Great Trail Adventure – Training with the best in the wilderness of Chikmagalur

Drills

Drill 1: Stand-up riding

How does it help?

There are various reasons why one needs to stand up and ride. It helps in visibility, controlling the motorcycle and also the body acts like a suspension in off-road areas. Separating body weight from the motorcycle is important as it will lead to better control over the bike. In fact, body movements and weight transfer affect a motorcycle’s handling more while standing than sitting. 

Cheat to do it right! 

It’s easy! Plant the balls of your feet squarely on the pegs, grab the fuel tank with your knees and hold the handlebar a bit more angularly than you would under normal riding conditions. Make sure  your legs are not completely straight while you’re standing. It needs to bend a bit so it acts as suspension. 

Drill 2: Riding through ruts

How does it help?

India is a country filled with off-road terrains which are unpredictable most of the time. So it’s really important to know your trail and in order to do that, you need to ride slow. 

Cheat to do it right! 

Throttle, brake and clutch - all three need to be in use at all the time. The main aspect here is to keep the front brake engaged a bit, so that the weight transfers to the front wheel. As a result of this, the front tyre will track easily and follow the right line and that will help the rider pass through any ruts with ease. Besides, during monsoon, we often choose to ride on slush/mud over flowing water and that’s a terrible thing to do. Flowing water tends to carry away all the lose mud and slush. So most of the time, there will be only firm ground beneath the water and that will give you the maximum traction. 

Drill 3: Slaloms

How does it help?

It helps you with balance. There comes a time where you get an itch to explore the unexplored and that means getting through tight trails and obstacles. Slaloms helps you find the right balance and patience while riding these trails. 

Cheat to do it right! 

It’s all about right body positioning. The idea is to move the upper body to the opposite side of the turn. So if you want to go right, slide your upper body to the left. But this needs to be done by holding the motorcycle with the knees and they need to be parallel to each other and should point at the same direction as the turn. The idea is to tilt the motorcycle and not turn it using the handlebar. 

Drill 4: Run-up slaloms

How does it help?

Run-up slaloms is all about getting out of difficult situations with ease and minimum effort. There are times when a rider is stuck between some obstacles or two large trees and to make things worse, the entire area could be a slush pit. So the only way to get out of that situation is to get off the bike, start it and rev it up before hopping up on the bike again. 

Cheat to do it right! 

It’s all about judgement and balance. Here, you need a bit of coordination between the legs. The left foot needs to be on the peg before you start moving the motorcycle. This will be an easy task for someone wearing adventure or dirt boots and using aluminium pegs instead of rubber ones. That way, there’s more grip which will directly improve the balancing skills. So once this is dealt with, use the throttle gently and then confidently swing the right leg over the saddle.

Drill 5: Uphill slush riding

How does it help?

This drill makes sure you reach the top of the trail safe and sound. Riding uphill in wet conditions is very difficult if not impossible. 

Cheat to do it right! 

It’s actually pretty simple. The idea here is to shift the body weight to the rear so that the rear tyre finds the right traction. Then twist the throttle gently and feel the tyre gripping the wet surface.

Conclusion

Although it was only a two day course, I now feel more confident about taming wet and slushy conditions. Whether it be on a big ADV or something accessible like the Himalayan. While I managed to return with a great deal of knowledge on off-road riding, my biggest takeaway from this weekend is usage of the right off-road tyres. Without these, any off-road adventure can become a tricky one.