What is Freeriding on a Motorcycle?
In this short post we will attempt to describe what is freeriding on your motorcycle is all about.
Let's consult the common knowledge and seek advice from Wikipedia.org. According to its page:
Freeride is a discipline of mountain biking closely related to downhill biking and dirt jumping focused on tricks, style, and technical trail features. It is now recognized as one of the most popular disciplines within mountain biking.
The term freeriding was originally coined by snowboarders, meaning riding without a set course, goals or rules on natural terrain. In mountain biking, it is riding trail with the most creative line possible that includes style, amplitude, control, and speed.
Can you do it on your enduro motorcycle? Absolutely! Why not? As you can see, free riding is all about creativity, joy and playfulness when tackling the terrain. What you can do on your mountain bike can easily be transferred to your dirt bike or your trials bike. After all they all have two wheels and have a power plant to pull them and the rider.
Can you do it on your street or your big adventure bike? Absolutely! While freeriding a street bike will have a bit of a different terrain you can enjoy safely, it's all about creativity and being playful in the process and picking your line and your style. That's where stunt riders, such as Ernie Vigil, on those powerful crotch rockets and custom built Tigers shine. However, covering stunt riders is not the scope of this particular post.
Here we would like to examine freeriding in the natural terrain on your dirt bike or your trials bike. Enter Freeriding with Tim Coleman, also known by our team as the Wizard of Oz.
Freeriding with Tim Coleman
Just take a look at this two-wheel genius! Coming from the trials world and still actively competing and winning in it, Tim brings so much fun into the world of riding a dirt bike. His style embodies all the key elements of freeriding: playfulness, creativity, trails techniques and tricks. It's no accident that his company is called Tc Trickz Trials Entertainment, Motorcycle Stunt Show. He lives, breathes and dreams about freeriding. That's what makes him unique and so appealing to so many riders around the world.
Freeriding with Tim Coleman is taking it easy, taking your time to learn a technique or a trick. You don't have to be stressed or rushed about it. It's all about playing with the law of physics, your body, your mind and your motorcycle. It's all about having fun. It's all about discovering that creative spirit in you and let it flourish, listening to it and allowing it to pick that creative line you want to tackle. It's about being observant and identifying various obstacles and how you can use them to hone your riding skills and improve your techniques.
That's the secret behind Tim's approach and style. By being playful and flexible you develop your technical bike skills and your capability to pick lines so that when the time comes you can win races and trials championships. If you don't seek any titles, freeriding will make you enjoy your bike and your riding process like never before!
Creativity is interwoven throughout freeriding. This helps you to discover obstacles that other riders or you at other times may easily not see. A little log can be used to learn the rear wheel bounce. A tree stump can be used to improve holding the pressure technique. A huge log can be used to learn a slow wheelie and the skid-plate log clearing trick just like The Wizard of Oz does this in this video:
Freeriding means adding various techniques into combination exercises. With a bit of creative spark you can design your signature combination and keep doing it until it becomes your second nature! Being mindful of different ways you can put techniques together will make you a better rider and boost your confidence. It also guarantees to put a big smile on your face every time you finish your riding and reflect back of what you accomplish.
This is just a small introduction of what freeriding on a motorcycle is all about.
Want to learn more?
Then sign up for one or two Freeriding with Tim Coleman schools coming this May 2016 to Mt. Motorcycles. This is a great and unique opportunity to get your hands-on experience of what free riding encompasses. It's an amazing chance to ride together with the freeriding legend and enjoy breathtaking scenery of Wild and Wonderful West Virginia. It's a perfect time to take lots of pictures and videos of the Wizard of Oz so that you can savor your memory!