I'd been thinking about taking a class for quite a while. I know that Shane Watts does a great job with classes and lots of guys say good things about his methods. Rich Laffterty has gotten some good press in Trail Rider recently and I'd been looking at his website too. It took a couple tries at scheduling it, but yesterday I finally got down to South Jersey to work with Rich. It took about 5 hours to get to his place, so it made for a long day trip, but it was worth it.
We'd scheduled a four-hour session starting at 1:00. Pretty hot and humid, but a great day for a ride. Rich showed a real interest in addressing my needs for the session, my particulars regarding how I fit on the bike, and understanding what I do pretty well and where I needed improvement. We spent the first hour talking bike set up and thought processes when getting ready to corner. Originally, Rich said that the setup of my bars looked pretty good but later, as I started to apply some of his techniques, it became obvious to me that a couple small changes might make a measurable difference. One of the first things Rich pointed out was my standing position. Which I've never really thought about - other than trying to be in it more often rather than sitting.
On a quick trail ride to warm up a little, I was trying to practice 3 or 4 different things that Rich had mentioned. I was riding SLOW, but it was possible to feel that each one could contribute to smoother riding. We worked a little on standing while wiggling through tight trees. New to me and I can see how it would work, but I'll need more practice. After this activity, Rich gave me a chance to ride his Husa - he wanted me to take note of the bar position. While I'd always assumed that my layout was best for me and had become very comfortable with it (using the same exact set of bars since 2005), it became obvious that his bars would suit me better, even though he and I are very different size-wise. This would definitely be a necessary component of implementing his recommended standing posture.
Next we did what he calls a triangle drill. Three slightly bermed corners on a low-traction hard-pack dusty flat. He worked me through a very well thought-out progression of exercises - each time adding one new layer of complexity. We added facets of weighting, seating position, vision, balance, and braking. Rich did a good job again of spotting what I might have been doing well and where improvements were possible.
On our way back to the house we did a little work on log crossings - from a small one to very big on an enduro-cross course. He showed me a few different ways to handle small and medium logs that I hadn't thought of before. The biggest one was a challenge and psyched me out a little. Crossing it while seated to loft the front and then push over with my long legs is my usual approach. Rich showed how to do it while standing and - again - this will take practice.
All in all, a very good day. I was impressed with Rich's ability as a clinician. He has a real interest in taking a word that riders use like "uncomfortable" or "smooth" and then breaking down that feeling into tangible components of body position and technique. Some guys that have a boatload of natural athletic talent could probably implement these new techniques right away and integrate them into their riding very well. For me, I'm going to have to actually give up some "fun" riding time to methodically practice this stuff and then practice it some more. Otherwise the day would turn out to be a waste and I'll go back to my usual style. So it's up to me to have discipline.
Got home a little after 11:00 after fighting traffic most of the way home. A long day but a lot of fun.