After a few crash and burns I learned a little recon is in order to check out the pit falls that lie at the top of the hill or at other side of the curve. I do the same on twisties now, see how the curves lay and lines you need to shoot for.I do this on the bike and in my Camaro, surprizes can suck.
WUZFUZ

 

For every action, there is a reaction.

 

I used to take my KX250 to an ole gravel quarry to ride before apprenticeship school. Took a steep hill at a high rate of speed when I got to the top there was a 25-foot diameter hole about 2 feet deep with mud. Over the handlebars I went.

Recon before going all out.

 

+1 on this.. I was young (around 17 ) had just moved up a class in racing , thought I was good.. went out riding with some friends at some trails they know but I didn't... I was determined to win. Went under some evergreen tree branches with no line of site... Next thing I new I was airborne , landing in a creek bed about 15' down from the trail... I didn't know you had to shut it down and spin left or right immediately past the tree line.. ha ha damage to my bike 250.00 damage to my ego .. priceless.

 

As an old enduro guy who grew up riding in the wild and wooly areas of New England, the same type of recon should be done when coming up on, what on the surface, would appear to be a shallow stretch of water. I can fondly remember turning the bike over, removing the spark plug and pumping water out from the cylinder a couple of times.
And when coming to them there whoop di do's, keep the weight back and stay on the throttle. Halfway through 'em is not the time to develop a weak constitution and back off.

 

I always laugh when I remember the time my brother and I were riding down an area that had a month prior been cleared to eventually develop a road, well he was probably about 500 yards ahead of me but I could see him clearly, as I'm riding I have a tendency to look around and "take-in" my surroundings, so as I do so I refocus my sight line forward to which I now can no longer see my brother riding up ahead (this is a long stretch and I should have seen him for quite some time), I keep riding and all of a sudden I see my brother's head pop up and see him trying to crawl/ pull himself out of some big hole, the expression on his face was to this day PRICELESS. The road crew excavated a large area to place underground sewers that crossed the soon to be road which we were totally unaware of.

 

(this has a little physics....)

Your bike in motion is the combination of two vectors: velocity and momentum.

When you try to accelerate/decelerate , i.e. changing velocity (which is speed AND direction), momentum won't follow necessarily.

In the dirt/mud, it's fun to learn how your bike can and will move in two directions.

Try decelerating in a turn. The change in velocity will result in a force vector less than the momentum. The momentum will try to carry the bike straight, as it was going before the turn, while your front end will try to go where you point it. Depending on the circumstance, one of those two vectors will be greater, without external influences, i.e. the inertia of a bank or berm, the momentum wins. If we mess this up, we high-side and get muddy.

Then try accelerating in a turn. So when the force generated through acceleration (F=ma) applied in a new direction exceeds the momentum (P=mv), the bike tracks better, if that's what you want. It seems counterintuitive: accelerate for turns, not decelerate (decelerate before the turn; accelerate through them).

Fun to play with that stuff and really learn the dynamics of turning.

Can't really do that the same way on the street without getting hurt.

 

[QUOTE=wuzfuz;5819931]After a few crash and burns I learned a little recon is in order to check out the pit falls that lie at the top of the hill or at other side of the curve.

Not checking the trail is what caused our 18 niece her life.. ridding her favorite trail, not knowing they had just dug for a house foundation just over the top of a hill. she couldn't stop and rode it down, fell 18ft with the 4 wheeler landing on top and burying her face down in the mud..

We should Always know what ahead when trail riding...

 

Ditto on not counting a hill to be the same once over the top Rolled over a hill once that turned out to be the first of a double jump with no back side hill just str8 down. The best is If in doubt Gas It The last doesnt apply much anymore. Turn the gas on dummy

 

When you jump from the middle of the train tracks make sure the rear wheel clears the track or ypou will break many bones.

When running from the cops on a RM 250 stay off the roads thay can catch you and take you out. Pisses parents off and makes teh cops happy (bastards hehe).

You cant turn the bike while its in teh air so check for trees on other side of hill before you jump it no matter how cool it looks the impact hurts for many months.

Never put your feet down when stopping a RKC befoe the bike is fully stopped. Your ankle can fit precicely between the rear floor board and the bike will do a slow roll snapping your ankle in a vise like grip between the floorboard and exhaust.

These are my words of wisdom.