Off-roading: My Latest Addiction
 |
|---|
It's been a long time since I wrote something here.
All these months, most of my time has gone into off-roading on my newly bought Xpulse. Learning the different techniques, crashing it a few times and slowly getting better at it.
the shift towards off-roading
One of the reasons I got into off-roading was that popular tourist places have become way too crowded, which started to ruin the experience. And with off-roading, I could explore places, that are rarely touched by the general public.
I had two options for my new bike: Royal Enfield Himalayan 450 and Hero Xpulse 200. I went with the latter because I wanted to start with something light for easy maneuverability and cheap for lower repair costs, knowing I’d frequently crash it.
first trails and failing badly at it
After buying it in Dec'24, I was still not utilizing my bike for the purpose I got it for. I had the plan to go to BigRock Dirt Park for training, but it just kept getting postponed.
One day, I met Vibheesh from one off-roading group which I found on Instagram. He and his friends were going for some trails around Kanakapura that weekend, and I joined them. It was my first ever real trail experience and I sucked at it. I had a few crashes and left without even completing the full trail. I was really demotivated that day.
Later, Vibheesh added me to the TORH group managed by Rahul and Moin.
By the next week, I upgraded my gears. I picked up Taichi knee guards and Gadsyll G-STAR 11 boots from 6kiom. They were still tourer boots and not MX boots, because I wasn’t sure if I should invest that much money at this stage. (For context, a good pair of MX boots starts at ~25k INR.) I also bought a hydration bag after realizing how necessary it was on the trails.
learning from the pros
The next trail I had with the same group, and this time we had a water crossing. And again I failed miserably at it. I was struggling to cross it and also fell a few times.
The same day CH Saddler also happened to join the same place. It was a fan moment for me.
I first came across CH Saddler on Instagram back in Nov ’23, when he was testing the Himalayan 450. I’d already become a fan at that time, and I never thought I’d meet him in person. Watching him ride in the river was fascinating. It felt like it's just a playground for him.
I talked to him and told him I'd been following him for a long time and that he inspired me to get into off-roading. Also, I came to know that he is also organizing a few training sessions. I just registered for the next one, which was the same water crossing.
It was my first official off-road training session. He started with demonstrating the standing position and its importance, feet positioning, correct way to hold the clutch and brake levers, etc.
We just started practicing one by one after that. Till that training session was over, I was already feeling much confident and was able to cross it without keeping my feet down.
That boosted my confidence a lot. I felt like I just conquered something.
One more thing which I think helped me was I let the fear of falling go away and I just started attempting it without much worry. After the session, we went for a forest trail nearby.
events and new experiences
Next week, CH announced all the training happening next month. I registered for all of them. All of my weekends were packed with training that month. I had also signed up for the Bedrock training program at BigRock Dirt Park.
I got to learn different techniques for technical trails along with recovery skills. That month was full of learning.
Now, it was time for some real practice, putting the learnt techniques into action. Over the next few weeks, I went on several solo and group trails.
I also visited Kaatikaadu in Sakleshpur known for its wild natural trails managed by Dhanush and his team. This was a ride organized by Sameera Dahiya. We took some inner village trails to reach Sakleshpur and had a great time at the property.
Meanwhile, CH along with HTRZ Modz announced an off-roading event called DirtCode in Wayanad. Without any second thought, I registered for it. We had a track with different kinds of obstacles there. He explained each obstacle and how to attempt them: one wrong front-brake pull, and you were gone.
We were given a few laps to practice, and at the end we had a race. I came 2nd in the race and was given an AXOR helmet as a prize. All the participants got certificates and goodies.
After DirtCode, I made a major gear upgrade. I got my new Leatt 5.5 Evo armor, bullet-proof Velocity 6.5 goggles and the Viaterra jersey from Fynx Moto.
Trails were a lot more fun now. I was free of excessive sweating which I used to have with the jacket earlier.
addicted to the trails
In July, TORH group organized Train the Trails and Train the Tracks in collaboration with Asad Khan, who had been racing in rallies for ~10 years and had won a few national trophies as well.
The Train the Trails was in Chikkamagaluru in a private estate. It was full of mud, slush and leeches. At the end of the trail, we had a beautiful waterfall. We came back to the home-stay in the evening and left for Bengaluru the next day.
The Train the Tracks was held at Wildrock Outdoors in Kanakapura. The trails there were amazing. After dinner and a bonfire, we camped overnight. And in the morning, we had a small competition with challenges like a slow race and slalom drills. I came 3rd in that challenge.
It was time for another major upgrade - my boots. I was still using the touring boots and I had been eyeing the Alpinestars Tech 7 MX boots for a while. And finally got them delivered in Germany through Louis Moto. Special thanks to Paritosh and Venu for helping me out with the ordering and bringing them to India.
I’ve only done a few trails with the new boots so far, but I’m loving every bit of it.
Oh, that was quite a long one, and that’s it for now.
If you're still here, thanks for reading. Hope you enjoyed it. Ok, bye!