Dealing with ruts-need some tips

[Nimbus]

So I need some input: Low speed low risk situation in a field where I was playing after successfully mounting up my first set of TKCs. Was having a blast and feeling increasingly comfortable so I elected to go through a section that is a bit of a small (2-3' ) rolling "whoop" with grass on one side where I had been riding around a set of ruts with muddy puddles at the bottom. I was not fully commited to the rut line and kind of went in 'last minute' and I don't think that I was quite lined up properly. I was standing on the pegs, weight neutral, but perhaps a bit stiff on the bars. Obviously this ended with me on the ground next to a sleeping beast that I had just filled with gas. The good news is that I'm confident that the bike crashes well with the AltRider bars and that 150lb of me can pick up the beast fully fueled when it's on it's side. My intent would have been to just line up in the center of the rut, stay loose, stay on the gas a little, and squirt right out. Is there any reason that that plan should have failed (other than the obvious coming into the rut at a slight angle).

What is the collective wisdom on how to ride in ruts?

 

[Koinz]

I'm certainly not a pro, but a couple of weeks ago I went through a muddy road along a creek and it was full of tire tracks that were soft, deep and slippery from the melting snow. Steady throttle on tc2, standing on the pegs and slight wiggle of the handle bars to feel the front tires position on the ground help me through it unscathed. It was about a 1/4 mile of this. The path seemed to get worse the further I went, so I was commited. No turning back. Oh and my tires were the stock Bridgestones.

I'm sure this doesn't work everytime, but it worked for me and I wasn't prepared for a nap either. ???

 

[snakebitten]

I am only guessing, but I'm thinking the front tire might have been given too much authority over the outcome.
What I mean is that to me, riding a "normal" dirt-bike in the dirt, you can get away with misplacing the front wheel because it's so easy to just send the influence to the back wheel with a squirt of throttle and-or some weight shift.
But on this Biggest-dirt-bike-in-the-world, you quickly learn that front end ain't gonna get "light". It IS going to maintain its rightful influence on where your heading.

Thus, it's required to adapt your regular dirt-bike technique to accommodate the willful beast.
You might have gone down no matter what, but you did mention you might have been a bit stiff on the bars. If you were, then it's easy for me to believe they dictated how your body reacted to the sudden uh-oh. know what I mean?

I have learned to stay light and ready on my feet & bars when I'm off-road. (I still take falls though). I treat it like it's a ship instead of a boat. It still can be navigated in tight spots, but with a bit of margin left in that on a lighter bike might not be needed.
I will say this though.........Just keep at it. You just got started. It comes to you as you keep adding to the database you are building in your head. In no time you will know the boundaries. And once you got them, your confidence soars.
You did get out of TC1, right? It's a nono off-road. Imo

 

[Nimbus]

Snakebitten,

Thanks so much for the encouragement! I've ridden streetbikes well over 100K and fell once so...it's a bit of a surprise to consider crashing as a quasi-normal part of the learning process. I never had any dirt experience before the Tenere (and, frankly didn't buy it to ride anything more than a gravel road that might be between me and where I'm going), but I find that it's just so interesting and challenging. I did a few hours of training on a 125 in the dirt and had an absolute blast. Part of me wants to beat myself up for doing something dumb and crashing a big expensive bike in the dirt, but the other part of me wants to just go back to the spot and try it until I get it right. I still believe it was a fundamental motorcyling mistake rather than a dirt mistake in that I didn't decide and didn't committ. Anyway, yes, I was in TC2. I find it an excellent teaching tool also. When you're doing it right, you can slide longer. I've been really trying to weight the outside peg in a turn and stay light on the bars. A work in progress. When I go back to CO, I'm going to ride some dirt!

 

[MrTwisty]

Excellent advice there Snake. ::008:: I love the "ship analogy".

I'm still learning to ride the biggest-dirt-bike-EVER myself, but one thing is for sure, the techniques I use on my 450 do not apply on the S10. The S10 has made me develop a whole new repertoire of riding skills. I'm not really sure how to describe said skills, but the "ship analogy" sounds pretty close.

 

[snakebitten]

If I actually said something that made sense and helped somebody, then that pretty much proves the blind squirrel theory.

