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The Beginners Ride
Report by Col
Plenty of fellows go out and buy themselves a dirt bike without realizing there is more to it than it looks. Others had bikes when they were young and silly and then experience the midlife crisis and decide to get back into it. Whatever the reason, there were a small group of guys ready to ride but not up to a full on CQ ride at a hundred miles an hour. I called a beginners ride and enlisted the help of a few regulars who were gracious enough to put a Saturday aside and help get 4 newbie's from Lano - Wedge and return in one piece. Col Mac (head instructor) bought along a couple of road cones for a bit of figure eight work in some soft sand just to get the boys used to a bit of throttle and clutch control.  DANNY FINDS OUT THAT STAYING UPRIGHT MAY BE HARDER THAN IT LOOKS.  COL MAC RUNS THROUGH SOME OF THE TECHNIQUES NEEDED TO KEEP THE BIKE GOING IN A FORWARD DIRECTION.  The group took off quite slowly from lano with only Steve showing any real aggression. A few regroups later and the pace had picked up by all and we were now cruising at around 70 Kph. Not bad for a bunch of guys who could hardly make the first turn. We did the normal regrouping and had an experience rider allocated to each newbie (I don't know who was looking after Roley). The only dismount all the way to Wedge was Brian. Danny had a near off on a dune drop away but somehow managed to keep the XR up. In no time we were at Wedge on the beach for the compulsory beach pics.   WE COULD NOT COME ALL THIS WAY WITHOUT A PIC OF THE BOYS LINED UP ON THE BEACH. We decided the boys were all ready for some fun on the way home so we abandoned the buddy system and hooked straight into the standard lead, sweep and corner man system. They all rode like old hands and hit the trails at a good pace. Brian left the track at one stage and was seen wedged under some bushes and picks up the SOTD award. Well done Mate. Danny who had never really ridden in dirt picked up the prestigious ROTD award. He rode a good consistent speed and managed to stand the whole trip. I bet those legs will be sore tonight. Fred improved greatly throughout the day and actually looked pretty much at home on board his WR450 by the end of the day. Steve had no problems thrashing the living shit out of Rocco's DRZ (only joking). Actually Steve had not been on a dirt bike iin years and after his first ride back will be ready to come mix it with the big boys. The remainder of the pics are the boys just having trail fun. I hope the newbies enjoyed their "big" trip and a really great big thanks to the helpers. Well done all.         ,sotd=Brian |
