This past weekend I participated in a Ryan Young trials school, hosted by Maryland Mototrial in Ijamsville, MD. What a great time! My bike sprung a coolant leak (lower rad hose) on Saturday after lunch. Dan from Maryland Mototrial insisted that I take one of his 2012 Shercos for the rest of the day. Not only that, but while I was riding his new bike, he ran out to a parts store to get me a hose so that I could rig a repair Saturday evening. Then we all swam in his pool and stuffed ourselves at a cookout. What a host! If you need a Sherco or Sherco parts, please consider Maryland Mototrial. He does parts for other brands as well and has a small inventory of used bikes too. Ryan is an excellent teacher. There were riders of all skill levels and the class covered everything from basic turns to splatters. He always provided advice suitable to the rider's skill level and never made anyone feel out of place. Everyone appeared to have a good time and to have learned something. It was also fun watching Ryan show off a bit. For me, the highlight of the class was a toss up between mastering the Jap Zap and doing a real live Splatter. I went from getting a half-decent Jap Zap 15% of the time to getting a good one 85% of the time (all in good/easy conditions, of course). Lots of practice to follow. It took me a while to man up and commit to the Splatter but once I did I realized that Ryan was right that it is fairly easy. This was of course on the smallest section of the wall but I went in to the class thinking I'd probably never try a Splatter and left wishing I'd had time to try the bigger wall before the class was over. If you have the opportunity, I highly recommend the RYP school.
Agreed. I took his course last year here in Canada. He's an excellent teacher and I learned a lot. I got into trials to improve my off road skills and now I'm having so much fun on the trials bike my KTM sits a lot more than before. Garrett
That sound great. Is there a published schedule for the RYP schools? Did a quick search on the googles and didn't find anything.
I hope to go at some point, to bad there isn't one near Boise I could go to. Will just have to take a trip out to one some time next summer. (Vacation plans all made this year or I would see about making it happen sooner.)
The Ryan Young trials schools are just awesome because they hammer the basics and only later on work on higher techniques. I hosted several of Ryan's schools on my Michigan property more than a decade ago. Ryan was always fun to have around (great demos!) and a very patient and very good teacher. Ryan taught me how to turn correctly. Like so many riders, I was getting better while skipping over basics, and getting frustrated by limiting out and not knowing why. The typical stuff like riding dead legged on the bike and over active with arm input. I was also being spastic trying to stop and hop all the time. I learned to apply turning techniques creeping around with almost no throttle and not touching the clutch until I could turn and not wash out without relying on the clutch. I learned to keep the momentum going, even when creeping. These days when I teach newbies I very patiently cover basics Ryan burned into me. Thank you, Ryan!
Awesome! I took that class the summer we rode together and learned a huge amount. The splatter was definitely my favorite bit (though turning and wheel placement were the bits that improved my score in subsequent events). Dan is the man
I was watching video from a class at Dan's last year where they did splatters in the creek (into the bank). I was a little intimidated to find a brand new wood splatter wall when I got there. :eek1 I realize that I will almost certainly never use a splatter in a section, but I'm glad I didn't wimp out. I find myself thinking about building a wall in the yard now... I wish I had taken the school last year but I had to give up my spot after breaking ribs a couple of weeks before. I was riding a lot more last year and would have made better use of it. As it is now, I haven't ridden once in the three weeks since the class. I'm hoping to rectify that this weekend. I think I will be a repeat participant. @ Choicecut - it was $150. IMO, that's a heck of a bargain for two full days of riding, lunch both days and even dinner Saturday & breakfast Sunday. I don't know that every class host will be as great, but I would have felt like it was a good deal for the class alone and no food. I'm hearing a rumor of a fall class in NC. A bit of a drive for you - maybe give Ryan a call and ask about anything closer...
Wow, that sounds like an extremely good deal and way less than I was expecting. Did you hear about the NC class by word of mouth or a website or something? I was trying to find a list of upcoming classes but haven't been able to turn up much. I have been riding about an hour or so a day, 3-4 times a week. I set up a large tire obstacle in my back yard to learn double blip and add a little flavor to the boring back yard. Working my way up to not using ramps at all to get up on the tire. Can do full lock turns pretty well and figure 8's on a semi steep bank in the back yard. Really been focusing on stopping at random times and trying to hold a 5 second count before taking off again. I think I am ready (and need) to get in some novice events or take one of those classes to advance my skill set. It's too easy to get familiar with the same riding section and not really advance. I need to change it up. Was thinking about building a teeter totter or something here soon and finding a local place to unload some pallets on me to conjure up some more obstacles. The wife is "loving" all the junk I am bringing home for obstacles in the back yard!
Word of mouth... It's in the "maybe" phase right now. I expect that the organizer is reading this thread and will share details as/if they become available. As far as I can tell, there is no published schedule for classes. I saw your recent video... Good stuff! There's another event in Toronto, OH on 8/10. That would be an excellent first event for you. Getting to an event will help you know what to practice.
I was eyeballing that one, especially since I have a ticket on that 441 special from the event the bsa club held back in June. Trying to work it out with the wife, but we have plans for that weekend and she has been balking every time I bring it up.. She did say the NC class if it happens wouldn't be a problem, so hopefully the organizer will post up info as he gets it.
It is looking good for a RYP Clinic occuring during the weekend of 19-20 OCT in Sanford, NC. Looks like there are several local riders interested but could be a few extra spots for fellow inmates. If you are interested send me a PM.
PM sent! Quick question. Would this class be ok for a novice like myself? I don't want to get in over my head.
Yes, very OK. Some stuff might be outside of your abilities, but you can always watch that portion, or try working on skills from earlier in the class at that time. Ryan is good at accommodating all skill levels. At the class I took, there was one rider on a trials bike for the first time. He did fine and had fun.
