This past weekend I took the 2 day BMW Offroad Enduro Skills course in Spartanburg SC.
I was very happy with the professionalism and also the skills taught during the course. The instructors are obviously very good riders, and also very good at teaching the skills in the course. If you take the course, you have the choice of using a (single cylinder) 650GS, an F800GS, a 1200GS, or a 1200GSA. I used the 1200GS, the same as what I own. Save your "isn't that a HUGE bike to take offroading?" questions till the end...
The course started with some tight weaving between cones on a dirt/gravel lot. I have to admit I never got the "hang" of being
completely off the "off side" of the bike in a tight turn, but as the weekend grew on I got better and better at it. This is obviously an important skill and I'll continue to work on it.
After the turns, we started working on some small "humps", washboards, and deep potholes. This was pretty simple stuff, but they of course wanted everyone up to the same level, and we moved quickly through it. After every new exercise or two, we'd have an "enduro ride" where we'd ride around trails for 15 minutes or so to use the skills in a more "real world" setting. Successive enduro rides would use all of the previously learned skills, so by the end of the second day the rides were quite long, and the major part of the course. Our first enduro ride (for example), was some small humps and holes, and some tight turning through tracks made in the cattails (this is a southern thing, it's super high grass and very thick). Later these enduro rides would become quite tough!
We moved on to more agility work in the dirt lot, where we started riding in an ellipse (standing), then put one leg on the seat, then transitioned to being seated side-saddle, then stood on one peg with the opposite foot (left peg, right leg), then reversed everything and did it the other way, all while riding around the ellipse. I was surprised no one dropped their bike. (I'll call this the circus trick)
Moving on, we did emergency braking, where we tried braking WITH ABS, then with ABS OFF, rear only, then ABS ON with front threshold braking added. Stopping distances became surprisingly short this way.
Continuing on we worked on steeper "camel humps" to the point where we were dragging skidplates constantly over the very sharply peaked humps, and diving so deep between them that the entire rider would disappear "underground". Lots of drops here the first time through, mostly because the humps were so steep it surprised everyone, but the successive times through we all (I think) made it through quite easily.
The curriculum continued with more sharp steering, more steep climbing and descending, braking, and finding an adequate speed for particular terrain for the rest of the day. Speeds increased during the enduro rides, as well. Not too many bikes were dropped today, but we were all fighting the bikes a little by the end of the day due to mild fatigue.
The second day started right where we left off, with a far longer and fun enduro ride. This time we traveled to an area that instead of having "normal" dry dirt, had wet clay that was very slick on top. We did the same "circus trick" again on this surface. Then we worked on emergency braking again, noting how much farther we'd slide when material doesn't pack up in front of your tires as well. We then did something I was very happy to do!!! We mounted and rode off on the bikes starting from the side! (Meaning, bike is at a standstill, no sidestand, put your foot on ONE peg and ride off, mounting while in motion) I regret I only did this a few times, but didn't drop my bike once and it was a landmark achievement for me...something I wanted to learn to do, and I did it. I'll continue to practice this one!
We then moved to the gravel pit, where few of us had problems...it was pretty easy (though I'm sure if the stones had been all river stones it would be more difficult). After the gravel, we then assaulted Normandy. What? Are you still reading and I caught you off-guard? Yeah, we were obviously trying to take a beach in the next exercise and we were ALL going down. This was the sand pit and I swear there were bikes dropping like flies. I know I did better when the sand was more "virgin" but once we had 11 GS's going through it, I never got a good run again...and neither did anyone else.
Oh well, it was a GREAT workout and I still learned a lot about riding in sand, I'll be far more successful next time.
We then moved to how to back down, or turn around, on a steep incline. This is a critical skill and though tiring on a bike bike, I'm very happy I learned it. Once we'd worked on steep inclines, descents, and backing/turning on inclines over and over, we took on FAR steeper and higher hills. Now we were on the big hills in the program (the ones I'd looked at with a little fear when we first arrived the day before). There were some mishaps, and with the temps (mid 90's) and fatigue (mental and physical) we all made a few mistakes, but we (ok at least I and some others I watched) had some great runs. LOTS of fun and its a great feeling to be able to power up a hill.
We finished the course with a long enduro ride and then a little time on their tarmac track for fun.
So, how was the GS? Well, there's a lot to say, actually. I have to admit it is a little tiring, but at the same time it's nice to have all that power. It's so agile (as I knew from owning one) it's easier to ride in tight trails than one would think, but if anything goes wrong, you'll be sapping your strength. That's the real negative. We finished the course absolutely exhausted. The bikes take a serious beating, and they do it every week, which is a testament to how well they're really built.
All-in-all, it was a very good course. I do think the Jimmy Lewis school may be a little more intense, and I may (probably will) still go, but they both cover most of the same material (I spoke to R Doug and confirmed the curriculum and they're very similar). This (I hope) brought me up to at least the level of where Doug was when he went to the Jimmy Lewis school, so that's a start.
Now to get out on my little WR and practice what I've learned, and find out how to apply it to a little bike.
