The Ventura County Adventure Ride Series: DS SkilzDrill 04 - Mar 2008

SAND
What . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Dualsport Skills Practice, short day
When . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Meet Saturday, 8 March, 7:30 AM
Where . . . . . Meet @ BMW Motorcycles of Ventura County
Contact . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Laine MacTague

Photos courtesy of Frederic Charpentier:

Our first look at the sand. It looks... deep.

Laine discussing body English before drills begin.

The "too cool for school" faction stands off. These hoodlums made trouble and distracted class the whole time...

Airing down will help -- but it means you have to air up again later.

Street tires won't. Zeev digging for clams.

Getting off & pushing out of the deep stuff, as you spin the tire, is effective.

There was a lot of terrain variety; some sections were incredibly deep and loose, while others were damp and firm, or stabilized by rocks. Here we see riders stalled out in one of the deepest sections.

So Cool shifting his weight back to help the front tire come up on top of the sand.

Short practice stints and demos were separated by discussions of what went well / what could be better. Here Laine's bike sits in the ditch carved by a front brake stop, while Elee is feeling the results of his earlier left shoulder stop.

Yoram & Laura watching other riders practice. There is a lot to be gained simply from watching.

This long run included a muddy water crossing, damp sand, deep dry sand, short steep berms, and rocky sand. Laine set up an up-and-back drill that included feedback each time we passed him on the way back. Here he and Laura discuss deep sand patches.

The few muddy sections would completely coat the tires, as seen here. This -- not to mention the touring tires -- made the sand even trickier.

Lunchtime looking cocky after sailing over rough sandy terrain at about 30 mph. Or maybe he and Yoram are discussing the pros and cons of tipping over that blue Dakar...