training with engine not running

[scot taco]

My best friends buddy and ex-brother-in-law was the top or one of the top trials riders here in IL for a long time. He said that when he first started in the early seventies that he would practice static balancing for hours in the driveway on his converted Hodaka. Being an enduro/mx guy it is something I never practiced until now. I think it,s an essential skill that helps for riding any kind of dirt bike.When compared to him it really shows because I still suck and he is still really good and even when woods riding he will just check out on his Sherco and leave my buddy and I for dead.If my kids would have wanted to ride I would have definitely had them start out riding trials.

[v1nn1e]

With my bike a non-runner until recently, I could have been doing a whole lot more of this over the past few months but have only picked it up again since I got it working! Guess I just wanted to forget the whole business and hope it would go away when I couldn't get the bike running!

Anyway, I've been putting in a bit of time here and there trying to static balance on the drive in front of the garage and, TBH, not really getting anywhere - if I could get both feet up and hold it for 2-3 seconds that was a result!

So I decided my technique needed to change and for whatever reason tried the following...

Get one foot on a peg, weighting the suspension with that leg and then having the other foot on tip-toe, just enough to hold balance. Make sure the bike is settled and then gently lift up the tip-toe foot slowly but don't attempt to put it on the peg. Move this leg about (just like the experts!) to hold your balance. I immediately found that I was going 5-10 seconds before losing balance.

What slowly dawned on me was that with the leg with the foot on the peg, I was 'leaning' the bike into the inside of that calf and I could feel the bike much better and it was like I could push the bike against that inner calf and it all became easier to balance, still waving the other leg around to maintain it. What I notice now is that as I've continued practicing this, I'm tending to keep the lose leg closer to the bike too - in fact as I lift that up from the ground I also keep the inner calf against the bike and it helps with feel.

Just come in from a session and had my most successful go yet, maybe 30-40 seconds or so, the limitation being my quads on the leg that is on the peg taking all my weight getting tired!

I know my technique will have to develop further to get both feet on the pegs to make it sustainable, plus I'm putting way too much force through my shoulders and arms on the bars. But this has been a big break through for me and I'm sure is building memory paths in my brain that will allow me to develop further.

Hope that helps someone who may have got stuck and not been able to progress.

[lineaway]

Practicing on one leg is not the answer. Are you holding the brakes on? You need to, and you balance by pushing with your legs. Peg pressure is how you actually turn too. Having someone  hold the rear tire until you get the feel of it, or just rest the front tire partially on a wall. It is peg pressure and just a slight adjustment with the bars. When you get better, take time to move the bars to the left or to the right. Try to be just as good in either direction.