But what WOULD mean a lot to me is to find out somebody worried less and had more fun because of something I said.
So Nimbus, yea, having a long street riding history with very few falls is a good thing and very believable. But I assure you, riding off-road doesn't have the same career path.
Although you will perhaps get to the point where falling becomes much much rarer, not many have without building a pretty rich crash resume.
And I promise if you keep riding the Tenere off road, it will learn to stay up better than it does now. Lol

 

[wfopete]

When you are playing with 600+ pounds of bike in those conditions you are often "Just along for the ride". When that beast makes up it mind where it wants to go, you will have to A. Finesse it back from the dark side with skill (balance, throttle control, weight placement, etc.) or B. Prepare to influence 600 pounds with pure muscle. Choosing B is often a losing proposition but some seem to enjoy that aspect of getting a Tenere' up, over and through not so friendly terrain.

If you don't have a good off road riding background these experiences could be costly to your bike and body.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

Confession time. Ruts were often not my friend even on a capable dirt bikes. I've cross-rutted myself more than once. Even once built up a pretty good mound of mud created by my face pushing it along after a cross-rut crash with some speed (full face helmet would have been nice back then). If I'm thinking about doing ruts on the S10 there's a 50% chance I'm doing it in 1st gear with legs flailing about as needed. Another 20% chance I'll walk it through if it's bad enough, and a final 30% chance I'll just ride through. Depends on how the conditions appear. Whatever I do, it won't look respectable.

 

[Ramseybella]

Don't bite your lip off and pray a little more before you hit this stuff.
I thought was dealing with nuts.
I live in Santa Fe I can help you with that one...

This looked much worse in person criss cross wash out ruts steep incline and blind turn ahead.
Me being 25 miles in the wilderness alone, thoughts of Broken leg stranded Bear food..

 

[snakebitten]

Well, since you brought up looking good, I gotta bail now.
Rut riding on this beast doesn't lend itself to any style points.

 

[Dirt_Dad]

This looked much worse in person criss cross wash out ruts 25 miles in the wilderness alone, thought Broken leg stranded..

[/quote

Ruts like this don't really bother me too much. This type is certainly easier on a capable dirt bike, but I would feel pretty confident on the S10 here...sort of.

Lots of nice easy to ride dirt on either side of the long rut. There will be times when it might be necessary to get from one side to the other. Important to look far enough ahead to know if you will need to cross over the rut, and also to pick a point where you can approach the rut as perpendicular as possible. Approaching it anything close to parallel is asking to get stuck in the rut.

Important to realize if you start down a trail that looks like this, the chances of the nice dirt narrowing and forcing you into the rut are very high. If that happens you could very well be forced to ride the rut for a period of time. That could very well result in my legs flailing method. Although I'm not too bothered by the section in the photo, prudence would cause me to wonder what does it look like farther down the trail.

If alone on the S10, I'm turning around. Even if I have fully charged batteries in the Spot Tracker, I'm not wanting to risk it.

If alone on the WR...what am I waiting for. Grab a handful of throttle and let it rock.

 

[Ramseybella]

This looked much worse in person criss cross wash out ruts 25 miles in the wilderness alone, thought Broken leg stranded..

[/quote

Ruts like this don't really bother me too much. This type is certainly easier on a capable dirt bike, but I would feel pretty confident on the S10 here...sort of.

Lots of nice easy to ride dirt on either side of the long rut. There will be times when it might be necessary to get from one side to the other. Important to look far enough ahead to know if you will need to cross over the rut, and also to pick a point where you can approach the rut as perpendicular as possible. Approaching it anything close to parallel is asking to get stuck in the rut.

Important to realize if you start down a trail that looks like this, the chances of the nice dirt narrowing and forcing you into the rut are very high. If that happens you could very well be forced to ride the rut for a period of time. That could very well result in my legs flailing method. Although I'm not too bothered by the section in the photo, prudence would cause me to wonder what does it look like farther down the trail.

If alone on the S10, I'm turning around. Even if I have fully charged batteries in the Spot Tracker, I'm not wanting to risk it.

If alone on the WR...what am I waiting for. Grab a handful of throttle and let it rock.

