Happy Fourth everyone!

Here’s a quick little snippet from this week’s homework assignment. Had a lot of fun with this one. It can be tricky if you’re short like me, but I found that having something to put your foot on this 10 times easier to coordinate and develop confidence on. And yes, sometimes out on the trail. I’ll find a rock to stand on for big moves like this. 🙌

Great call this week! We talked about all things body position & power delivery when it comes to obstacles & particularly a "log hop" YOUR HOMEWORK: Review the following videos: Clutch Pops You Don't Need To Wheelie To Hit Big Obstacles Then if you feel you have your Clutch Pops dialed you can move onto the exercise posted below. Your GOALS with this drill: ~Smooth compression and body movement IN TIME with the suspension. NO MUSCLING IT UP. This should be physically EASY, when timed correctly. ~Power loaded in the motor, QUICK clutch pop. ~Hit both brakes once front wheel makes it 2/3 of the way up the log. Clutch comes back to slipping. ~Hold for a count of 5 or 10. Whatever it takes to make you feel like you have CONTROL. Not just "up and back down". We want to feel balanced, steady and sure, before we roll back and start again. We're working our composure here. It's important to be intentional. ~We start with the front tire against the log, almost driving into it a little bit. If you get bored of that drill, there are some more power progressions in: 5 Backyard Drills For Rock Gardens ADVANCED PRACTICE: If you have that dialed and you need a bigger challenge. Find a large obstacle. Rock slab, wall, tire. Something a few feet tall. ~Place a mark on the obstacle, (something clearly visible in video 😏) ~Start about 1/3 - 1/2 the height of the obstacle back. ~Repeat all the criteria above, but lift your front tire and place it ON THE MARK. ~ Get this CONSISTENTLY. Not just once every fifty reps. Challenge yourself to get 3/5/10 in a row. Post your practice to the group!

Your mission should you choose to accept it.... Your main objectives: ~Create a steady tone using the clutch and throttle ~Keep the hips in line or slightly in front of your chest ~Chest stays UP and not crowded over the bars There are lots of variations of this, I provided some examples in the video below but the one I challenge you all to try is: Find yourself a nice gentle slope. Grass, sand, gravel...something that's not intimidating and is OK if you tip over on. I challenge you to roll up the hill as SLOW AS YOU POSSIBLY CAN without spinning the rear tire and still maintaining that steady tone. (within reason) If you're trying to go up Erzberg hills....it might not work. Once you get moving...TRY TO STAY IN MOTION despite trying to move slowly...This is the challenging part. It's going to help us develop feel for how we can use our upper body (and even legs) to help us stay balanced. And help us develop the composure to keep the REVS AT A STEADY STATE. No more panic clutch! Whoop whoop! I'll get out in the next day or two to work on this and post some examples, but share your practice attempts and what you noticed for yourself! And don't just take my word for things. Experiment and play around with these for yourself. See what happens if you get your hips back to where the rear fender & seat meet vs. more centered. Or what it feels like to have the chest over the bars vs. centered or even back. Play around with moving on the seat, and share what you find. That's what this is about afterall! Getting a feel for real world applications. If you've reached ascension and think you're "all that" doing it seated...Try it standing 😈 May the odds be ever in your favor...

Who won practice/the group ride this weekend? Share your hero moments, wins, biffs or whatever else you want in the comments below. 👇 Today my brother and I set up a “section” or “loop” and raced each other. The terrain was technically very difficult despite looking flat on camera and in person. 🤣 it’s very visually deceiving. The best way to describe it is “fragile dirt” it looks hard pack but it’s all decomposed sandstone so everything crumbles away. It’s like riding on marbles. 🤣