Before I started training for racing on the track, my first experience of learning some of the finer and skilled aspects of motorcycle riding was in motocrossing. Before I ventured on to the racetrack, I had a few stints practicing and learning to ride a motocross bike on dirt. This was way back in 2016, and after that, I started going to the racetrack. I loved this new way of riding a bike fast and in a skilled - more safe approach. I loved the race-suits, the gear, and all feeling of getting my knee down on corners. Motocrossing became a distant memory.
Hi there...
But in 2018, I visited the dirt track again, and I found it to be a very different, a little difficult experience to come back. First, some of the skills of the dirt track require overriding the skills learnt for the racetrack. It was rewiring the mind a little to ride in a different way. Easier said than done, though.
Here are some pictures from the weekend. My friend, Akhil, who was the official photographer for the event did a great job of the pictures. And Apex Racing Academy - my motorsport home - did a great job organising the event for us!
Basic advice and morning motivation (not that we needed it that day!) before we would head out on the bikes.
In our attire. Love the cool colours of the goggles! They do a good job of keeping dirt away from our eyes and look good doing it!
Some practice drills
First stint on the bikes.
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Nelly22 demonstrating some skills of standing and steering the bike.
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Oops! Not a bad fall, however.
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More lessons...
Trying to implement said lessons...
Some finishing lessons before lunch and end of the training session.
It was more of practicing to ride on low grip and anything but smooth tarmac. But as always, as people who have, are, and want to race competitively, it also turned out into "Who can catch me? - who can I overtake?" mission at times. But in the end, we all learnt some valuable lessons in riding a bike on the dirt. And we needed a lot of practice to learn to ride as effectively on the dirt as we were riding on the race track.
And that was the end of the training sessions. We still had half the day ahead of us and we already had plans to make the most of it. We went out on a hike, but more on that in my next post. Thanks for reading!
Some of my motorcycle journeys and stories:
Himalayan Odyssey on a Yamaha R3
Exploring God’s Own Country on a Yamaha R3 – Dtube video
About Me:
Motorcycle Stories - How I got into Motorcycle racing
A high-speed crash and life lessons
Until next time.
