Rawhyde Adventures Intro Class!
My Awesome
Experience.
When I discovered this Ranch of moto adv riding I was very
excited, even though I had been on a few dirt roads and adventures…I def lacked
the skill and experience that breeds confidence. Since they offered a class that was right around my birthday it
seemed the perfect idea.
As usual the most stressful part for me is the packing for a
moto adventure. What to bring? I of course have gear for all situations at
home. But not knowing really what to
expect, do I bring summer, winter, rain, extra, high-viz, multiple gloves, tank
bag and the list of questions to myself goes on. What about storage for what I don’t need? Luckily on this trip I was renting a car so
I did have a place to keep stuff if needed.
The Rawhyde Ranch offers airport service, for $80 each way,
but the car rental was only $212.00 for the whole week, and since I was staying
at a local hotel one day before and after this made sense to me. I chose this option because of the 3-hour
time difference.
I live in NE Florida and Rawhyde Ranch is one hour north of
Los Angeles California, so the journey getting to and from there was an
adventure in itself.
The day had finally come to head west and I was a bundle of
nerves, excitement, and enthusiasm. I
was a bit scared of getting hurt, as I knew I would be putting my self in
situations that would push my abilities as a motorcyclist. And even though I have health benefits I
really would rather not use them so early in 2014.
Being a seasoned traveler the flying and airport fiascos
with all of the winter storms the USA was having did not phase me. I usually if able have just a travel day for
such problems. I arrived in LAX early
enough to not be stuck in the LA traffic that everyone jeers about. I get to my hotel in Valencia, California
and picked up a few things from the store, after checking in…I got my moto gear
unpacked for easy access.
I had signed up for Friday Pre Training and Saturday and
Sunday Intro to Adventure Class.
When I arrive at the ranch on Friday about 11am…I am greeted
by Jake who points me in the right direction to complete my registration with
Audrey. I receive a name badge and a
large bottled water to refill (stay green) and then she gives me a tour of the
place, shows me my bunk and where I can find anything I might need to make my
stay happy and comfortable.
I proceeded to get setup, as it was quite a bustle around
the ranch getting ready for the weekend.
I wondered around and checked out the bikes …there were lots under a
covered area. I saw Jim Hyde, owner,
who I recognized from many videos I watched of this ranch to prepare…had a nice
chat and learned a bit about the property.
It is 2500 acres of off road motorcycle playground. I would love to spend a month here honing my
skills in this safe environment.
After a bit, I was assigned my BMW 650 GS. This would be my motorcycle for the next few
days. I nicknamed her “Sparky” Coach Travis taught the pre-training class.
There were a few of us in this class and we went over what we would be doing
over the next few hours.
We road down to the end of the driveway, which is an
adventure challenge in itself. Then off
to what is referred to as “the Meadow”.
The Meadow is an open space with trees and a path around it in an oval
that has a little sand, incline, decline, rocks, camber, and turns and
straights away since it is an oval. In
the center is trees with cones and various set ups to practice trail stops,
braking, tight turns, counterbalance of weight in turns.
Our first assignment was to ride around the oval, using
clutch and throttle control, going as SLOW as we possibly can. Clutch, throttle and brake we would be
getting to know very intimately over the next few days. Much to the aches and pains of our wrists,
hands, and for many hips and ankles.
One of the main agreements is if you plan on doing any adventure riding,
you will fall over. This Camp is a
safe environment with very experienced teachers to learn the technical skills
of many terrains and situations that one will encounter in the practical world
of ADV riding.
When we got back to the ranch most of the people that were
going to be there all weekend had arrived or were arriving and getting settled
in, lots of activity going on. We then
had a meet and greet in the bar area during the happy hour before dinner. Here we all met Jim Hyde and the Rawhyde
crew officially and got a run down of the weekend and the few rules that they
have. Also we went around the room and
introduced ourselves and a little bit about us. This was interesting to see where everyone was from, what their
riding experience was and the why of what brought them there. I came to find out we were all in the same
boat really and so it really became a little less intimidating. I think there were approximately 26
students.
We then were moved into the dining hall where we were served
a delicious dinner by the two Chefs on staff, Anna and Julia. No matter what your dietary needs are the
Rawhyde crew can make sure you get plenty of sustenance as you will be needing
it.
After dinner some people stayed up to share stories, I
however was still on east coast time and was barely making it through
dinner. When the sun goes down in the
Desert Mountains the temperature drops drastically, on our beds in the
bunkhouse was a much-appreciated heating pad.
