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Sooooooo figured I'd do a little review if anyone is thinking about doing it . I might be after I get more saddle time. Met Flipped r6 who is on this site occasionally, and lives like a mile from me
Lots of people from brooklyn, NY ( who dirtbikes in brooklyn?)
Shane is a wee bit of a man but tough as iron
It was hot.
So it went on fri and sat... first thing treat it like a track day EZ Up plenty of fluids, spares, extra gas, seats etc.....
I was one of the few with an ez- up and I was king for 2 days people trying to get shade under the canopy. Met some good folk, which leads me to my next point. Spares.I dumped it in one of the drills, spectacular rookie type dump. Busted my clutch lever. I had no spares but some one an xr400r did and someone else had a spare bolt.. Voila back on the ride.
The skill sets were wide across here. 10 yos who were 1 and 2 in MA for motocross? Me a beginner on an xr250r, People who raced and did hare scrambles. Almost too wide a skill set it was like lumping A, B, and C groups in a track day.
First day was drills on rear/ front brake seeing the limits, locking them up, doing endos. Then drills on accelleration and braking then it culminated on a drill with ovals down the straight , stomp rear brake skid the rear around the pylon then take off again. Lots of fun but some minor wrecks of people stalling in the corner( beginners) then someone( more experienced people) trying to stuff them at the same time in the corner. no serious injuries just bruises rash etc
We did a small course thru the woods in the morn after lunch then at end of day each day. That humbled me and I dropped quite a few times( I sweat like a ny dock worker and my goggles fogged up so bad). Riding that dirbike and feeling the rear brake and shifter in dirtboots was so different than street riding. As a matter of fact Shane told us( all of us) to not even bother with the shifter 90% of the time just bang thru the gears.?!?!? it worked but im not sure of that. He also doens't like auto clutches and bark busters
That night was blessed sleep as I headed home to AC and a soft bed. Some poeple who showed up in RVs headed home as well ( this was the family that showed up in a luxury RV with trailer and 4 brand new KTMS300's? and their own pressure washer to clean up at end of day.... we all have hobbies right?)
The day was hot, really hot so hydrating was key and people were tired. Next day I forgot my hydration bladder at home and I paid, cramping up after 11am thru the woods and thusly crashing thru a section I just wanted to get thru while fighting off leg cramps. As a matter of fact during both daysI was also tired and jsut liek a track day would stop during drills just to get mentally refocused.
But next day was easier not so much physical drills, Lets says I was only 8/10 tired vs the other day I was 10/10 tired.
The drills 2nd day consisted "grinding" logs where you had front wheels on one side, the rear the other and you countersteered and throttled so thay you grinded down the log. Supposed to emulate stopping on a hill and ruts
Other drill was Shane made half moon ruts about 16' diameter and we entered in speed and leaned into the turn and exited on speed, this where the grinding practice helped because the front would sometimes jump the berm and you needed the rear to stay in the rut to get out.
Lastly we did some dirt track walks where he showed us some better lines and some wheelie drills. Somehow he made it thru trees that were too narrow for his biek and he did it with speed where 95% of the people just hit the trees and stopped.
At end of 2nd day my last run thru the track everything slowed down and I had a decent little run where I knew how to deal with most of the obstacles
Good.... lots of drills that broke down key skills
No one said it sucked, everyone was pretty eye opening on how the skills could translate into everyday riding.
Bad
Wide range of exp - 1 guy rode his crf450l? up from Brooklyn and toasted the clutch the first hour. He got to ride Shanes bike both days though. He had only been riding 4 months on street.
Little crowded, maybe some more instructors like American speed camp.
I crashed, broke a clutch lever, but thankfully the bark busters which could have saved my clutch were never installed the night before and were safe in their packaging in my truck