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| Ron Orem playing in the dirt. |
Ron Orem started riding motorcycles when he crawled out of the jungles of Southeast Asia. His training consisted of trying not to fall off while he explored how fast this bike would go, and not always succeeding. He's a bit of a slow learner, so it required about twenty years before Ron figured out that formal training might be a good thing to invest in.
He first enrolled in several classes taught by Reg Pridmore, which was a great help with bike control and being smooth with the controls, and he also completed a couple of Advanced Rider classes with MSF.But over the years, as his riding interests and travel became geared toward BMW GS models and unpaved roads, he thought learning how actually having a bit of skill in the dirt might be useful.
Training with friends in fields, woods, and back roads was less than helpful.
Ron wanted some structured training, but it was hard to find. The turning point in the pursuit of knowledge was spending an hour getting his heavily laden R1150GS back on its feet after falling over on a remote dirt road somewhere in southern Utah.
A year later Ron was lying in an icy cold, knee deep puddle somewhere in North Carolina, with water filling the gore tex liners of his riding pants, and his F650GS Dakar on top of his leg. Mark Brown leaned over him and, while smiling, asked "so, do you know why you fell, again?"Ron now knew why, but his full answer is best not printed here.
This was on his first experience with MotoMark1, having enrolled in Mark's ADV course, and Ron was having a great time training with three other riders who had braved the spring storms and cold weather. The step by step training, hours of repetitions, and constant positive coaching was laying a foundation of off road skills that Ron would put to good use on many off road adventures over the next several years, some solo, some with other riders.
The fear of encountering obstacles that would seem unmanageable was greatly reduced, and opportunities for exploring unpaved sections of the country expanded. Ron is still not a real dirt rider, that's not his goal.
But he is a strong advocate for good, real world training on a regular basis with a good coach as a key competent of trip preparation.
Ron is a vocal cheerleader for the ADV course taught by MotoMark1, and reminds everyone to pack dry clothes!
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