Sand everywhere, please help.

[ah1214]

Recently the OHV park near my house flooded. The water has receded and left a lot of sand behind. ? The sand is anywhere from 6 inches to 4 feet deep. Now I'm learning how to ride in sand. I can go straight just fine. The problem is turning on the tight trails through the trees. What's the best way to handle tight, wooded, sandy trails?

[cypressrider]

Elbows up and stay away from the front brake.

[ncdirtrider249]

dude the only way to ride in the sand is to have it pinned and going fast or else youre going to get stuck...im not saying that to ragg on you or anything but im being dead serrious...if your rear tire is spinning the bike is going...and since the sand sinks and ruts so easy....thats the only way to ride in it

[Romster]

Staying on the gas most of the time, no front brake. You can't putt around in sand, especially in turns.

[Slackkinhard]

Rear wheel steering. Plant your butt and work it! Point and shoot, just grab a handful and be ready to compensate for oversteer.

Good Luck!

[jbusa8]

"When in doubt, gas it."

works here

[jbusa8]

sit a bit back too.

[Plushpuppy]

+1 on plant your butt back and steer with your butt. That's funny, I had an easier time with sandy whoops and corners than straight--till I got good advice from the masters here Corners, yeah sit back, and it's kind of almost the feeling of doing a wheelie around the corner. Keep on the gas, lay the bike over, if you take it slow you will just bog down and fall over(I have experience in this...?). You know those tight sharp u-turns you make when you plant a foot and lean the bike over and swoosh it around? it's like that too.

[ah1214]

Thanks for the help. I'm going riding this afternoon. I'll get a chance to practice some more.

[Jakeblues]

Maintaining speed in sand is critical, riding behind my son for his first time on the actual trial (read real slow, like a walking pace)I was all over the place and the bike just would not track straight. When I first started everyone told me this, but I just could not seem to keep from letting off the throttle.

I will say sitting back works better for me on the sandy straights, but riding the tank is so much better for cornering. To describe the technique it would be squaring the turn. Drive hard into the turn and downshift as late as you can and still maintain some control ( I always seem to over-do the front brake if I touch it, and end up on the ground in this kind of turn). Make the turn sharpand quick to get the bike pointed it the desired direction, and gas it as hard as you can to re-establish forward momentum. Before I started practicing this technique I was trying to go from outside to apex to outside again in a smooth even arc. That always seemed to get the front washed out or the whole bike just to plow at whatever ( usually a tree) was directly to the outside of the trail.

[ah1214]

Thanks for the help. I went out and practiced in the sand all weekend. It's getting better.

[Noppy]

You may try it in steps: blip the throttle in the turn twice and when coming through the apex gas it. Blip it three times. Next turn try to keep it open all the time.

[dezertpilot]

So DO NOT use the front brake, check. Keep butt on rear fender or a little up or sitting down? I too encountered sand this weekend and was like, "Oh crap!" and then whoops were added in also!?

[Jakeblues]

So DO NOT use the front brake, check. Keep butt on rear fender or a little up or sitting down? I too encountered sand this weekend and was like, "Oh crap!" and then whoops were added in also!?

I would venture the question refers to a more or less linear path, not a turn, right? Then yes,level ground just sit back, add in whoops, ruts or other rough stuff and you will probably want to have some clearance between your bottom and the bike.

[SingleTrackMind707]

Stand up, grip the bike with your legs to keep the bike stable, ride up a gear higher than you normally would, and like everyone says slide around the turn by steering with your legs. If your sitting ride back further to weight the back tire and make the front lighter to float on the sand. It's tough when you put trees into the mix because you have to learn the feel and how to predict the way the bike will react. Several guys use the base of the tree as a berm and slide into it. Remember the slower you go the more you are plowing through it making turns nearly impossible.

My disclaimer... my family and I just started riding a little over a year ago. We ride in FL where it's mostly sand so learning to cope with sand was an absolute necessity. There were many times I had to pickup a bike for the wife and kids (and my own) until I did some extensive reading and asking for help from the experienced riders. Hopefully some of this info will be of some help to you?

[bernvantiem1]

hammer down through it...

[Crfuzz]

I had my first real sandy stuff this weekend, I just tried setting back through turns, standing through the flat stuff.

...and hammerin down like Bern said.

[EXxrldtgnow300dtg]

I went on my first trail yesterday and the first leg of it was ALL sand, hills, turns, whoops and I got owned by my bike a XR650L.........numerous times. I can't stand the way the bike goes all over the place and when there are trees nearby, pinning it just goes against my natural instinct to survive as well as paying more money to fix broken parts. I've got a lot to learn with sand.

I'm glad to see others have issues with sand too.

[Malloy805]

Its the giant sand worms that will get you .?

[Plushpuppy]

Th lace I ride that has some sand is desert(not deep beachy sand). Riding a gear up(4th) and when sitting be back far enough so that my arms were straight(I'm short tho, 5'5"), and dragging the back brake when I felt a wobble or to make it plow through the ruts REALLY helped!!! Just plain going faster--even though you feel all over the place on the way to going faster.

I hate it when the trail runs up along a barbwire fence tho. I prefer the trees...