Dirt riding is a blast. Whether you ride motocross, hare scrambles, or simply enjoy ripping down some trails, it's an adrenaline rush like no other. It also beats you up pretty badly with frequent crashes. Sure, the bike can take it and you wear gear that helps protect you. Eventually, though, all that abuse catches up to you. What do you do then? Give up dirt riding? Go play golf instead? Fortunately, Cross Training Adventure offers an alternative.
"A lifetime spent riding dirt bikes is being sentenced to a physical beating of epic proportions," the narrator says. It's true. After years of off-roading, you're not as young as you used to be, and you're not cut out for this type of riding anymore. That's where adventure riding comes in. It's like the motorcycle version of retiring and playing golf, except not nearly as boring and soul-sucking.
Adventure riding involves a larger, more comfortable motorcycle. You have an actual comfortable seat, not some platform you barely touch because you're standing all the time. You have enough room to bring things with you, from drinks and snacks to a tent and moto-camping setup. You can still ride on dirt. When you do, you bring all of your previous experience with you. On a bigger bike, at a slower pace, you rarely crash at all if you know what you're doing. Even if you don't, you learn quickly.
Looking For Adventure:
The experience of adventure riding is more cerebral than riding a dirt bike. It's not the adrenalin rush of high speeds and big jumps, but it still has its moments of excitement. Rather than blast through a mud patch, you look for the best route to take through or around it. Precision is sometimes the key, and it's quite satisfying when you get it right. There are other forms of excitement, too, like the beautiful views you see in places that are inaccessible by car.
I came to adventure riding a bit different than what's described here. Rather than getting too old to ride dirt bikes, I'd ridden strictly on the street for 20 years, but never had the dirt experience. After moving someplace where half the roads are dirt, I decided it was time to tackle this hole in my riding skills. It was truly refreshing to try something brand new within the same sport I've already been enjoying almost half my life. I don't need to go play golf. I need to go find some new dirt roads to explore.
Source: Cross Training Adventure