Last year, I became the proud owner of Bigfoot Bike, a 2008 KTM 690 Enduro. And since then, I have started to practise a lot to improve my offroad skills. And of course I want to continue getting better this year. Here are my plans.
Ride as much as possible
- Commute: 3 to 4 times a week – 2km liaison – (up to) 10km special stage – 10km liaison.
- Practice: I regularly visit a parking area in a nearby forrest to practise basic bike skills, like turns, figure eights, front wheel hops, brake slides and power slides.
- Tracks: There are several GPS tracks of all-road routes that are relatively near me that I want to ride.
- TET: The TransEuroTrail website states the Dutch section is currently 1028km long. About a third if a paved liaison to/from the ferry that connect to the UK part of the TET but that still leaves plenty of km’s in my backyard to practise.
Skill builders: Motocross, trials and rally raid
There are so many disciplines in motorcycling that are done off road and I want to get a taste of as many as I can get this year:
- An “MX Experience” day. Spend a day on a motocross bike on a track with an instructor. I guess this is a good way to get some feedback and experience in riding in loose sand, especially when cornering. And maybe a little jump or two.
- Trials bike lessons. In 2013, a friend and I rode around the Baltic Sea on our “Short Way Round” trip. We spent a few days in Sweden with friends and had a blast on a little GasGas trials bike. Years later I still want to taste more of it, so I contacted a club nearby to see if I can do a few lessons. More on that in a future post, I’m sure.
- Rally introduction / Roadbook navigation. Following both the Dakar Rally as well as the Africa Eco Race this year, ignited a small obsession with rally raiding. It looks like so much fun (to me), to ride your bike through unknown terrain based on a paper scroll on your dashboard. Hard as an egg that’s been boiling for 15 minutes, but still… a lot of fun. Not sure how to get this going, but I’ll figure it out.