Garrahan Off-road Training at Carnegie Hills SVRA

Since selling my Honda CRF250R in December 2016, I have not ridden any dirt bikes for a few months (the constant rainy weather did not help).

I decided to refresh my off-road motorcycling skills with Brian Garrahan. I enrolled in his Into to Dirt class with Garrahan Off-Road Training for a one-day seminar at Carnegie Hills SVRA.

I have only visited Carnegie Hills SVRA once before, so I was unsure about the quality of trails and hoped Brian would take me on a few rides.

I got up early in the morning, around 6:30 am, to get ready to drive the minivan to Carnegie. On the way there, I stopped by to pick up a turkey bagel and muffin for breakfast and lunch.

I arrived at around 8:40 am at the Carnegie Hills SVRA (it was a one-hour drive with almost no traffic). Brian was setting up all of the dirt bikes and unloading all of the protective gear. I already had my own gear, so I put it on. Brian suggested I try a more giant bike (I mostly rode a Honda CRF150F in his previous classes). I initially planned to ride a 2-stroke KTM 200, but since it could not be started, Brian gave me a Yamaha YZF-250 2-stroke (the beast!)

After putting on all the gear, Brian and Jason explained the various techniques needed on dirt bikes. Unlike street bikes, dirt bikes require a lot more body movement, and he showed us how to move our bodies forward during acceleration and backward during braking.

To warm up, we rode the 110cc bike around the track.

We proceeded with more dirt bike drills, learning to smoothly break, accelerate, slide the rear wheel, and turn the bike.

The two-stroke Yamaha was an exciting bike. It only had a manual start, so it was difficult to start sometimes (and required to be neutral to start, too). It had great power - like a rocket ship - and minimal engine braking (when going downhill).

Here is a High-definition GoPro video I shot of the trail riding at Carnegie Hills SVRA. I had a fantastic time riding and training.

At around 12:00pm, we returned for an hour of lunch, water, and rest. I ate my delicious turkey bagel sandwiches. Two of the other riders - Nick and Artemis- were Russian-speaking. Artemis actually rode his Kawasaki 650 sportbike to Carnegie. Neither had ever ridden dirt bikes before, but they did very well.

After lunch, we continued the series of drills on braking and body shifting. At around 2:30pm, we went for a short trail bike ride. It was a lot of fun!

I ended up crashing on one for the trail, but it was a minor scrape-up (the 1st gear on the Yamaha 2 stroke is quite finicky, and I downshifted with insufficient clutch control).

Here is a GoPro Hero4 video of some of my training rides.



Here is a list of my Dirt Riding Notes from both training days.

1. General Riding Notes
1. Apply front brake, rear brake, and clutch smoothly - no jerky movements (jerky movements unsettle the bike)
2. You should never be coasting; you should be on the gas or brakes.
3. Look far ahead of you to avoid incoming potholes, rocks, tree stumps,
4. Pick a line that avoids rocks, potholes, etc. It can be a few feet from the center of the trail
5. Always cover the clutch and front brake with one or two fingers (for better control)
2. Body Position
1. Stand up as much as possible; legs should be straight (do not squat or sit on the bike)
2. Squeeze your thighs when riding the bike, whether going uphill or downhill (this helps to control the bike, especially when going downhill)
3. In the attack position, bend the body at the hips, putting extra weight on the front wheel (handlebars) for more traction on the front wheel and better tracking.
4. When holding the handlebars, elbows should be bent (this gives you much more leverage to control the front wheel)
5. Bend back at hips, moving forward to accelerate or backward to brake
3. Turning
1. On a corner, after breaking with front and rear brakes, move the body forward on the gas tank and extend the inside leg (to help move more weight on the front wheel for added traction)
2. When approaching a turn, you should be doing the following: 
• Move your body backward to prepare for braking
• Smoothly apply both front and rear brakes (and clutch) before the turn (to scrub some excess speed), but not so much that you're coasting
• If necessary, shift down to a lower gear
• Squeeze a little bit of clutch to help with the braking (so that the engine is not fighting the brakes)
• Start leaning the bike in as you are completing braking and transfer all of your body weight from the rear to the gas tank.
• Extend the inside leg to put more weight on the front wheel 
• The bike should be leaned over. All of the bike turning is done by leaning (not by moving the handlebars) 
• As soon as you are off the brakes, you should be applying throttle and releasing the clutch
• The transition from braking to acceleration should be instantaneous and smooth
• Shift up as soon as possible
3. Control your motorcycle's lean angle with your outside arm (bent elbow) and your outside footpeg.
4. Hill Climb
1. Be sure to have both your toes on the footpegs and your body as far forward as possible (you do not need to cover the rear brake)
2. Keep your hand on the clutch; in case the rear tire starts to slip, release a little bit of clutch (but do not release the throttle) to give the rear tire time to dig in
5. Descents
1. Move your body back and cover the rear brake with your right leg
2. Module both front and rear brakes to avoid locking up either front or rear wheels
3. Be sure to squeeze the bike as much as possible with your thighs!
4. Try to stay relaxed
6. Obstacles
1. When trying to jump over a log, do a wheelie using the following steps:
• with the body-centered, squat down when about to jump
• stand up while applying gas and releasing the clutch simultaneously
2. When going through a rut, be sure to be on the gas tank with the inside leg out, and gas should be applied smoothly. 
3. When riding up a berm, squeeze your thighs to hold on to the bike and move the body forward and backward as needed. Be sure to cover the rear brake during descents, as the front tire may be hitting sand/gravel, which could slide out.
4. When hitting a jump, accelerate during the launch phase of the jump. You can decrease the throttle while in flight, but be sure to be back on the throttle during landing. You should keep your body centered.

