Can’t Judge A Book By Its Cover with Karen Ramsay

This entry is part 13 of 22 in the series Adventure Rider Issue #10

Karen Ramsay suggests some clarity in adventure-riding communication.

It seems to be a common theme these days – people hooking up online.

The world of adventure riding combined with social media has a lot in common with online dating.

Not the casual Tinder stuff, more like the eHarmony, looking-for-a-life-partner sort of dating.

The tentative messages to each other begin, gradually becoming a little cheeky before the parties meet. Adventure riders are certainly not immune to the attraction. It’s not difficult to post or find an upcoming ride on a forum or site and, within a short time, have a group of riders you’ve never met organised to meet. Often you’ll find someone who lives not too far away that you would have been unlikely to meet otherwise.

For me, there’s always a certain amount of trepidation when I meet other riders in person for the first time. What if I stall my bike in front of them? Why did I write on my profile that I like piña coladas? Will they ride at breakneck speed or are they out for a Sunday morning stroll?

If I turn up on a ride and they’re all on light dirtbikes and wearing motocross gear, I know there’s a fair chance it won’t be my sort of ride.

Having said that, someone could have all the gear, look the part and want to stick to the tar. Or they could be capable of propelling their big adventure bikes through places that would make a Dakar rider hold their breath in fear.

We’ve all seen people take inappropriate bikes in places they have no right to go. And make it look easy. They could’ve ridden to exotic places around the world and have incredible stories to share.

Age isn’t an issue either. I’ve ridden with many people who are a lot older than me (and I’ve even found a couple of riders younger than I am to ride with) and enjoyed the ride irrespective of the rider’s age.

The only way you can really tell if you’re compatible is to take a ride with people.

What I’ve learned

• I’m not into piña coladas, but I will ride in most weather
• Check before committing to a ride with strangers. See if the ride will suit you
• My Terra will go just about anywhere my fear will let it
• My kids don’t read these articles (do you Tinonee, Bess and Darcy?)
• If you wouldn’t want your grandmother to see it, don’t put it on social media

To troll or not to troll

I’m still trying to make up my mind if it’s okay to look up someone’s profile before you meet to find out what sort of adventure riding they’re into. If you do, I’m not sure if it’s creepy or being prepared.

For me, if they have lots of pictures of someone on a little dirt bike, holding a beer while jumping over a flooded creek, then we’re probably not on the same page.

Similarly, if their only shots are of lattes at every café between Melbourne and Adelaide, then we might not be on the same page either.

Then again, turning up at a designated place and time not even knowing what sort of bike they’re on can be exciting.

Karen Ramsay

Perceptions

Recently I went on a fabulous overnight adventure ride organised by, and raising money for, the Emu Creek Hall Committee.

The organisers had done a great job in putting together fabulous loops over two days. According to a couple of the wives, it had taken the blokes six months of riding research to get it just right. It was there I really came to understand adventure riding can have very different meanings for different people.

They’d capped the number of riders at 50 to make it manageable and advertised around the place, including on social media, and ended up with a huge range of bikes, riders and abilities. There seemed to be a lot of single-track riding (although in reality it was just a small part of it) and I spent a lot of time with my heart in my mouth, forgetting and ignoring all the sensible riding knowledge and skills I’ve been trying to develop.

At one stage some bloke overtook me, enveloping me in dust so thick I couldn’t even see the visor on my helmet, let alone what was going on up ahead. It was like riding with my eyes closed. I knew I had at least one rider directly behind me, so I couldn’t stop. With no way to know what was happening up ahead I was convinced I would crash into someone or something. Fortunately for me, God must have been having a quiet time of it, and after what seemed like a lifetime of no vision and a few close calls with trees, I was able to see again. I discovered in that long moment that wasn’t the type of riding I’m into.

It also highlighted to me the differences in what people call adventure riding.

There’s lots of different interpretations of what makes an ‘adventure’ ride. Different bikes and different people suit different types of adventure. Maybe we could come up with a system to identify what we’re looking for?

ISOLTRM (In search of long term riding mates)

Perhaps we need to come up with some acronyms and abbreviations to help people find their ‘perfect match’ when organising or joining rides with strangers on social media.

It could include acronyms like

ST – into single trail
Espresso – rides with coffee stops
R – sunny weather rides only
S – will ride in any conditions
Stayer – long rides; the longer the better
Quickie – a couple of hours at the most
ZZZ – overnighters
male riders only
Call me ‘Sir’ – likes to lead rides
Cinderella – happy to be sweep
FF – fast and furious riding
Easy rider – nothing challenging
has mechanical skills

Regardless of any of that, even if your riding styles are different, at least you’ve been out for a ride instead of sitting at home, you’ve met some fellow adventure riders and probably learned something too.

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