exactly a slip and slide . But , again , little by little . Getting sideways in the mud is all very well on knobbly tyres , but on dual purpose tyres with a lower profile , it takes a little bit more finesse . Happily , on day two it rained so lack of mud was no longer an issue . Braking on loose metal on the other hand was a little more faith-based . Line things , up trust in the ABS and squeeze ... don ’ t grab . Probably braking 101 , but worth getting used to the ABS shudder in dicey terrain . Lastly , the hill recovery . This is the technique to employ if you stall riding up a hill and there ’ s not enough grip to muscle out of it . Keep it in gear and use the clutch and back brake to guide the bike back to 90 degrees , lean against the hill and drop out of it by counterbalancing , pointing the front wheel down and committing to the turn . This was my first true cotton-mouth moment . The hillside wasn ’ t so steep you could abseil off it , but it wasn ’ t a comfortable gradient to stall on . The temptation is to grab the front brake , but it ’ ll slide and it did . So back brake on , guide it back . It ’ s the riding out that got tricky . The hill face was wide enough to offer a chicken route , but if it was a narrow track the only way out would be down . Positioning is easy enough , but when you go , it has to be all or nothing . Roll off the throttle even slightly and its highside time . Even a stationary highside means an aerial dismount . That was well outside my comfort zone . Even the instructors were the first to admit that 90 percent of riders wouldn ’ t need that on 90 percent of their riding , but it only takes that one time to make it worth having it up your sleeve . Day two was when the rain forecast for day one turned up . In all honesty , it was a blessing . Manhandling bikes can be thirsty work in the heat . This was a chance to put some of the fundamentals of day one into practice in a more adventurous setting . A bit of scenic gravel road to warm up before the main exercise . This consisted of a hill descent on a greasy single track , creek crossing , muddy exit , hard left , short sharp grunt up a steep little embankment then a muddy off camber traverse back to the beginning .
Like a mini enduro circuit without any urgency . This was where any learnings from day one came to light . Looking long , planning long , getting weight forward , relying on the back brake and counterbalancing , and just keeping it smooth . A nuggety wee course , but one that every rider was able to conquer . The lighter CRFs and DRs had a field day with this , but the V-Strom held its own . The torquey wee twin , with its low centre of gravity and relatively modest girth , gave me new respect for its offroad ability . Of course , it did bottom out a little , but that ’ s what skid plates are for , right ? The day was rounded out with some more gravel road riding through the forest and a last chance to perfect the hill recovery technique . Ultimately , I found this the ideal way to get a grounding in basic adventure riding techniques that underpin just about any terrain out there . Following Chris Birch on Youtube won ’ t make you ride like him . But a bit of guidance on the ground from skilled and patient instructors , and the adventure part of chewing up big miles off road can only but follow . Practice makes perfect as they say . Check out www . tasmanmotorcycletraining . co . nz for more details .
38 KIWI RIDER