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Riding Yamaha WR250F at Hollister

After selling my beloved "red-sticker" 2013 Honda CRF250R offroad motorcycle in December 2016, I have been looking to replace it with a "green sticker" Yamaha WR250F for many months. The Yamaha WR250F was my #1 choice since it can be ridden year-round in California (being a green sticker bike), has a wide ratio transmission, and is expressly designed for trail riding.

I found an almost brand-new 2015 Yamaha WR250F on Craigslist. Anthony Souza, the gentleman selling it, had purchased the bike for his 73-year-old father, who was no longer up for riding it. The Yamaha had only 254 miles on it - so it was almost brand new, though with a few scratches (as it was obviously dropped a few times).

A brand new 2017 Yamaha WR250F motorcycle was being offered to me for $8500 out-the-door (with California sales tax) by Brandon of K&B Motorsports in Petaluma. I decided to save a few bucks by purchasing this relatively new 2015 WR250F from Tony. I also had another almost new bike in mind - a 2013 Husaberg FE250 from Rick (with only 80 miles on the odometer). However, I was worried about the high maintenance costs of the Husaberg, the low resale value, and the fact that Husaberg no longer existed as a company (it was acquired by KTM). Getting parts for an older bike would be costly and complex. I decided to purchase the lightly used 2015 Yamaha instead.

After negotiating a great price for the Yamaha ($6000), I picked it up on April 17, 2017, and took it to my favorite mechanic, Jeff Morris of Morris Industries.

Jeff spent almost a day thoroughly going over the bike. He checked the valves and installed a hardline engine hour meter, Cycra handguards, and Renthal grips. He also changed the oil and filter, cleaned the air filter, and replaced the old brake fluid.

The bike already came with a pre-installed FMF Muffler, GYTR Competition kit (to increase power and increase airflow), and Yamalink trail link (to lower the bike by 1.25") - all the modifications that I would have wanted for myself.

Here is the complete repair bill:

Components:	Qty	Description				Retail	Each	Extend
	1.0	Liter Lucas 10/40 synthetic blend (.85 l w fltr)					$9.95	$9.95
	1.0	KN-140, K&N Oil filter					$8.59	$8.59
	1.0	Air filter cleaning chemical application					$3.00	$3.00
	1.0	Bel-Ray air filter oil application					$3.00	$3.00
	1.0	Brakleen					$4.50	$4.50
	1.0	Renthal dual density open ended grips					$16.95	$16.95
	1.0	Renthal Grip glue application					$2.00	$2.00
	1.0	Cycra racer pak hand guard set					$134.95	$134.95
	1.0	KL-22-2243 Hardline engine hours hour meter					$34.95	$34.95
	12.0	4" mini zip ties					$0.15	$1.80
	4.0	DOT-4 Brake fluid flush (2 ea.)					$2.50	$10.00
	1.0	Motul off road chain lube application (recommended!)					$2.00	$2.00
	1.0	Battery Tender charge dongle lead/connector					$8.39	$8.39
Please remit to:							Parts Ttl	$240.08
Morris Industries							Tax	$21.00
16400 Lark Ave. Garage One					Waste Oil/EPA		Expenses	$2.00
Los Gatos, Ca 95032							Freight
							Labor Ttl	$425.00
							Total	$688.08

After picking up the bike, I took it a few days later to ride on my favorite trails at Hollister Hills.

