Riding Brewster Park

 

Jumping the KTM in Brewster park last September.

 

I ride a KTM mxc200 (yea, it’s a two-stroke), and my dad rides a Kawasaki Super Sherpa. My KTM is modified, with an aftermarket headlight, pipe, and muffler. My dad’s Kawasaki, on the other hand, is stock… (similar situation to our sleds!) But it still gets around.  They’re both are good bikes, and haven’t given us too much trouble – although I have learned how to get home with a snapped throttle cable…

 

The dirt riding season has only begun in the past week here. It’s the equivalent of a November snow storm: enough to get the sleds out, but not enough to ride very far. It’s kind of taunting. But, it’s only going to open up more, and today, I made it clear to Brewster Park. Actually, I made over halfway through, which is probably about 5 miles up the road.  Apart from a few snowbanks, it has dried out really clean. Unfortunately, I was, once again, stopped by an impassible drift.

 

It was fun to get back to really riding the bike again, and check out the road. Tomorrow, we’ll have to go and clear the road of some of the trees and rocks that fell over winter….

back in riding season!

 

 

Dropping in, April 13th.

 

Ok, we’re into the next riding season! The sleds are in storage for the summer months, and the dirtbikes are out… and I’m riding every day again.

 

So, a quick update after my absence for the past couple weeks…

 

First of all, we did get a final ride in on the 13^th, thanks to a late spring snow storm. Getting there was rough, but conditions in the highcountry were awesome – surprisingly powdery for so late in the season. Not so good for climbing or jumping, but good for playing, and dropping – and I got in some pretty big drops (although I say not big enough!). 

 

After that, we had several more small snow storms that did nothing but keep things muddy. In the past week though, it’s dried up quite a bit, and we’re now riding dirtbikes every day. It’s still very  limited by snow banks across the roads and trails, but as of today I made it a mile and a half up FS Road 520. We can’t go on big rides yet, but at least we’re riding again, and not confined by mud and patchy snow… 

 

So that’s a quick update. It’s still quiet here, but it will be picking up soon…

 

Helmet camera video of the latest drop…

riding season switch..

 

looking down at the ranch. See all the snow in the highcountry??

It’s that season: the season in between riding. Not enough snow to snowmobile, and too much snow to dirtbike.

 

It’s a muddy mess here, but in the highcountry, there’s still a lot of snow and good riding – we just can’t get to it. But I can see it right from my desk where I’m (supposed to be) doing school. Unless we get a good spring storm, we’re left to wait for the snow to melt…. Although not being able to ride stinks, it’s a good time to get caught up and finish school – before the next riding season kicks in.

 

However, riding is my main source of inspiration for writing here in the blog. As soon as I’m riding again, I’ll be writing again – which should be a couple of weeks. So, with that said: I’ll be back.

Techniques: Powder Riding

 

Carving in early powder snow.

Powder riding is an integral part of mountain riding. Granted, the basics are easy. But the tricks and techniques aren’t so.

 

The first tricks are momentum and counter-steering. They are in fact, essential to dominant mountain riding. A couple additional tricks are balance, and route finding. The deeper the snow, the more balance plays in. Yeah, it makes it easier to do laydown turns, but it also makes it easier to get on the wrong side of the sled or tree. Route finding changes with deeper snow. You’re able to take more of a sidehill, but less of a climb. You somewhat have to look at the hill differently.

 

Once again, it comes down to personal trial and error. Different techniques work for different people… and there’s no better way to learn then firsthand.

 

*A side note on the countersteering technique… I’ve found that using too much of a countersteer when sidehilling will drag you down… at least, that’s what I’ve found. I’m sure every sled/rider handles it differently.