It was deep up ahead multiple cross overs and around 2 to 3 feet deep in some spots to the point if you did drop into one your folding up your foot pegs and wedging in.
I just had this bike about a month and this was my first real dirt exploration with it after my Triumph T- Boned right knee Tragedy.
The 21x18 Woody's wheels helped but I was being conservative on this one until another time.
If I had a partner i may have done it but 80% of the forestry road I just came from was thrashed from neglect I was beat at this point, I remember saying WTF?.
Ten years ago it was 4x4 easy it has an old abandoned U.S. Forestry service station tower with a picnic park at the top and a fantastic Meadow to camp at.
A lighter bike I am playing Arthur Lampkin on the foot pegs and would have been at the top by this point; I guess my tip on this subject is just don't do this stuff alone without letting someone know where you are going.
Let me shed some light and caution, same road woman got her car stuck on a rocky 45 degree incline 10 miles before this spot, they found the car but never found her a hunter went missing in this place one year they found his ATV broken down but never found him..
Spooky SH*t! ::017::

Now if the Piggy could do this?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=t0zhYJ5x8Wg#t=166

 

[MrTwisty]

Whatever I do, it won't look respectable.

Rut riding on this beast doesn't lend itself to any style points.

::025::
I'm glad I'm not the only one who abandons my dignity when I come to big ruts, but I'd like to add deep mud (often accompanied by ruts) to the list of situations where style gives way to just making it through.

 

[Ramseybella]

::025::
I'm glad I'm not the only one who abandons my dignity when I come to big ruts, but I'd like to add deep mud (often accompanied by ruts) to the list of situations where style gives way to just making it through.

Some folks just look cool whatever they do.

Others like myself at times look like a>>

 

[Nimbus]

You guys would laugh if I took a picture of the rut I hit. In my defense, it was solid dry mud. Anyway, I prefer the standing method as I seem to be relatively adept at jumping away from the bike from a standing position. I can't imagine it would go well for 5'9 150lb me if I tried to catch a slip/slide by putting my extended foot into the mud. I'd rather jump. That's why I bought good crash bars.

 

[Salmon Sam]

I learned how to ride on dirt bikes - smaller 175 and 250 cc. You can really throw those around when you are in trouble. With the ST - not so much! Snakebitten's ship analogy with the ST is a good one. You really need to finesse because you can't really force the beast when it decides to go where you don't want it to. Almost like driving on ice. No sudden movements: stops, starts, changes in direction, etc. I agree, it sounds like you might have tensed up on the handle bars a bit. Subtle inputs. I am starting to love standing on the bike on forest roads with almost no input through the bars - steering it with my feet (and knees on the tank if need be) and feeling everything through my feet and legs. I am a competitive skier and find this so natural and familiar. The bike seems to finds its own way through most of the hard stuff that I have encountered, and I must say really feels many times like a "Cadillac" going through the terrain compared to what the smaller bikes feel like.
Still a bit spooked by deep gravel and learning how to be comfortable with that. Absolutely hate deep gravel around a corner. Weight back so the front wheel floats and maintaining a fast enough pace is the key (any other insights appreciated!).

It's interesting that, at first, I had to consciously switch riding style and input between the asphalt and the dirt with the latter being more counter-steering hands input, but it is becoming more intuitive the more I go back and forth.

 

[adventurebikerUK]

So I need some input: Low speed low risk situation in a field where I was playing after successfully mounting up my first set of TKCs. Was having a blast and feeling increasingly comfortable so I elected to go through a section that is a bit of a small (2-3' ) rolling "whoop" with grass on one side where I had been riding around a set of ruts with muddy puddles at the bottom. I was not fully commited to the rut line and kind of went in 'last minute' and I don't think that I was quite lined up properly. I was standing on the pegs, weight neutral, but perhaps a bit stiff on the bars. Obviously this ended with me on the ground next to a sleeping beast that I had just filled with gas. The good news is that I'm confident that the bike crashes well with the AltRider bars and that 150lb of me can pick up the beast fully fueled when it's on it's side. My intent would have been to just line up in the center of the rut, stay loose, stay on the gas a little, and squirt right out. Is there any reason that that plan should have failed (other than the obvious coming into the rut at a slight angle).

What is the collective wisdom on how to ride in ruts?

my advice when dealing with ruts is wheelie them so easy to catch your front wheel on a rock in the rut beeter safe than head plant lol

 

[Ramseybella]

A ship going into port without tugs more like it, the little advantage I have is the Woody Wheels the front is high a is light and narrow on it toes but still it's twitchy in mud and deep sand.