I love riding dirt, especially here in Utah. The trails are plentiful, well-kept, and have varying degrees of technicality that push me to be a better rider. But even after more than a decade doing this professionally, as well as riding motorcycles since I was 17, I watch someone like KTM's Chris Birch and just want to cover my face and hide in a corner.
Good lord, dude, how'd you get this freakin' good?
I ask this after watching Birch's latest video with KTM in where he takes the brand's middleweight 890 Adventure R to my state of residence and absolutely rails the damn thing. He jumps it, goes up a gnarly and tight hillclimb which he nearly falls off the other side, and then goes back down it.
He and his riding partner—who's running a KTM 450 XC-F—then run washes, and generally make riding these technical as hell trails look easy. But what I really get out of this film is that most of us rider writers could use some more tutelage from folks like Chris to get the full bananas out of the adventure bikes we ride and write about.
I mean, I know everyone thinks they push their machines, but if Chris' ability to take a pretty heavy bike into spots where most would second-guess throwing a two-stroke at, what the heck are we all doing? We could be pushing stuff like the KTM 890 Adventure R, Honda Transalp, Yamaha Tenere 700, and others so much more. It also just goes to show you the level of engineering a manufacturer like KTM is putting into these machines if Chris can do all this without issue.
I'm just in awe of the masterclass Chris puts on in this video which, honestly, is like all of the man's videos. You're left just wondering, "How can I get better?" Maybe it's by buying a KTM? Maybe it's asking Chris to train me? Whatever the case may be, watch the video above and get hungry to start running some trails, as riding season is just around the corner.
