RIDER SKILLS: No Time to Think - What Do You Do?

Understanding the underlying reasons for why we perform certain actions is crucial in building a strong skill set. When you know the ‘why’, you won't need to rely on remembering the steps because they will become obvious. When riding a motorcycle, there's often no time to remember to think about each skill. In this episode of Rider Skills with Clinton Smout, we will explore the essential elements for building and maintaining riding skills and discuss how long it takes to notice a difference in our riding. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

In this exclusive episode of DEEP TROUBLE, Rhett Halpin from Yakima, Washington, and his friends were out for just a few-hour ride when a decision to check out an unknown trail quickly traps them into a race against the clock. TRAIL TECH:  Spencer Hill serves as the marketing manager for Trail Tech. He’s an expert on GPS devices, especially the Voyager Pro, and worked with Garmin for years before Trail Tech. We discuss one of the most commonly overlooked yet most valuable features on your GPS and the Voyager Pro GPS. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Travis and Chantil Gill have been travelling full-time on two motorcycles for over four years and plan to continue for the foreseeable future. Their journey wasn't a last-minute decision, they had been planning it for years. Over that time, they developed unique methods to save money while still having fun and raising a family. Their goal was to explore the world, and after travelling for the past four years, they have refined their budget and discovered more methods to stretch their funds. We talk about their top five tips for managing finances and delve into their travels, as well as what lies ahead as they explore a new continent. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Tom Gould and Lauren Board are each riding 125cc Honda motorcycles on a trip from the UK to Cape Town, South Africa without a definite deadline. Their trip is loosely planned, it is their first major expedition, and they have already faced numerous challenges. When our host, Jim Martin, spoke with them, they were nursing hundreds of insect bites and had just been burglarized for the second time. To make matters worse, the people they thought would help them only scolded them and sent them on their way without food, water, or money, which the thieves had taken as well. Despite these hardships, Tom insists he wouldn’t turn back. He says you’d have to drag him home kicking and screaming. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Specialized safety gear, like Leatt's ADV-specific equipment, is vital for adventure riders tackling diverse terrains and weather conditions. These riders face unique challenges, from rocky trails to long hours in varied climates. As adventure riding grows in popularity, it's crucial to understand the specific safety needs of this community. ADV riders require gear that not only protects them from impacts but also meets the demands of off-road riding. Leatt's deep understanding of these needs enables them to develop tailored safety solutions, ensuring adventurers can explore with confidence and peace of mind. To find out more we talk to Dr. Chris Leatt, founder of Leatt Corporation. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Clinton Smout from SMART Adventures returns to ARR’s exclusive Rider Skills to talk about one of the most feared riding conditions we encounter on the street, especially for street riders - gravel. He talks about why gravel is feared, if it should be and what you can do about it to make riding gravel easy and even fun. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

In this episode of DEEP TROUBLE, a group of riders set off to the Cross Pennsylvania Adventure Trail expecting a fun and relatively easy ride. As they start their journey, they are surprised by the beautiful scenery, interesting attractions, and the remoteness they experience while riding through miles of game trails. Everything seems perfect until one small mistake changes everything. One of the riders goes down, and they are faced with potentially life-threatening complications. And It’s about then that they realize they don’t know where they are. Luckily, they have a plan. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Ted Simon is a well-known figure in the adventure motorcycle travel community. He rode his motorcycle around the world in the early 1970s, documenting his journey for a newspaper and later writing the book Jupiter’s Travels. The book became hugely popular and is still selling briskly almost five decades later. Ted recently turned 93 years old, and for his birthday, our host, Jim Martin, sat down with him to discuss how a rider today could have a similar trip. Ted came up with some criteria that anyone can follow to have a real adventure. During the conversation, it was revealed that Ted may not have been alone for the entire trip as previously thought and he also shared how his clear idea of what he wanted from his trip led him to turn his back on someone close to him so that he could continue his journey alone. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

The topic of large and small adventure motorcycles is often approached with a "large vs small" angle, as if there is a definitive answer to the question of which is better. However, just as there is no one-size-fits-all solution for footwear, there is no perfect bike that suits everyone for all occasions. In this episode, we will discuss large and small adventure motorcycles from a different perspective. Chris Birch from Say No To Slow talks about how we ride large vs small adventure motorcycles and why what works for one may not work for the other. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!

Ready for another big adventure, Dustin Nere reunited with a good friend at the Delhi airport for a 2-month adventure in the Himalayas. Apart from booking flights, reserving a hotel for the first few nights, and reserving bikes in Dehradun, they had no real plan. They knew of only a couple of notable places that Dustin had read about, and they hoped they could connect the dots. To make things more interesting, they began the journey with two other Americans who were visiting India for just two weeks. In the first week, they experienced bike troubles, landslides and altitude sickness. They made poor decisions and they learned valuable lessons. Photos and links related to this episode can be found in the show notes.  Adventure Rider Radio and RAW are the longest-running adventure motorcycle and travel podcasts and we remain committed to bringing you new and exciting episodes every Thursday. Never miss an episode, be sure to FOLLOW the show on your favourite podcast app. Have a show idea or suggestion, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you! If you can, we’d love to get your support, please visit the Support page on our website. Thank you for listening!