Trail-riding is the latest activity Srey-Yuu has been doing to hone her motorcycle skills, and we do it all on motorcycles most Khmers consider too underpowered or old-fashioned.
🏡 The Cabin Is Vacant 🛎️
We finally finished moving out of the cabin and back into the brick home because we want to free the cabin up for a potential long-term renter or various short-stay visitors. If we can get some grass growing soon we'll be able to offer a mud-free experience for guests during the rainy season, and with that upgrade we can probably list the cabin on AirBnB and not have to worry about potential negative reviews.
🤔 Reliving Childhood Memories 🛵
Now that Srey-Yuu has here own motorbike we have two motorbikes for the family, my vintage SuperCub 90 and her modern SuperCub 50 FI, we have a combined 140cc of combustion, and riding along the old highway path is now one of my favorite things to do with her. I don't know if she enjoys this as much as I do, but it brings back my own childhood memories of riding quadbikes in the forest when I was her age.
She's still a bit nervous on the highway, so the off-road trail that was once a highway is a good place to practice balance, shifting gears, using engine-braking to descend hills, and various other motorbike skills that will serve her well. Despite her moto being only 50cc, 1st gear is extremely low and good for descending, and luckily for her, her legs are long enough to crabwalk the bike in 1st gear up slow hillclimbs.
⤵️ Down We Go ⛰️
There are easier ways down the hill than the middle path full of rocks, but this is now Srey-Yuu's preferred route, I assume because she likes the challenge a bit. It doesn't look that steep in the above GIF, but if the hill was any steeper her she could slide down the hill on her street tires with back brake doing little to slow her down. Getting comfortable off-road first will make road-riding seem a little easier when she's ready to take it on.
With her all-black moto and her black clothing, she's like a ninja on her SuperCub 50. The engine is so quiet that it makes the gearbox seem loud, and when turns the key you can hear the fuel pump pressuring the system, and because it kind of sounds like a robot, I always make robotic movements when she turns on the bike, usually not impressing her with my dad humor.
🛣️ Back Home To ChairWoman Meow 🐈⬛
Although Srey-Yuu doesn't think she's improving, I have noticed how much quicker she does the trail-ride each time, and I also notice she is putting her feet down less and less and using her balance to keep the bike upright. The hardest part right is coming to a somewhat quick stop by downshifting through the gears smoothly and using engine-braking along with the 70% front brake and %30 back brake to come to a complete stop.
We ride without helmets because we only have to hop on the highway for five seconds to get back home after the trail-ride. Lately I've noticed I'm the only one who proposes the idea of riding, so I have decided to put her bike in the house and let her be the one to propose a trail-ride with me. So far it's been more than a week and it hasn't happened yet, so perhaps she doesn't enjoy riding as much as I previously thought.
Either way the main thing is that I don't want to put pressure on her to learn moto skills. Learning how to ride a motorbike is a crucial part of learning how to be independent in Cambodia, and a critical skill for life in the USA where we won't be able to afford a family car nor the petrol and maintenance costs that come along with it. There is a always a cute ChairWoman Meow waiting for us outside when we return from trail-riding, a little icing on the cake at the end of our rides.
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