Off Roading Daughter (Sam) at MSF Dirtbike school

[Steve St.Laurent]

Enrolled Samantha (6) in an MSF dirt bike school ( http://www.dirtbikeschool.com ) and man was it worth the money! She got her Michigan safety certificate at a trail ride last month that was based on the MSF curriculum but there were about 18 kids and two instructors (it was about $20). The MSF curriculum for 6-11 yr olds is a max of 4 kids per class and her class only had 2 kids in it (and two teachers - one on one instruction). One of the instructors held an AMA pro license for 7 years. We spent 6 hours there today (about 4 1/2 of that on the bike) and she did incredible. She's now up and down shifting, shifting her weight and weighting the pegs properly in turns, etc. She can do everything herself now except for kick starting the bike. She now has a nationwide endorsement and can ride on public land anywhere in the country where people can ride. Cost for the class was $125 and well worth it. I'm going to go buy some cones and setup some of the same courses in the back lot so she can practice further. The biggest thing she needs to work on is slowing down - she just wants to keep the throttle pinned - takes after dad . Here's some action photos from the day:



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Looking through the turn at where she's going:



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2nd gear and she's rockin! Oo. :



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Graduation:



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and this was the ride home :-laf :



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[DieselTweaker]

Nothing like a hard day at the office. From the sounds of it it was well worth the money for the class.

 

[Whiskey]

Steve all I can say

Is Life is good, congradulations to the young lady. .

whiskey

 

[Cummins Pilot]

Sounds like a good time. I'd like to attend a motocross school myself but living in AK and working all the time doesn't allow me to. I haven't even ridden in over a year.



I'm glad to see parents getting their kids into such a fun activity.

 

[bjonesAZ]

Very nice post and pics; now y'all will have to come to Arizona for winter rides in the desert.



Bob

 

[Yooper1]

How cool is that. Reminds me of when I was a kid in Michigan.

 

[Rebel Ram]

Feet on the pegs, butt off the seat, good form. Did they teach her that or did Dad?

It wasnt so ling ago my son was on a PW 80. Now he's on a crf250. I told him thats the last bike I buy him. The rest are on him. :-laf

 

[dsherman]

Thanks

Enrolled Samantha (6) in an MSF dirt bike school ( http://www.dirtbikeschool.com ) and man was it worth the money! She got her Michigan safety certificate at a trail ride last month that was based on the MSF curriculum but there were about 18 kids and two instructors (it was about $20). The MSF curriculum for 6-11 yr olds is a max of 4 kids per class and her class only had 2 kids in it (and two teachers - one on one instruction). One of the instructors held an AMA pro license for 7 years. We spent 6 hours there today (about 4 1/2 of that on the bike) and she did incredible. She's now up and down shifting, shifting her weight and weighting the pegs properly in turns, etc. She can do everything herself now except for kick starting the bike. She now has a nationwide endorsement and can ride on public land anywhere in the country where people can ride. Cost for the class was $125 and well worth it. I'm going to go buy some cones and setup some of the same courses in the back lot so she can practice further. The biggest thing she needs to work on is slowing down - she just wants to keep the throttle pinned - takes after dad . Here's some action photos from the day:



#ad




Looking through the turn at where she's going:



#ad




2nd gear and she's rockin!



#ad


#ad


#ad




Graduation:



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and this was the ride home



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Thanks for posting there web site.

I will be signing my son up for the class Oo.

David

 

[Grunt]

Way to go!!! I like to see parents start the young ones out right. I enjoyed the story and pictures,especially the last one. She was tired out but it was a "good tired"

Thanks for sharing with us.

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Very nice post and pics; now y'all will have to come to Arizona for winter rides in the desert.



Bob

No need to go down there - we ride all winter here . Only time of the year we shut down is for a good part of July and August cause it's too HOT to ride (> 75 degrees :-laf )



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Feet on the pegs, butt off the seat, good form. Did they teach her that or did Dad?

A little of both. She started riding in the yard back in March on training wheels. I took the training wheels off in June and within a week she was riding around the yard and she stood up all on her own. I'd worked with her on body positioning, feet on the pegs, etc - but the standing up she did all on her own. They did a great job in the class teaching her how to shift her weight, weight the pegs, etc.



Here's a video of her very first ride without the training wheels (I walked around the yard once with her and then I started the camera rolling):



http://www.deluxepokertables.com/stevest/samriding06032006.wmv



Here's a video of her 1 week (and a few rides) later:



http://www.deluxepokertables.com/stevest/samriding06102006.wmv

 

[Cummins Pilot]

Ahh, Trail Borgs. I need a set of them.



We usually ride flat track on the iced over lakes in the winter. Running Kold Kutter ice screws. You can corner like your on pavement!

 

[Steve St.Laurent]

Those are actually from Kevins cycle racing but they are very much like trelleborgs. Mine are their most aggresive studs (carbide tipped). We trail ride all winter long (TIGHT single track). When the snow gets super deep then we'll stay to some of the wider trails because it's hard to even find where the trail goes and we don't cut new trails through the woods here. The studded tires work incredible in the snow I'm told - this will be my first season with real snow tires. Last year I ran #10 sheet metal screws and even they worked awesome other than having to replace some after most rides.

 

[ToolManTimTaylor]

Steve I think you need to talk to YoHoot. That wasn't nice to lay on the horns Right about 58 seccons into the seccond vid :-laf



Too cool man. I cannot wait and get the young-un on somethin ... anything when the time comes.