I have the AC10 rear tire, that's a good all around tire for offroad. You'll notice a difference I think. I dunno about a rocky hill like EMS has there; we don't have hills like that in S. Jersey. I rode a lot in WV in college, there's terrain like that there, but that was eons ago. If you know you're gonna hang it up, then putting it in first or just laying it down and like others have said try to bail to the high side if you can. Keep practicing and you may find that you don't need to think about it anymore. :-) I try to spend at least a half hour practicing things I don't like to do or am not so comfortable with everytime we go riding.

There's State Forest land around Ocala FL., I think it's Ocala, it actually gets to like 100 feet above sea level there, lol. That's a mountain in FL. There's some nice riding up there. Croom has some sandy hills, nothing that steep, but I think they qualify as hills. I lived in FL for about 10 years. Croom was nice, I wish we had a place like that here. It's like 2500 acres I think. It's all sand, big pits, and enduro trails.

 

Lol, here is how NOT to do it.

Page Hill is always entertaining. 5 bikes - Jerry on the KTM 450 EXC, up first, no problem, I didn't get his climb on video, he's just too fast. Next is Chase who is the first on the video and on the Husqvarna TC250. He nearly made it but spun out or something. He bailed correctly to the high side. I am next. I got out of shape early on and hit the eject button to the downhill side - definitely not the correct technique as evidenced by my trail-side repair. Then HardTaco on the KLX - he almost made it and came close to looping it out, but he nearly ended up pointing back down the hill and riding it out, only not quite.

Try number two, HardTaco makes it. TC250 elected to go the alternate route to the top and not make a 2nd attempt. I made up the 2nd time with no drama. The 5th bike is the black DRZ you catch a glimpse of before my 2nd attempt, he did not attempt it. Jerry is at the top during all this smoking a cigarette. That guy can ride, it is educational to follow him I've never seen him take a bad line or make a mistake. [sm=hail.gif]

http://www.vimeo.com/1259974



EDIT: shortened up the video to under a minute and a half

 

hosting vid quality is 100% better with that host nobrakes

 

watched that video 3 times looking for the "hill". it wasn't that slight incline was it?

were you sitting down brian? i bet you were........don't do thatj/k. nice vid. keep them coming

 

Yeah, I bet you can't walk up that slight incline.

It's short but steep. As usual, video doesn't represent well. Whatever you see in a photo or video, just imagine it twice that steep.

 

don't forget tire preasure that made a HUGE difference and is often overlooked as a "problem"
I run about 14; we have alittle bit of everything here in the Capitol forest.

 

I might offer a suggestion here if nobody minds. The most important factor in successful hill climbing is staying, as Obie would say, "One with the bike." Get up on those footpegs. Stay there until you have no choice, and then stay there some more. As soon as a foot comes off the pegs, you and the bike become two seperate bodies. With your weight on the pegs, your center of gravity is much lower and you can move around on the bike or better yet, stay centered as the bike moves under you.

As soon as you know you won't make the hill, clutch the bike and side-hill it...immediately! Throw the bike down on the uphill side...usually I try to use the right side, but I'll take what I can get. You can then use the clutch against the engine as a rear brake(most effective) and the front brake as needed to control the decent of the front wheel. As the front wheel rolls back through the arc it will end up down hill. You may have to wiggle the bars a bit to slide it on down some, but try to keep the motor running. You will need it in a few seconds.

Once the front wheel is lower than the rear, ride it out. Backing down is seldom a good choice unless you are in such a rut that the bike simply won't turn around. With practice, you can sidehill your bike, pivot and ride it out in a heartbeat...cool move when you can pull it off and worth the effort of practicing.

Give it a go and tell us how you do.

Bill Dragoo
Norman, Ok
KLX 331

 

i was going to offer the same advice as quite a few of us are going about riding with bad techniquebut that would have ruined some of the videos......... Thanks Bill.

PS. Brian pleasedon't take this as a shot at you.my skillscould use some correction from time to time. if you'd have seen how bad i screwed up that water crossing at the durtybabbers ride you'd have had something to say. luckily for me not one of the 200 guys watching it did't have a camera ready.

 

Trust me, I didn't take it that way, my only point was that video and pictures don't really show the steepness. I definitely wouldn't hold that clip up as something to impress anyone with, just the opposite - it is titled "how NOT to do it", after all. We're just some guys out riding on the weekend having some fun, blowing off some steam from a 60 hour work week. I'm not out to impress anyone. We've met, so you know that.

I would love to ride with Shadetree sometime, though. I know I would learn a lot.

 

fair enough. i was thinking that you might have take a bit of offense to the first one. we're good. i still want your cake though