what type of off-road rider are you?

[Elle]

Found an article that advises on off-road riding techniques
[center]http://www.bestrestproducts.com/c-169-h ... -road.aspx[/center]
This amused me - what type of rider are you?

Level 1 – Unconsciously Incompetent
This is the rider who doesn’t have a clue - he doesn’t know what he’s doing and doesn’t even know that he doesn’t know. His off-road motor skills are totally dormant.

Level 2 – Consciously Incompetent
This is the rider who realizes that he doesn’t know what he’s doing, so he obtains an elementary education in off-road techniques. He recognizes that he’s incompetent, but at least that he won’t put himself or others in danger. He realizes that he’ll eventually need someone to educate him and/or train him so that he can ride his bike in a safe fashion. His motor skills have been wakened from their stupor, but they’re still pretty groggy. think this is me

Level 3 – Consciously Competent
This is the rider who takes the tips and techniques he’s read on these pages, and takes the time and spends the money to practice those techniques. He spends money to get professional training in off-road techniques. After receiving training the rider knows what to do in a given situation, and he consciously thinks about it as he performs a specific riding task. His motor skills are partially developed, but he needs practice before he can play with the symphony in Carnegie Hall.

Level 4 – Unconsciously Competent
This is the rider who has read these pages, who went to a training program, who practiced what he learned, and doesn’t give a second thought to his riding technique… it’s automatic and it’s correct for the specific situation. No conscious effort is required on his part. He “flows” as he rides ……. and the bike becomes part of him. This guy is the violin soloist. He makes it look easy.

[bimota]

LEVEL 1. (thumbs)

[anthony29040]

off roads that are covered in tarmac :laugh:

[Godspeed]

Level 2, but thats only cause I don't know that I don't know :unsure:

photo.PNG (272.96 KiB) Viewed 2150 times

[Ceri JC]

It's amusing, this is clearly cribbed from a recognized psychological "four stages of learning" (the name of which escapes me at the moment).

Essentially, a large number of people (both road and dirt riders) fall into group 1. They aren't even good enough to have a qualified opinion on their own riding; therefore they cannot recognize how poor their riding is. Bizarrely, this often manifests itself as them thinking they're good. Read up on "Dunning-Kruger effect" if you're interested.

My favored metric is comparison to other riders. Are you quicker? Do you crash less? Do you hack off the other people you're riding with? Do you dab a foot less often? Can you clear the same section as a rider on a 'better' (smaller, lighter, more suitably tyred) bike?

Me? I reckon I'm a 2, going on 3. Three probably describes me most accurately. I wouldn't rate my riding at 3 out of 4 though!
Not that quick. Crashy. Dabbing feet left right and centre. Rubbish at anything remotely trialsy, apart from gymkhana-style slow control on tarmac.

So, I'm not very good at dirt, but I'm aware of this and I've already taken steps to rectify this, but am still a looong way from where I want my dirt riding to be.

[Lord Vader]

Obviously off-road riding god :whistle:





Well more like 2 :laugh:

[AndyB]

I'd say I'm at level 2 because I know I'm crap but don't care. The only time that changes is when I'm on fast stuff like firebreaks where I can just open the bike up and relax a bit rather than think about what's going on and what's about to happen.

[Old Git Ray]

Is there a Level 0 ??

Just askin !! :whistle:

[Throttled]

Generally a 2, but capable of occasional 1s and 3s.

[The Wilbur]

Definitely seen/heard this as part of IAM Observer Training.

When I was Despatching in London I was a "4" road rider. Weekend trail riding was a "2".

Sadly, no trail riding here in Scotia! so no improvement there, and the commuting has reduced the road riding to a "3" at best.