleration onto the straight standing for some small jumps before dropping
a gear/ sitting forward again for a tight left turn and accelerate jumping the drop
off I'd been riding down in the morning. Bloody fantastic! Felt awesome!
During
the last session I'd followed Andy (Dickspanner) out. It was a nice quick pace.
Andy had said he couldn't do the jump. I followed and watched him jump each lap!
When we came in I told him and he said he kept accelerating thinking he'd lose me
only to hear the 450 thumping away right behind all the time! The extra speed got
him jumping like a good'un! Brilliant! We then had a few sessions swapping places
and it was a great laugh and genuinely made the day for me. Brilliant craic.
Must
also mention Chris. Really nice lad with a Fireblade roadbike. He joined the TRF
and bought a bike which he took to this day having not ridden it - and had never
ridden off road! Not once! To complicate matters a touch he bought a Husaberg 550
(cant remember exactly what but above 500) as it didn't sound too powerful against
the Blade! After the first run out in the morning Chris was wondering if he had
done the right thing as the bike is a beast. By the end of the day he was chomping
at the bit to get out on the lanes! Top lad and really good to see him dead pleased
with the bike.
So thanks to Manchester TRF / Glen for organising this day. It was
a special added on before I2I finish for the year so had they not done it I would
not have been able to go. I paid my subs for the Manchester Branch for the year
on the day and will be getting out with the lads soon. Thanks to Andy (Dickspanner)
for the bit of friendly competition in the afternoon. It helped us both out and
was a bloody good laugh. There was talk of a WOR RED day (race experience day) so
I'm hopeful we can arrange to get one of those done together before the end of the
year so I can see if this all sinks in!
I'll be back with I2I to do level 2. It's
a cracking course and very good value for money. I'd recommend it to anyone - especially
newbies to offroading like myself. Still buzzing!
Take a look at some of the photos from the day.
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Kingy putting the theory into practice |
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