My First Endo!

[Mr. Sleazy]

Hello, Dual Sporters:

Last weekend I took off to Squamish on my DRZ for a couple of days for some off-roading, and ended up getting a bit of a schoolin'.

Saturday I zipped up to Squamish and then Cat Lake, headed up the road to Brohm Ridge. No problems there - thats a pretty good road, but LOTS of loose rocks, boulders and cobbles. Got to the gate, still snow and many many black flies, so went down again and camped down in Paradise Valley at the bottom of the road that goes up to Starvation Lake. This is an amaizing swimming hole, by the way, and you have to walk / ride / or have a pretty full-on 4WD to get to it.

On Sunday, I went up to HWY 99 and tried to get into Starvation Lake that way, as the road from Paradise Valley was under about 3 or 4 feet of water. Found the old skid road that goes down to the lake. Especially riding by myself, I am leery about going down tricky stuff just in case I can't get back up. Before heading down, I did call the wife on the cell to make sure someone knew where I was and when to get worried....

Well, much of the downhill was steep, loose, washed out rocks typical of old coastal logging roads. Not really any dirt to speak of, just loose rocks piled all over. Not too bad in a 4x4, but I find them really tough on the bike. Near the lake there is a short (4 ft) drop where the bedrock is exposed in the road. Well I figured the way to go here was all mtn bike style, go for it and let the suspension suck it up.

Well the suspension sucked up some of the drop but more of the kinetic energy was absorbed by my body after I went flying over the handlebars. Luckily I landed on my butt instead of my head, and was fine. Bike went over hard onto the handlebars, but no real damage except scrapes, handlebars twisted in the mounts, and front forks twisted a bit out of true.

After getting the bike straightened out, I just hiked the rest of the trail down to the lake for a nice swim, then came back, got the bike turned back up the hill and had some touch and go getting back up the drop, then further up the loose stuff to the top of the hill. Dropped it once again, my bike is pretty used to being on its side!

Anyways, why is this post in "General Tips"? Well thats what I am looking for - tips for dealing with steep, loose washed out cobble/boulder roads, hopefully beyond "get a quad"! It seems around Squamish (and anywhere in our Coast Range) that a hell of a lot of the riding is like that - old washed out roads.

Thanks in advance!

 

[islandswede]

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Don't ride alone! My last endo left me in a wheelchair fo a couple of months. I would have been in a world of trouble without my riding buddies.

 

[Guest]

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Iam no expert rider but if your suspension bottomed out this can happen, also it never hurts to walk a section before hucking off. lift your front wheel just before it passes over the edgeland evenly with weight slightly back riding light on the bike can absorb alot of the impact.Crashing hardcan result in too much time on the coach with elavated body parts getting drunk and fat from all those beers well the dust settles on your nice ride. Not all bad but still a blackness and misery best avoided.

 

[dooveman]

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Well, I'm no expert but I did take a good DS course when I got started out a couple of years ago. The key is for steep down hill washed out sections is to keep it slow. Once you get momentum it's hard to stop. I use one finger on the front brake and use front and back to brake while also using the engine to brake. First gear for really steep. The back tends to lock up easy but I find the front helps as it has all the weight. But careful of locking up the front. That's why I use one finger.

For crazy, crazy steep I was taught to shut off the engine. Then use the clutch as your rear brake. The compression of the 'off' engine will let use use your clutch as a brake. Then you can have both feet on the ground for holding her steady. Then use the front in conjunction with the clutch. It's a very slow way down and only useful when your feet can actually reach the ground. So ruts can be an issue.

For uphill, keep the grip loose and keep the gas on. Don't do the death grip or the bike will toss you and you inturn will toss the bike. For an experiment, grip the front hard and have a friend kick the front tire, you will notice that the jolt will carry up into your body and throw you off balance. But if you keep a loose grip the tire will flick over but you stay balanced. The tire will correct itself and you don't go over. At least that is what I was trained to do but I find when I get into the big rocks it's closer to bull riding and hard to put into practice.

Another recent tip I got was, when going uphill your throttle hand may crank the throttle accidentally because you are bouncing around which can be bad:spl:. So a guy told me to shift the throttle grip so that the index finger and thumb actually grip the round mirror mount on the inside of the grip. This gives you a strong anchor and you can still rotate you grip to control the throttle with your other fingers, but most of the time you don't need to as you are just trying to keep a steady speed.
Anyways, I'm not expert but I try and get advice from others so this is what I have learned so far. I'm still not very good at it though. Need to work on my death grip I think. I'm adding handle bar risers to help that. Also, I get apprehensive in the ruts and look down too much.
oh well, I hope some of this made sense,
Brian

 

[Mr. Sleazy]

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Oh aye, the death grip has thrown me a few times. Of course, you know these things in your head, then get in the middle of some steep hill covered in bowling balls and all the training or tips fly out the window...

I fluctuate between trying to keep the speed up (better stability on the bike) or slow (more maneuverable). There seem to be drawbacks to both....


Thanks for the advice above!
Cheers!:hb:

 

[dooveman]

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On the weekend I was up at Birkenhead lake and going through some single track. I came across a landslide and to continue I would have had to ride down the slide at the near side. Then ride along the bottom and back up the other side. There was a foot path there already but it was steep and full of shale. I thought about it and decided to turn around. It was a 30 foot steep decent with big boulders at the bottom that were the size of me. So I would have had to use the engine brake technique but I don't think the footing was too stable either. And if I got into trouble going back up the other side I wouldn't have been able to come back. It was too steep to climb without flipping or sliding backwards back down.

It's one of those 'Point of no Return' things. I like to ask myself, if I do this, can I come back if it is worse later. It's saved me a few times from getting into bad situations.

Alot of times these trails sneak up on you. They progressively get worse. Gravel road becomes road but with grass strip in the middle, then to overgrown, then to single track, then to mud pits and log bridge, then to steep grades, then to a huge washout or ditch. Then you realize, crap I should have turned around long ago.

This happened to me in the states on an Indian reservation. And it was getting late. I kept thinking if I could just get around the next bend it would get better. After 50km of this I turned around only 3km from the highway. :?
Brian

 

[Ripple]

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I choose a gear that maintains the right speed for me with as little brake as possible. If the rear skids more than the odd time it's too low. Be aware of changes in surface, get onto the solid rock with no brake and ease it on. Maintain control of the bikes movement rather than letting it move you. I use the old hardtail mtb style with bowed legs and elbows wide and high with a light grip on the bars. The bike can move around quite a bit under me without influencing my balance and I can pull it back into position under me from a balanced stance. Your balance should come from your position over the pegs not your grip on the bars. I found that when you can't follow a smooth line through what looks like the best traction you might be better making a smooth line through the crappy looking stuff and mending your speed when your line takes you through better traction areas. Follow the fall line, stay in control.

MTB style doesn't work for the drops since we can't get behind the seat and over the wheel. Wait for the rear wheel to clear the lip then move back so the seat doesn't pop you forward (I think I found that on the Dirt Rider site). If there's room to run out after the drop I don't use the brakes at all till both wheels are on the level.

Don't panic and use a coach if you have to. I talk to myself all the time, sometimes even a verbal reminder to yourself helps (look farther ahead, brakes off over loose stuff, don't look at what you don't want to hit.). I'm never upset when berating myself cause hey... I'm sure it's only for my own good!

Check out the dirt bike mag sites for their tip sections.

Hope this helps.