This is the ride report that Denise Howard posted to ba.motorcycles: After riding for four years and racing for two, I've been ashamed of the fact that I still don't know a darn thing about controlling a bike in low-traction conditions--mud, water, dirt, gravel, sand. Sure, I've dealt with the occasional sandy spot on a turn on Mt. Hamilton, or a patch of wet leaves on Tunitas Creeck Rd., or mud that's been dragged out onto the road from a driveway, but that's about it. Last October I was all signed up for American Supercamp, then had to bail out at the last minute because I hurt my knee. Sunday I was lucky enough to score a borrowed XR200 dirt bike, borrowed pants, and a ride in the Aftershocks truck to Clear Creek for this month's Doc Wong Dirt Riding Clinic. Phil Douglas, owner of Aftershocks, is a past national enduro champion and along with Doc instructs the clinic. Phil has been riding at Clear Creek since the early 70s so knows the area like the back of his hand. I'd never been on a dirt bike before in my life, but my indoctrination was fast--the first order of business after all bikes were unloaded and people were geared up was to ride to the location where we'd do the ten drills which had been described to us in the lecture portion of the clinic on Friday night. Just to get there, we dealt with ruts, gravel, and several stream crossings, some smooth, some rocky, some muddy. Doh! My good race boots started the day full of water. I fell over in the final and deepest crossing, and although nobody noticed I was proud of myself for managing to get the bike up, restarted, and out of there in time for the first drill. The first drill was to climb the biggest, steepest dirt hill I'd ever seen--yikes! We were supposed to just climb to a point where we got uncomfortable, then gently turn the bike to the right to a stop, then point the bike back down the hill and come down. Sounds easy, right? Well I was a big chicken, it just looked way too steep and scary. C'mon, my total dirt bike experience was a whopping 20 minutes by then! I managed to skip this drill because three people fell down up on the hill at the same time, all in areas where I'd expect to be, and by the time they'd come back down it was time for the next drill. Whew! Buck-buck-buck-bugawk! The other drills, all on relatively level ground--such things as trying to balance on the footpegs while the bike is off and stationary, then standing on the pegs while moving, then moving as slowly as possible, all went well. Then we hit the trail again to go to an area known as "the playground". Whoa, even worse ruts and muddy crossings! I wasn't the last one to the playground, though. There were a couple of guys on big BMW dual-sports with "street" tires. There was also a guy on a Kawasaki dual-sport who pretty much face-planted--he and his bike were absolutely covered from head to toe in mud when he arrived. But he'd persevered, and wasn't unhappy. One late arrival announced "By the way, the answer to the question that nobody asked on Friday night is, yes, you should wear a cup!" The playground is hard to describe. It's a small canyon, totally bare (naturally so, not due to the vehicle usage), full of hills, ridges, gullies and dips, all of various sizes--something for everyone, of any skill level. There was one hill in particular that attracted my attention. It was a lot less intimidating than that first big hill of the day, but it still seemed a little much. Phil saw me staring at it, and came over to tell me how to do it--2nd gear, get some momentum, on the throttle, weight forward. Then he said "And now I'm going to sit here and watch you do it!" Ohboy, the pressure was on. Buck-buck-buck-bugawk! But guess what--I did it! It was easier than I expected. Okay, so now I was at the top. I looked back down. Uh-oh, I forgot to ask him how to get back down! One of the other riders saw me staring down the slope and took Phil's place. "It's way easier than you think--when you get to the bottom you'll laugh at yourself! Just use both brakes and engine braking, and keep your weight back. Want me to show you? Okay, here I go but you're going to follow me. C'mon!" So I did it. Guess what--he was absolutely right! I went up and down that hill a bunch more times. After probably an hour at the playground, we all went back to the campground for lunch. This was the official end of the riding clinic, leaving the rest of the afternoon free. Intermediate and advanced riders could go with Phil on the Primrose loop, which he described as a "group effort" because it often requires everyone helping everyone else to get their bikes through; beginning riders could go back to the playground again; or folks could leave. As for me, I was pooped. So after a long rest I went for a hike up to the top of the big hill across from the campground, where I had a spectacular view all to myself. Even without going back to the campground a second time, I accomplished way more on my first day of dirt-riding than I ever expected to! The riding conditions were ideal--not too hot, not especially muddy. Many thanks to Doc Wong for organizing the clinic, and to Phil Douglas for providing the instruction. Even more thanks to Phil for lending me a bike, gear, and a ride. What a day! Now if only I had room in my garage for just one more bike.... Denise AFM #732 '88 EX250 racebike '89 EX500 racebike '00 SV650 '00 929

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