Editor?s Note: The EarthRider blog series focuses on adventure/off-road riding skills. If you haven?t read it already, check out our first installment, EarthRider 01: Meet Laine MacTague.
Learning to ride confidently at slow speeds begins with learning to stop. Milan Haase, a competitor in the 2017 BMW GS Trophy Qualifier held at RawHyde Ranch, demonstrates good balance, throttle control and braking as he navigates a tight hairpin on the course. (Photos by Greg Drevenstedt and the author)
Are you a rolling stop rider" An outrigger rider" Both"
Motorcycles feel most unstable at slow speeds, leading some riders to minimize stops, roll through them or get both feet off the pegs and out to the side well before coming to a stop, for fear of a tip over. If this sounds like you, consider changing your riding habits in the way I?m about to suggest, which can improve your ability to control your motorcycle. Like many of the subjects I intend to cover in the EarthRider blog, today?s simple drill will help any rider on any bike. However, since the focus of this column is the development of off-road riding skills and those are the skills I teach through my company, EarthRider Adventure Motorcycle Guiding & Instruction, I?ll assume you?re riding a dual-sport or adventure bike. By design, motorcycles designed to be ridden off-road have neutral, upright riding positions that make this drill safe and easy.
Hopefully you?ll come to think of this as a skill maintenance exe...