I apologize in advance for the lack of action shots. I was a little too busy riding to take many pictures. 
I wasn’t going to post this until I received photos from the official photographer, but I’m tired of waiting. I’ll make an update later.
6:30am on Saturday morning and everything was coated in frost.
I took a brisk ride a few miles up the road to meet a couple of the other gals for breakfast at Denny’s. We ate quickly and arrived back at camp with plenty of time before the training session officially started at 9am.
The view from my tent:
The temperature warmed up considerably by the time camp started. Over the course of the weekend, I’d see 30°F to 75°F temperatures. Good thing I packed both sets of gear!
My steeds for the weekend:
I chose to rent one of PSSOR’s bikes and ended up with a Yamaha XT 250. I loved it. I absolutely, completely loved it.
We started out with a couple of exercises designed to get us acquainted with our bikes. Then we learned how to properly stand up on the pegs. It might sound trivial, but there’s a right way to do it that conserves your energy. Conserving energy would become one of the main themes throughout the training course, and we would find out why firsthand as the day wore on. One of the exercises involved riding across the practice field as slowly as possible, either while seated or while standing on the pegs.
I snapped a few photos during our lunch break.
You know it’s a women’s gathering when there’s a line for the bathroom.
Wherein Stacy Discovers that Six Inches Looks Really High From the Seat of a Motorcycle
After lunch, it was time for more riding out on the practice field. We were quickly introduced to the infamous “obstacles” — steps made out of 2×6′s in three heights: 3 inches, 6 inches, and 9 inches.
The 6 inch obstacle looks a lot higher when you’re barreling towards it on a motorbike, believe me. I was just about to attempt the 9 inch obstacle when we got the signal to return to the staging area. Oh well, maybe next time.
Wherein Stacy Discovers the Usefulness of Simple Machines
While half of the group was doing the obstacle exercises, the other half was learning how to pull a bike up an incline, which seems to me like an extremely useful skill to have in one’s toolbox.
Here’s Julie demonstrating the wrong way to pull a bike up a hill:
And now the correct way. Note how she has the end of the rope around her hips and is simply walking backwards up the hill. The gal holding the bike steady is doing just that — she’s not helping push the bike at all.
This particular retrieval system uses a kit containing a couple of carabiners, rescue pulleys, anchor strap, and some rope. With this system in place, you can walk the end of the rope back, pulling the bike up steep inclines with very little effort. Once you run out of room to walk backwards, the combination of friction (Prusik) knot and pulley attached to a carabiner essentially acts as a ratchet that holds the ropes in place so you can move downhill and begin the process again, repeating until the bike is retrieved.
A Prusik knot:
Rescue pulley and carabiner:
Wherein Stacy Discovers She Has an Eye For Bikes, Not People
As I was sorting through the pictures I took during the weekend, I realized that the pictures of bikes far outnumbered those of human beings. I leave any psychological inferences up you, dear readers.
F650GS (twin)
R1100GS
F650GS (thumper)
V-Strom 1000, DR 200, F650GS (thumper)
F650GS (thumper)
XT 250
F800GS
CRF 230
F800GS
XT 225, SV650, XT 250, R1200GS
F650GS (thumper), KLX 250
Scrambler 900 (note the electrical cord connecting it to the building, LOL!), F650GS (twin)
KLX 250 (I think)
R1200GS
Wherein Stacy Discovers that Rigorous Physical Activity Makes BBQ Taste Better
They weren’t kidding when they said off-road riding is a full body workout. After the day’s sessions I was pooped. And hungry.
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{ 11 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh! I didn’t even think about the XT250. Good choice for someone a little lower in stature.
Interesting rescue techniques. I can’t tie knots, so I’ve carried two double pulleys, one that has a brake/hold on it. Major mechanical advantage.
OTOH, I’ve quit doing aggressive offroad riding that requires such a device, and I can ride through terrain now that I didn’t think I could drag a bike through before. Part of that was not using a big pig offroad and getting a real offroad bike.
Have you sat on a TW200? Another good choice, probably.
Sounds like a great time. You can tell its women by that BBQ plate. Way too much green, not enough meat!
Brrr. I’m getting to the stage in life that when there is frost I don’t want to be in a tent! Great report on your riding camp. That looks like a lot of fun.
@tedder: Any opinions on the difference between the XT225 and the XT250?
TW200 is funky. I’ve ridden one briefly (at a Team Oregon BRT, actually) but I think I like the XT better.
@Mike P.: The meat’s underneath the green stuff!
@Kari: Thankfully, I have good camping gear.
Wherein it sounds like Stacy had a really fun time, and I continue to really enjoy Stacy’s blog!!
My best, young lady!
Awesome!! Thanks for sharing your adventure camp!!
@Stacy: about 25cc
Actually, I don’t know a ton about the XT except that short-stature folks love it.
Stacy, I’m really enjoying reading about this camp. The info on pulling the bike up the hill is very good; except, how many people carry climbing rope and carabiners with them? I guess if you’re on an adventure ride, you carry such items. Is that the idea?
@Liz: it’s trivial to carry enough rope and pulleys/biners to get out of a situation when you are going for that kind of riding. Sort of like carrying a pump and tire plug kit when riding on the street.
The only thing I’ll add to tedder’s excellent response is that you can put together (or purchase) a basic retrieval kit that takes up less space than a Big Agnes air mattress (or a loaf of bread). After seeing what a kit like this can do, it’s at the top of my list of Things to Buy after I get a dual-sport bike.
I grew up riding off road. Sometimes even on purpose. However, I’d go to that class just to learn how to tie those cool knots!
Being dumb enough to go there: Pictures of bikes and dead animals aplenty but few of people. Hmmm, as I puff my pipe I conjecture that perhaps there is another chapter. \Wherein Stacy feels inadequate in her social and interpersonal skills.\
Perhaps this would be a good time to put on my helmet and other protective gear as I prepare to send an invoice for my psycho-analytical services. And to pay my current insurance bill while I’m at the post office.