I’ve heard from many experienced riders (motorcyclists) that the best way to gain experience on a bike is through dirt biking. On the street you’re never in complete control, you’re constantly on the defensive because it’s always the a-hole in the car that doesn’t see you that kills you. Not so in dirt biking, the a-hole that kills you is yourself. It’s you against the trail and there’s no one to blame except yourself if you get hurt.
To get better on a bike I went with Brad to Trail Tours up in the Ganaraska forest. Brad has a couple of friends who are trail guides there and were able to give some excellent tips on how to stay on the bike. Some of the trails in Ganaraska are straight up hard. If you try to slow down and think about how you’re going to get over that log then make a sharp right turn to avoid that tree you’ll likely fall off your bike. The trick is to react and just to go with the flow, the moment you try to over analyze you’ll fall off your bike with a bruise on your ass.
Here’s a clip that Brad put together of the two times we went out this summer: