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Old 28-May-2005, 01:25
Mr_S Mr_S is offline
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BMW Off Road School - Highly Recommended - but a long post

I've just had the great pleasure of spending 2 days riding around the Brecon Beacons on a BMW GS1200 at the BMW Off Road Riding School doing their level one course, and I can highly recommend it.

The school's based at Seven Sisters near Abercrave in the Brecon Beacons and the bikes are housed nearby in a very non descript industrial unit. The off road site is HUGE, with 47 miles of trails, stunning scenery and pretty much every type of terrain you'll ever experience except sand...

All the instructors are experienced off road riders, and when I saw experienced, we're talking people like Simon Pavey and Nick Plumb BMW Works Dakar Riders, also Nick Palmer, former MX champ and John Deacon's former support guru.

My course also had the pleasure of having Charley Boorman with us. He's a top bloke, no airs and graces, exactly as he appears on the documentary and a really good laugh. He's there 3 days a week at the moment getting ready for the next project - A documentary on the Dakar, Charley and Simon are racing in the next one, and Claudio's filming during the stopovers....

Anyway, back to the course..

Day 1

9am start, sign on, meet the bikes etc. At this point I'm starting to wonder why on earth did I choose a massive 1200 twin with comedy suspension over the much smaller FS650 Dakar. The bikes huge, and at 5'8" and not exactly well built they're quite intimidating, or they were, more later.

Ride up to the site after the usual safety briefing and instruction on servo assist brakes plus ABS (turn it off on the dirt..). Quick cup of tea from the fantastic local support team who also look after events like Wales Rally etc and have plenty of stories to tell. It comes across very quickly that John Deacon is sorely missed by them all. Then split up into groups. I went off with the confident road riders / some off roading and we were handed over to our instructor for the 2 day's, Nick Palmer.

So first things first, the 7 of us followed Nick to what can only be described as a slate / **** pit which to my normal riders eyes looked a bit like a skating rink. It was here that we were introduced to the gentle art of picking the damn thing up. So, lay it on it's side, and with a magical technique, that's obvious when you see it, >230Kg of wet bike is hoisted back up and we get onto body position etc.

The first part of the morning progresses through slow speed control, locking up and controlling skids, then knowing when to let off before the front steps away. slaloms, tight circles etc before a quick tea break, and about 2 litres of water..

Tea break over and we're off riding the trails. After a short while we find ourselves stopped and looking down an incline I'd normally not even walk down (easily 1 in 2 rocky as hell), but, we're riding down it today. First off, we go down purely under engine braking, no problems, surprisingly easy and comfortable. Next, using the brakes and at walking pace, constantly feeling for the front slipping and kicking as it locks, again no problem, got this cracked, then we do a stop on the incline and move off. Next we’re off to do steeper inclines with some really tight turns at the bottom, before riding a few more trails before a light lunch.

The afternoon consists of a lot more trail riding where I meet my Nemesis (water filled mud ruts…) and have a couple of offs, though nothing major. Fantastic trails all afternoon and another lesson covering recovering a stopped bike from an uphill climb. Then back to the unit at around 5:30, tired, soaked with sweat and grinning like a Cheshire cat.

Back to the Inn ( Abercrave Inn, another highly recommended) for a shower, change of clothes and then meeting the course in the restaurant for the evening meal (included in the course) along with the Instructors, Charley Boorman and some football match in Istanbul…

Day 2

Another 9am start, and the forearms are burning after working the clutch and brake all day the day before, some serious stretching out needed. This time we’re straight out on the bikes and onto the trails. Nick takes us through some on bike acrobatics ( hands of bars, feet up on seats, swapping legs across the bike etc…) to build confidence then we hit the dirt proper.

After a good while riding around we stop for our introduction to the correct way to negotiate a climb. Practising on a steep but short ascent, and incorporating stops and tight turns at the summit to force good controls over the bike. Then, moving onto a long steep descent, into water then out up a short ascent, before turning it around and taking a short descent into water then up a steep ascent.

Then off for a short blast back for lunch, during which my first major incident occurred….

Travelling up a long steep section on of the group lost traction in front of me and took a tumble, having decided that riding over him wasn’t the done thing I stopped, got off the bike, put it on the stand then went to help. We got him back down the hill and I was heading back to my bike when it fell over. No problem I thought, pick it up, back down the hill and we’ll be fine. Ahh, that’s the clutch master cylinder flapping around in the breeze, bu&&er. Luckily, it was only the bracket casting that was broken, so 3 cable ties later we we’re riding again. Although for the rest of the day, clutch control was hard work (not ideal when off road)

For the rest of the day we rode around the various trails and started to use the skills we’d been taught, tried some serious descents and ascents, during the last of these, one over keen member of the group managed to launch himself in a snotty heap right at the instructors feet, with the bike on top of him, and a dislocated shoulder . Amazingly, after about 10 minutes of resting he sat upright ready for the slow walk out to the fire road, a loud click was heard and it popped back into place. He was promptly taken back to rest out the last few hours as we rode around and took in the last few hours of riding. About 30 mins later I get launched for what feels like miles but was only a few feet, after the brake servo decided to shut down and so my brakes vanished for the brief time I needed them. 5 Minutes later, after a good thump they came back on line and all was well (except the front of the bike now looked very distorted) .

Back to the unit for 4pm, and a quick change into clean clothes for the distribution of certificates, then a 4 hour drive home ready for an 8am meeting the following morning (Today..). Next time, I’ll be making sure I’m off the day after as well, and I’ll probably stay over that night too.

All in all an excellent couple of days. Total cost to me including course, travel, accommodation, dinner on the first night and drinks was around £500.00 and worth every penny of it. They’re pretty much booked up for the rest of the year, but I enjoyed it so much I’ve put myself onto a reserve list for July / August and will jump at the chance of going again. I’m also considering their dune riding course in Dubai…

I can’t recommend this enough, and taking a bike which just doesn’t seem right for off-roading as it’s very heavy, and wide down trails and up hills I’d never have though possible has done wonders for my confidence on unsteady surfaces. If you want to try something different, on someone else’s bike this takes some beating. The instructors are all good guys, and the atmosphere with other riders was fantastic. They cater for all levels, and everyone came away having learnt something new.

I was also extremely surprised by how capable the BMW’s were, and have a new found respect for Charley and Ewan since their bikes were even heavier, and fully laden. They may have been free, but the worked hard to get them around.

Go on, book a course…


http://www.worldofbmw.com/offroadframeset.asp?side=0
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