Tharkûn
Freeway Moderator
I always see Brian posting classes and events on here and on SBR and always said "I should do that, and get my buddies to do it with me". Finally after enough procrastination I sent him a message asking about some training here at the ranch for our whole group rather than trying to organize some of us to get to hollister or metcalf or wherever his other private training is at. His rates for a private class were completely reasonable even though he had to drive much further than his usual locations
We set a date a couple months ago for June 8th and of course as it approaches it's showing 100* that day, fantastic. None of us backed down and neither did Brian. Showed up and we kicked off right away with some basic body position instruction and demonstration, then jumped right into accelerating/braking/cornering drills. Even though we could only ride in really short stints all of us gained major experience, confidence and skill in a very short amount of time. I know if it had been cooler and we could have ridden longer stints we would have improved even moreso. We had 7 of us ranging in experience from 30 years of dirt riding to 1 year and we all took something away from the drills. Brian could spot our poor technique and bad habits as we went flying past him and he corrected each of us promptly.
For any of you guys on the fence for instruction, go do it. I've literally watched every instruction video on youtube and I understand all the concepts, but having someone watch and correct you to a T with each lap/drill makes a huge difference in progression than just trying to do it on your own. He made a great point that this is one of the only sports where when people start to learn it they just go and try to do it with no idea of what they're doing and why. Every other normal '-ball' sport people learn and continue to practice with nothing but drills. Teams and atheltes don't actually 'play' until they're competiting with someone else. Yet we as riders just go out and try to figure it all out on our own.
Check for his posts for a hollister class (at the GP track, no sticker requirements) On days that he's training you'll typically do a morning of dirt lot drills, then an after noon of track riding drills. Even if all you do is ride trails that's the best way to learn and gain experience is through repetition of the same corners. I have no plans to compete in MX but I'm doing his next Hollister class for, stop putting it off and make it a priority!
http://www.garrahanoffroadtraining.com
Also follow him on Instagram for dates and class reminders, garrahan129m
We set a date a couple months ago for June 8th and of course as it approaches it's showing 100* that day, fantastic. None of us backed down and neither did Brian. Showed up and we kicked off right away with some basic body position instruction and demonstration, then jumped right into accelerating/braking/cornering drills. Even though we could only ride in really short stints all of us gained major experience, confidence and skill in a very short amount of time. I know if it had been cooler and we could have ridden longer stints we would have improved even moreso. We had 7 of us ranging in experience from 30 years of dirt riding to 1 year and we all took something away from the drills. Brian could spot our poor technique and bad habits as we went flying past him and he corrected each of us promptly.
For any of you guys on the fence for instruction, go do it. I've literally watched every instruction video on youtube and I understand all the concepts, but having someone watch and correct you to a T with each lap/drill makes a huge difference in progression than just trying to do it on your own. He made a great point that this is one of the only sports where when people start to learn it they just go and try to do it with no idea of what they're doing and why. Every other normal '-ball' sport people learn and continue to practice with nothing but drills. Teams and atheltes don't actually 'play' until they're competiting with someone else. Yet we as riders just go out and try to figure it all out on our own.
Check for his posts for a hollister class (at the GP track, no sticker requirements) On days that he's training you'll typically do a morning of dirt lot drills, then an after noon of track riding drills. Even if all you do is ride trails that's the best way to learn and gain experience is through repetition of the same corners. I have no plans to compete in MX but I'm doing his next Hollister class for, stop putting it off and make it a priority!
http://www.garrahanoffroadtraining.com
Also follow him on Instagram for dates and class reminders, garrahan129m