This was an absolutely luxury as even though I had my moto freeze out
gear. Sleeping toasty warm was a treat.
Coffee starts at 6am, and as well as the delicious beer and
wine menu the coffee was a local roasted treat. I absolutely appreciated this
as well. We then had a wonderful
breakfast at 7:30, then time to prepare ourselves and be out at the paddock at
9am.
We received a briefing of the weekend and a few “classroom
pointers” about body position, weight, proper stance and traction control. As most people were street riders, Jim
emphasized the main differences of riding off road. Really the main gist was forgetting what you though you
knew. That ADV riding was its own
animal. Not really learning to tame it
but learning to work with it. And using the impressive motorcycles as a tool,
not trying to necessarily control them, but letting them do what they were
“born to do”!
The whole group then proceeded to go to the “snake” area,
which we would find out later the wrath of that serpent. We spread out and Shawn ran us through a
series of stretching and similar exercises to get us limbered up. We then were split into two smaller groups.
For the instructors only knew what bashing our bodies would go through over
this weekend. Forget everything you
thought you knew about riding. You will
be pushed, challenged and exceed all of your previous expectations of your
skills. I personally would love to go
back and do either private training or 2nd level skills, which I
really do not believe I am ready for.
Now Day One of the Intro into Adventure Class was a repeat
of out pre-training with as more in depth pursuit of these skills. We had 2 instructors and 2-3 “in training”
instructors for each group. Since the
group was approximately 12 people we had plenty of one on one opportunity if
needed. The instructors were
encouraging and patient. It was
apparent their love for teaching and ADV riding.
After all we were all there because we sought adventure and
we love motorcycles.
So the day went as this, we trained from about 10-1 then
went back for lunch, which was huge and delicious, then we went back and
trained more until about 5 or 5:30.
Then we had time to clean up, before happy hour and dinner. The second night of course was much more
socially mingling as we had been through the experience together and now
bonded. We could laugh and tell our
stories of the many crashes that happened that day. Luckily no one was seriously injured. One of the many wonderful things that I took away from this, was
a practice called HIGH-LOW. Which is
where we went around the room and told the group out High of the day and our
Low of the day. This was fun, as being
so tired, it forced us to think back with gratitude at what we had personally
accomplished and what impact it had on us.
Also was good for a few laughs as we all heard how each one of us
responded to the day. The energy in the
dining hall was very high and for lack of any other ideas, the feeling of
happiness and accomplishment in the air.
I then went to bed in my quite cozy bunk and had a great
nights sleep, even though the air was chilly I was very cozy, happy and tired.
Next morning at breakfast we were all just a little tired
and body aches. And same routine but
this time when we went out for our morning stretch exercises, we were not
moving so easily. Our old bodies were
feeling it.
Today was much more fun as we were taught to do whoop de
woops, the snake, camber, hill climbs, we were able to take a short ride up in
the mountains, the views were spectacular, this reinforced us all, if we were
doubting whether or not we were cut out for this lifestyle, of why we were here
in the first place.
After another
amazing day of learning and riding, we finished up about 6pm, which was just
about sunset. Feeling happy and proud
of what we accomplished and I am sure with a huge mental list of what else we
wanted to learn and where all we wanted to travel too. When I returned to my bunk I see that more
people had arrived. There was an
option to stay on for 2 more days to utilize what we learned in the “practical
world” this option was called Base Camp Alpha.
I of course decided to add this on to my trip since I am always eager to
learn new things and it was a mighty long way that I had traveled to get
here. Of course, California is so
beautiful and a playground in itself of ADV riding, and also some street riding
which I had been luckily enough to see some just a year before. One could really spend a year in Cali
exploring all the wonderful areas.
During “happy hour” on Sunday night we had a “graduation” where we
received a certificate of complete4ion and a tee shirt, and I took advantage of
hugs from the coaches for all of our combined hard work. It was a great time. We then had our last dinner together of this
weekend and enjoyed stories from Jim Hyde.
I can only imagine all the amazing things that he has to tell from his
experiences alone in the Rawhyde Ranch.
Wink wink, I see a book coming Jim!
As I went back to my bunk to pack up for Base Camp
Alpha. Embracing with gratitude the
wonderful people I had met and the amazing time that I had here at Rawhyde
Adventure Camp.
I truly did things on the motorcycle that I had only dreamed
of.
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