Here are my first impressions of riding the new (to me) WR250F:

Positives:

• I love the electric start - no need to use the kick starter anymore!
• The suspension is plush and is easily able to handle going over trails
• The bike handled very well
• Shifting gears was very smooth
• Lots of power at higher RPMs. The engine loves to rev!
• The fuel economy was excellent!
• I can move much more over the front wheel as the gas tank is covered up.

Negatives:

• The rear brake is overly sensitive. I was locking up the rear tire quite often (unintentionally)
• The 3rd gear is so much different from the Honda CRF250R.
• Low-end power was not as mighty as the Honda CRF250R
• WR250F felt heavier than the CRF250R

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Hiking Pinnacles National Park

Since I could not play tennis (due to my minor mole removal surgery), I decided to explore Pinnacles National Park, located only 90 minutes from San Jose.

Despite living so close for many years, I was unaware that the famous Pinnacles National Park was close. I decided to drive and see it for myself (since Inna and Alex were on their Caribbean cruise).

I heard Pinnacles get very crowded in spring and summer, so I left early. I got up at 06:30 on Sunday morning, ate a quick breakfast, packed a turkey sandwich with plenty of water, and drove to Pinnacles National Park, arriving around 08:30 at the park's East Entrance.

Reading multiple blogs, I decided the Bear Gulch Day Use Area is the best place to park. Luckily, I arrived before 09:00, and the parking lot was empty.

After putting on my hiking boots, I grabbed Inna's Nikon P900 camera and asked a nearby ranger what trail she recommended. I was told that the best route to follow in the morning was to take the Condor Gulch Trail and turn left onto High Peaks Trail until Scout Peak. There, I could return to Bear Gulch (for a short, 3-4 hour hike) or continue on Juniper Canyon Trail to get to the Balconies Cave Trail (the real park highlight). From there, the Old Pinnacles trail - an easy, flat trail, would take me back to the Bear Gulch Day Use area (where I packed my car). This would take about 6 hours and would be an excellent day hike.

I started out on the recommended Condor Gulch trail. The trail slowly ascended up into the High Peaks area. Although I had my sweatshirt, I had to take off after a few hundred feet, as I was getting fairly hot. Not many people were hiking yet, but I ran into other hikers occasionally.

When I reached the Overlook, I took lots of photos, which were quite stunning. Surprisingly, the scenery got even more exotic as I advanced toward the High Peaks trail. I hoped to see the famous Condors but did not see any.

The High Peak trail was narrow, with fantastic views of surrounding rock formations.

I needed to step into some very narrow and rocky sections a couple of times.

I enjoyed this hike section, as the rock formations were unique and memorable.

Once I arrived at Scout Peak (one of the highest spots), I decided to continue down Juniper Canyon Trail toward Chaparral Trailhead (where I planned to eat lunch) and then onto the Balconies.

The Juniper Canyon trail was beautiful but not as scenic as High Peaks. I was practically the only person coming down. It looked like a crowd of people were coming up.

After a short time, I arrived at the Chaparral Trailhead on time at noon. The 7 km hike has taken me 3 hours. Finishing lunch in about 20 minutes, I continued on to Balconies Trail.

There were lots of large rocks (looking like giant pebbles) at the entrance of the
Balconies Cave Trail.

I dug out my flashlight, but it stopped working after a short time. Thankfully, my iPhone 7 saved the day!

Once inside the caves, I was surprised by how dark, slippery, and dangerous it was. I was surprised to see many parents with young kids attempting this underground crossing. It was easy to get lost.

Once I found a proper way through the caves, it was not too hard - but it took some exploration to find the appropriate approach. Some of the approaches are dangerous.

The experience of crawling and scrambling in dark, unmarked caves was eerie.
After the caves, the rest of the walk on "Old Pinnacles Trail" was relatively uneventful, except for the small part where I took a wrong turn. I missed the turnoff for Bear Gulch. I had to backtrack and walk an extra 3 miles.

Nevertheless, I arrived at Bear Gulch Day Use around 15:30 (30 minutes behind my estimate.)

I had a fantastic but long 13-mile hike.

Pinnacles is a nice park to hike in, and I hope to return to see some other parts (I missed). I did not see the Beach Gulch Cave Trail, Rim Trail, or the Monolith.

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