Michael Howard’s T7 10 minutes of fame

@Michaelmichaelmoto looks like Llel got ahold of your video in his ‘What went wrong’ crash series. He even saved you for the end. Congrats? :slight_smile:

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“Try not to crash as much”? He’s only seen him crash once. Good for you for submitting, Mike. And for attempting that climb in the first place…

Where was that? So I know not to end up there.

Jimmy, That’s out in the ridges just north of Grand Junction.

I thought the ribbing was good natured and warranted. I was particularly glad to hear that the clutch lever works better when you actually pull it, looking forward to trying that out this season. :joy:

The reality is, when your rear tire is digging through bottomless silt and hits a solid rock all of a sudden, the rapid traction increase is pretty tough to modulate. Hence the loop out.

I wish I could just play golf or something but I have no interest, so I guess I’ll be chasing dirtbikes on the T7 again this year.

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I think you’re totally right, you went from no traction to a lofted front end as it bounced off the rock to all the rear traction in the world in a split second, all while on a steep slope. Tough one to catch in that moment. For me the takeway is line selection, but not sure how much flexibility you actually had in that regard at that angle in that groove

So much good content in this. Llel’s delivery and style is one of my favorites on youtube. Now is a good time to watch some Rich Larson vids on power delivery and clutch control.

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I love it! His videos and reviews are always good. And he said he “saved the best for last”- You’re the best Michael!

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These hills are steep and loose enough that it can even be difficult to walk up, so I think I was committed to the groove.

What has been most beneficial is building momentum early and maintaining it through the climb. I think I could have backed up further before this attempt.

Alternative line selection in a v-groove on a steep uphill is very difficult. If you are not in the bottom of the v you are on an off camper surface that yields much less traction and wants to direct you back to the bottom of the v rut. Momentum helps for sure so you don’t have to rely on maintaining as much rear wheel traction.

If there is enough run-in to the base of the incline you might be able to carry enough momentum to stay on the wall of the rut, but that is an extremely unpredictable surface to ride on traction wise and not likely in the conditions shown in the video.

If you can’t maintain enough speed to stay high all the way to the top, then best case is your back wheel drops into the rut with the front wheel high and you claw your way up, driving up cross rut style where you work the wall of the rut for added traction. Worst case is you hook something and get tossed off the bike anyway. In any case it would require a very aggressive start to the climb and excellent throttle and clutch control. Hard…

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I think he probably watched @Michaelmichaelmoto’s supercut of all the crashing. Haha

So. Many. Crashes.