Hey guys, I'm an old street-sports rider awed by the skills I see from dirt riders while carving twisties on the road! They seem so much looser and connected to their Motards or Sport-Touring sleds that I've decided to get back on the dirt to take my street riding to the next level.
Got a '05 250x and gear, took a MSF dirt course at Metcalf from ranger Mike (yeah, a humbling experience!) and I've started riding almost daily at Carnegie trying to learn the Dark Art of dirt. Years and miles of street and track now seem to work against me, old habits to be un-learned!
The Shane Watts videos (which are pretty advanced) are a daily watch now, and I'm reading everything I can get my hands on to try and learn from the 'pros'. Nah, no ambition to compete or to ride "fast", vertical trails deep mud or sand, just want to get good enough to be safe and learn enough skills to deal with trails in the woods, ruts, obstacles...
So, say you've got an older family member with street riding experience, wanting to learn to ride dirt, what would you tell them?
Thanks for any advice!