u/JohnHancock1969

On gravel road going into a hard right corner and I got that freeze up deer in the headlights feeling where I felt like if I leaned and turned any harder I was going to lose traction and go down. So naturally I got target fixation on the path straight in front of me into the oncoming traffic lane and went all the way into the oncoming lanes shoulder of the road before I was going slow enough to pull into the turn again. Fortunately no cars were coming in the oncoming lane but it could have been bad. I didn't really brake or steer or throttle I just kind of froze and went straight lol.

This has stuck with me for days and I am not sure how to address it. Obvious answers being prevent the issue by going slower and look where you want to go and avoid target fixation... However, what do you do once you get into that situation where you feel like if you turn any harder you're going to go into a slide? Do you just look where you want to go and go for it? Progressive brake as quickly as possible? I can't find any YouTube videos or anything that talk about this exact scenario.

My plan in the moment if a car was coming was to gun it straight across the road to the other side and up into the shoulder/yard that was right in front of me (take the corner straight on and aim for open ground). Preventing it is all well and good, but im guessing this will happen again at some point and I have no idea how I should react in that situation.

My friend never could thaw the hate his old border collie baby he raised from 6 weeks had in her heart for delivery drivers all the way to the end up to 13 years old. She was the sweetest bestest girl with everyone, but to her the delivery driver was the spawn of Satan, the wolf in sheeps clothing, the bringer of despair. He was careful with her but the delivery drivers all knew her and her predisposition of unbridled rage towards them.

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She has recently passed away and my friend had her cremated and took the ashes home. Then he placed an order on Amazon and waited. He waited for days until the delivery came then he scattered her ashes all over the delivery van while barking and growling like a mad dog. It was one final salute to his old girl, one final act of protection against the evil that all dogs recognize in delivery drivers.

After riding for the first time ever about 3 weeks ago, I still basically feel like I am just trying to just survive the ride. I feel I am not quite in the "fun zone" yet. I am pretty stressed while riding and just trying not to drop/crash (which I've done about 10 times now lol).

To be fair, that is part of the reason I love it because when I ride there is only me and the bike, it takes 100% of my focus and I can't think about anything else. But sometimes I feel a bit bummed out after a ride when I dropped the bike or had some close calls and just feel like, man, I wish I didn't suck and that I could just enjoy the ride rather than just trying not to die or get hurt.

Just wondering if this is normal and does it ever go away?

25 ktm 350 EXCF

Soil/grass and dirt roads primary riding area

New rider

All the instructional videos on turning seems to be related to motocross and ruts and stuff... I'm trying to find out how I should be taking corners/generic turns in my situation. When doing fast sharp turns (like 90 degree turns or 180 hairpins) what is the proper position on the dirt bike on flat ground dirt/soil/grass?

A) Stick the knee out and hang off the inside edge of the seat until your knee is brushing the grass like motogp

B) stick the front foot out and keep your body kind of in line with the seat of the bike but with your head kind of upright

C) sit on your outside foot/outside edge of the seat and stay vertical (perpendicular to the ground) with the bike leaning underneath you

D) Stay on the middle of the seat and vertical in line with the bike and lean in a bit down to the inside of the turn

Or something else? Should I position my weight forward tire, center, or on the back tire of the bike? What to do with my head and legs?

I'm working on some drills from dan dan the fireman and the beginner drills have you ride around the cones entirely in the friction zone without letting out the clutch ever. Like a significant amount of riding around with the clutch only partially pulled out.

I've driven manual transmission cars for 20 years and the idea of driving around a parking lot with the clutch partially engaged the entire time is appalling. That's how you burn out a clutch in a car. You can use it to hold on a hill (though you really shouldn't) but the clutch is always either in or out.

Are bikes different? Before I start doing circles on my bike while riding the clutch I wanted to check if this is a legit thing or is it a fast way to burn your clutch out like on a car? I've been exclusively using the throttle to control speed on slow drills up to this point and treating the clutch like on my car, in or out.

I should probably specify I have a 2025 KTM 350 EXCF if that matters