Riding Motorcycles in the Dirt

First of all, (Unless you are some kind of expert stuntman or stuntwoman), you need to get something with high ground clearance and knobby tires.

The second thing you need to know is you are somewhat better off to learn on pavement or asphalt when you first start riding even with knobby tires. So, you get a feel of the bike in all sorts of situations before you "Convert" to dirt riding.

The third thing you need to know is that if you put on your front brake over about 10 or 15 miles per hour you might lay the bike down. So, don't do it!

The second part of the third thing above is only use your rear brake (and even that sparingly) if you are in the dirt. Often down shifting will work better than braking in many instances but be careful even of this.

Fourth, when you are turning try not to apply the brakes unless your life is at stake and even then think twice about it when in the dirt riding.

A good way to think about riding a motorcycle in the dirt is you are riding on very small ball bearings of various sizes. When you think of it this way you realize it is somewhat like riding on an ice covered lake with your motorcycle even if you have spiked knobby tires made just for this.

The easiest way to slow down in the dirt is to just let off the gas on your hand throttle. The fastest way to stop is usually laying your bike down and riding on top of it with both feet while holding one of the handlebars that is sticking up. But, you only want to do this in a completely emergency.

I only remember doing this once well. I was riding in San Diego County in the 1970s when there was still lots of open space between San Diego Escondido and Santee. It rained one week and when I went out on my favorite dirt roads with my 1974 Honda 250XL (which is probably my favorite motorcycle ever to ride in the dirt or sand with) I spied ahead the dirt road was washed out to about 6 feet deep. I then realized I didn't want to die hitting the other side of this washed out road and die because I was presently going about 35 to 45 miles per hour. So, I had no choice but to lay my bike down. What saved me was knee high flat toed cowboy boots on my left side and my foot peg which dug into the ground as I slid once I laid the bike down to my left. (which is the side I prefer when I lay a bike down in an emergency because I am right footed and right handed.)

So, as I skidded on my left side to a stop on my left side my left foot  peg dug in and stopped me before my tires dropped into the crevasse caused by the heavy rain. But, they were hanging over the edge when I stopped. So, I had to drag my bike back a couple of feet back from the precipice before I could stand it up again to ride away. Besides a few scratches on my bike and boots and left pant leg of my Levi jeans I was okay and so was the bike.

So, remember after a heavy rain explore gingerly the territory you are used to riding over after  heavy rains.

I didn't need to stand on my bike when I laid it down this time. but, another time on my BSA 500 World War II motorcycle that was used in North Africa during World war II I did climb on top of the bike and stood on it to protect my legs and feet also at about 45 mph because I was wearing shorts and tennis shoes so I wouldn't grind my left leg off in the very deep  sand that had caused me to crash in the first place there in the desert.

Riding down a Dry Wash.
This was in the 1960s and 1970s in the Mojave Desert and in Arizona near Gila Bend.

The thing about riding dry washes is they have sand a lot like the beach at the ocean because of thousands of years of desert monsoon flash floods that wash away the dirt but leave the sand because it is heavier than just dirt because it is little teeny rocks(sand).

So, if riding on the dirt is like riding on spiked tires on an ice covered lake then riding down a dry wash with deep sand is sort of like riding on an ice covered lake with knobby tires on a motorcycle without spikes.

So, staying up at all is difficult without crashing. So, the best most of us can do is to weave back and forth trying to stay upright and fairly high speed which means (over 20 to 25 so you can stay upright).

Getting going in deep sand is hard at first because the bike will be very unstable starting out. So, often I would put both feet out to catch me until I got above 10 to 15 miles per hour. Also, if you start in deep sand you are going to have a sand rooster tail shooting up behind you so make sure you aren't covering anyone behind you with fast moving sand. However, once you get going it will be a weaving motion just to stay up, so navigation is difficult. But, if you can survive it it is a pretty amazing experience.

Hill Climbing: What not to do-

I was riding a dirt road between interstate 15 and Encinitas in the mid 1970s   and saw some people hill climbing a mesa or butte and thought it looked fun. I was not experienced at doing this by the way just sort of ballzy the way off road riders can be when they are young and feeling immortal. So, I gunned my engine and did just fine until I was at the very top of the sand face. I was leaning forward so the bike wouldn't flip back so my waist was over the handlebars with my head an body as far forward as I could get without running myself over with my front tire. However, I couldn't quite top the hill (I was within a few feet of topping it). But, eventually I realized I was going to flip backwards. At that point I had to think about how I wanted to take the weight of the whole motorcycle on my body. I didn't want the gas tank to squish my helmet so I took it across my back when the bike came down on top of me. Luckily it just kept going and started flipping forwards so it hit front tire back tire several times down the hill before it stopped finally. So, I walked down and started it up and just rode away. Pretty tough bike and I didn't die.

However, I never tried to Hill climb something that vertical ever again. Though I jumped the bike 8 feet off the bottom of the rear tire once I gave up on hill climbing because I was lucky that time I didn't break my back or head or permanently bust up my bike. Once was enough for me. I kept the bike another 10 or 15 years after that until my oldest stepson traded the bike for a stereo system for his room in the late 1980s. So, it was a fun ride till the end. Even then, except for having to weld back the shifter pedal several times it was still a great ride and started up right away with the kick starter every time.