Why have you lost interest in Dirt bike riding?
You probably haven’t, but the new will wear off and now you'll need a purpose to get you
motivated.
Most anything us humans do requires a motivator to keep us going.
For me, it's needing a purpose! This can look totally different for everyone.
How to Get Motivated to Ride Again
Entering a off road race is a easy one for most people. It brings out your competitiveness, which can be both good and bad. For me, I'm extremely competitive, to the point it can be exhausting to have to insist on winning, even just playing Checkers!
Early in the year, having a sweet trail clearing setup on your bike can add another level of fun. Tweaking your setup for a dialed saw and pruning gear, ropes, snatchblock for easing into longer summer rides.
You're getting exercise, you're opening up trails that everyone highly appreciates, due to how few people actually do this. It also allows you to be out there without the pressure to put on a ton of miles when you may be lacking some stamina. This can help, especially if you aren’t a winter time rider, or slack off during the winter.
Route planning with Google earth and Onyx offroad mapping app can be amazing way to create a purposeful ride.
Keeping tabs on how many miles you can put down in a day, but having it planned out with either fuel drop offs the night before, (use fuel bags so you can roll them up and easily store them as you hit each check point), or see how many miles you can do strictly off your back.
This type of riding can be the most therapeutic for me because I can zone out for hrs keeping a fast but steady pace to see if I can eek out a slightly longer and more efficient loop each time.
Track your time on certain sections and send the route with the time stamp and data on it so they can get a back and forth friendly competition going and your favorite trail sections (careful, you can also lose friends if you continually beat them badly...)
Loop routes are definitely my go-to, because its almost impossible for me to backtrack
on something I've already ridden that day.
This can also get you in trouble by forcing you to gamble on longer loops to make sure you don’t back track. Know your limits and plan accordingly unless you just prefer mass self torture and enjoy random adventures that can turn from a day ride into a day and night ride.
These rides for me end up being some of the most fun rides! A good, unplanned, extended adventure.
Bike Upgrades & Testing
Product testing compared to your old tires, suspension settings ect.. can be super fun
on shorter sections of the same trail if you don’t have time for a longer ride.
Try timing a section, change tires, try it again and see how your comfort level changes and your times increase or decrease between different product adds or suspension changes.
When changing suspension settings, mark down your current settings from all the way clockwise so you'll always have a base setting to go back to.
Play around with it and make big changes so you can see obvious differences and start to learn how it affects the handling so you can dial it in for your riding style.
The biggest thing is: everyone has different motivators and purpose so take some time, and on your next ride, think about what makes you fired up to ride. Then go do it so you can get even more bar time in!
Maybe you just need a fresh set of graphics, go get em and stick em on. The more you like your bike, the more you'll ride it! Cheers!
- Aaron Bell (Technician and Mountain Rider)