Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/280528
A request has emerged from the vast peanut gallery known as the internet that I attempt to write an article containing, you know, actual in- formation. Specifically, I was asked to provide some ad- vice for other people who are getting into off-road riding as adults. I have long believed that there are no other peo- ple getting into riding as adults, but this cry from the dark has shown me that I was wrong. If by some chance you are not just old and a newb, but actually a newer newb than me (I've been riding for a year and a half now)— boy, have I got some advice for you! 1) Learning to ride is hard, so don't make it harder than it has to be. Start by buying the gear. I see you laughing at this statement, happily riding in work boots, Carhartts, BDUs, a space suit, God knows what, thinking you are tough and penniless and don't mind the falls and can't af- ford to buy expensive accessories for a sport you are not sure you are going to continue with, anyway. Give me a break. If you are reading this, you are already hooked enough to need knee pads. Buy the cheapest ones you can find. The next time you dump your bike on a rocky hill, you will thank me, and then you will go up the rocky hill again, because it didn't hurt (as much), and you will prac- tice a new skill, and when you get home, you will look less like a shaved Dalmatian than usual. This same logic applies to your bike. Slap some bark busters on it. Adjust the gearing, get some competent person to help you set up the suspension, put in a lowering link, make it as comfort- able and manageable as possible. And if you have the op- tion, get a bike that isn't a total beater or a total screamer, and that lets you put both feet on the ground. If you are short, get the basics of learning to ride over with on a kid's bike, a little dual-sport, even a trials bike, whatever you can find cheap or borrow from a friend. Otherwise you will think the sport of dirt biking is not about speed and fun and freedom, but about falling on your face and then deadlifting 230 pounds, over and over again. 28 Trail Rider A NEWB'S GUIDE TO WOrDS FrOm tHE UNWiSE: SURVIVING NEWBDOM: Story by anna Svagdyz Photos by Greg hewi www.TrailRider.com