So on Sunday I organised with some friends to go dirt biking.  Its something that I was once invited to before, but I didn’t have the time to get there. So had to pass on that day.

Basically we organised from our side 7 people, and then from a friend’s side, he had 2 people…because they organised kind of last minute. And I didn’t want to have to be responsible for that.

It was incredible!
We were kind of just let out to have a go by ourselves before any training was given… which is the way to go I guess.
And I was following a friend of mine, Galen for the first few laps and it was great. I could see the confidence that he attacked the jumps, and as I didn’t know any different… I just used the same confidence and did the same.

Although I was sitting down most of the time, so some of the landings hurt a bit.

And then after a little training session, when the guy told us properly about standing up and keeping the legs pressed against the bike… I felt like I improved so much.

The landings became better, I had more confidence because I knew it wasn’t going to hurt as much.. and it became really amazing.

Galen, Louis and I all had the 450cc’s at the start, and then after lunch a friend convinced me to have a go on his 250cc.
Honestly it was much better; its lighter, yet still has plenty of power, very nimble and you can chuck it around corners like a pro.
Like power-sliding kind of thing.
The guy (trainer) also taught as about the correct way to chuck the bike into the corner…like get your bum check off to the opposite side, and then you can accelerate and make the back wheel slide out.  Really fun stuff.

In fact it quite opposite as compared to the mini-bike track racing day. Where if you want to go around a corner fact you get your bum off in the direction of the corner and lean the bike in.  But yep, dirt bike, the bum comes off the opposite side.

Also, for the track-racing you use mainly front brake, but with the dirt biking you use mainly rear-brake…or often no brake at all.

It seems though that for both bike & both situations you’re basically just in 1 or 2 gears all the time.. you find something that fits, and you stick with it. I was in 2nd or 3rd gear a lot although mainly in 2nd for the dirt biking, and then for the min-biking, 2nd and 3rd as well, but mainly in 3rd.

Very interesting but both different experiences and a lot of fun. I am very glad I’ve had the opportunity to try both.

We managed to get quite a bit on film too.. I followed Galen for 1 lap, and then he followed me after we switched helmets.   He also caught me dropping the bike after a failed attempt to kick start the 450 and the losing balance.  I looked up to see him smiling and pointing to the camera.

Hahahah so yep, that’s on camera.

I will sort through some of the video’s today because there should be a lot there, but….I really need to learn how to use iMovie to edit these videos.

But yep, I followed a few friends for a lap, and they all did really really well. One guy, Filipe was a natural. He only got his license…and basically learnt how to ride 2 months ago, and he was out on the track getting air on pretty much every jump.  Very impressive.

In the end a friend told me that he felt it would be unsafe if he went back out because he was just too damn tired… and that’s only when I realised that it was exactly the same for me.

So we called it a day, and worked our way home..

Although… it was a nightmare getting home… everything hurt. Myself & 1 other person might have been the only people that rode their bikes to get home.  My friend that originally came on the back of my bike decided that he’d rather take a taxi.. Not because of my driving I swear…just more because he could relax in a non-bike position, and even go to sleep if he wanted.

I went to sleep at 10pm I guess… but woke up several times during the night due to my legs hurting so much. Plus a massive headache… I don’t know where that was from.

-Galen has since told me the same, and that because he was thinking about the track and each corner and each jump.

Overall it was just such an amazing experience.  I would love to do it again, just… when I’ve fully recovered.
I can’t even walk down stairs at the moment… and I’ve already decided that I’m not going to lunch today.. because just everything hurts too much…and it just not worth it.

A friend was saying that he wants to go again next weekend… but there’s no way that I will be recovered enough for that

Anyway I’ll leave you with some photos as promised

The 2nd last picture is me going over a massive jump, you can’t see the ground so you’ll just have to trust me that it was a lot like a massive amount of air.

hahaha in Chinese they call the jump 飞坡 fei po – literally ‘fly slope’  and i really did fly.

The last picture is afterwards….when we were all completely exhausted and couldn’t even move anymore