DIRT BIKE · Hard Enduro
BIKE RECOVERY: RUTS, BOG, SOLO PICK-UPS AND EXTRACTION
13 min · Full library · written lesson, video in production
The point
After this lesson you can lift a loaded bike alone when you are exhausted, get it out of bog and deep ruts without burning yourself out, restart it flooded or heat-soaked, and lose ten minutes to a recovery instead of the rest of the day.
Half the answer, free
The Technique
- Change what you do in the first thirty seconds, because that is where most days are lost. The reflex after a fall is to jump up and heave. Do not. Stand still, kill the motor if it is still running, and take three breaths. Then answer four questions in order: is anyone hurt, is fuel running, is the bike in a position that is getting worse, and what is the actual plan to move it. A bike lying on its side with the tap on will fill a cylinder or dump a tank while you are wrestling with the handlebars. A bike balanced on a ledge can be dragged into somewhere far worse by a badly chosen first pull. Thirty seconds of thinking regularly saves twenty minutes of work, and on a long day the currency you are protecting is not time, it is your remaining grip strength.
- Get the bike into a liftable orientation before you try to lift it. Almost nobody's first pick-up attempt fails because they lack strength; it fails because the bike is pointing the wrong way on the wrong slope. If the bike is downhill of you, drag it around by the rear wheel or the bar end until it is across the slope or nose-up. If it is wedged, move whatever is wedging it. If the bars are turned so the front wheel is against a rock, straighten them first. Spend the effort on orientation rather than on lifting, because rotating a bike on the ground costs you a fraction of what lifting one at a bad angle does. On a slope, always aim to lift with the downhill side of the bike towards you, so you are standing on the low ground and lifting to a bike that is already partly up.
- Learn the reverse lift and make it your default when you are tired. Face away from the bike. Take the near grip in one hand behind your back and a solid point on the frame or subframe - not the guard, not the seat cover - in the other. Set your feet against the bike's low side, get your backside into the seat or side panel, keep your back straight, and walk backwards, driving with your legs. Your spine stays neutral and your legs do the work. This is the pick-up that still functions at hour six when your forearms are finished and your grip is gone, and it works on bikes far heavier than an enduro machine. Practise it cold, in the shed, on flat ground, until you can do it without thinking, because you will need it when thinking is expensive.
- Use the terrain as a lever whenever it is available, because the ground is stronger than you are. A bike lying with its wheels downhill can often be stood up by simply pivoting it so the wheels catch on the slope. A bike in a rut can be levered by rolling it up the rut wall rather than lifting it out vertically. A fallen log, a rock, or a stump beside you is a fulcrum: get the bar end or a peg onto it and the bike comes up with a fraction of the effort. Look for the natural mechanical advantage before you decide the job requires muscle. The riders who look strong in remote country are usually the ones who found the fulcrum, and the ones who look strong and are exhausted by lunchtime are the ones who did not.
Still under the glass
- Breaking bog suction, strap anchor points, flooded restarts, and rationing your own energy
- 6 more technique steps
- The 5 mistakes that undo it, with fixes
- The drill that builds the reflex
- The safety non-negotiables
It opens when you book a trip that runs dirt bike - these are the exact drills you run with your coach out there. Your booking unlocks this whole library.
Book a trip, unlock this libraryOr put $200 down - unlock it todayRidden with us already? Enter your Union key.
First tracks on the library
Not booked yet? The founding list gets first access when the full library opens.
Get In Touch
LET'S BUILD
YOUR
ADVENTURE
Whether you want to surf Japan's legendary powder, ride the Old Telegraph Track to the tip of Cape York, or chase a New Zealand winter - tell us what you're dreaming about and we'll build the trip around you.
BaseAustralia · Operating Globally
Instagram@deej_ayes_an_alias