Issue link: http://trailridermagazine.uberflip.com/i/280528
March 2014 31 4) Don't beat yourself to death trying to do things that are beyond your skill level. Spending your entire day trying to ride up some National Trials Championship Wall of Death and failing when you could have been ripping around and having fun is not productive. Believe me. I've tried it. Like, 10,000 times. Challenge yourself, practice things you have problems with, sure, but at the end of the day, it's supposed to be fun, and you are not going to get any meaningful seat time if what you are usually seated on is the ground. Instead, work out a loop that you can ride comfortably, or mostly comfort- ably, and keep at it for half an hour, an hour, whatever you can manage. This will give you an opportunity to get com- fortable on the bike and build up some speed, confidence and fitness. After a while, you will also learn to stop doing things that waste energy, like death-gripping. Saving energy is espe- cially important if you plan to… 5)…Race. And you should. Even if for no other reason than to take a break from your usual track and meet other Moto People. You are just a newb, so don't plan to hold it wide open the whole race—actually, the best thing you can do to improve your lap times is just not crash. That said, if you're feeling comfortable, try to chase after faster riders when they pass you now and then—you probably won't catch them, but you can follow their lines and observe their technique. If the race is a NETRA hare scramble, you might start crying a few miles before the finish—don't panic, that's perfectly normal. Take a break, then keep going until you see the checkers. That way, you can say you beat everyone who DNF'd. Victory! 6) Ride in the winter. Odds are you're al- ready running crappy old tires, so put screws in them and get out there before you forget which side's the clutch and which side's the brake. Now for a few pieces of actual technique advice, which I am uniquely unqualified to dispense beyond the absolute basics—so here are some absolute basics that I wish someone had told me: Look ahead. There's nothing you can do about the stuff that's already under your wheels, so look up and figure out the easiest way to the next corner. And once you get to the corner, don't look at it, look around it. If you look at the berm, you will drive straight over it—as soon as you start turning, you should be looking in direction you want to go. By the same token, that scary thing out there? The cliff you don't want to fall off of or the tree you don't want to hit? Stop looking at it. Still looking at it? BAIL! BAIL! BAIL! When you are going down a hill, if you are leaning on the handlebars, you are about to fall over them. Get your weight on the pegs, stand up, and put your butt over the rear fender. Now is not the time to haul on the front brake, and if the trail is rocky, rooty or full of step-downs, a little speed will keep your bike from nose-diving on the front wheel. When you are going uphill, if you are pulling on the handle- bars to stay on the bike, you are about to whiskey-throttle over backwards or run it into a tree. Try to keep at least one foot on a footpeg at all times, and use that foot to keep your weight over the bike and stop yourself from sliding off. If you pull on the handlebars, it will make the front end too light and you won't be able to steer—which you couldn't do anyway, actually, while hanging off the bars like a monkey. As my boyfriend always says: Crash all you want as long as you crash at the top. 2014's ARE HERE NOW!