Training: completed!

[Mrs. DantesDame]

The training has been completed and with great success!!

So here is it, our weekend in BMW's Enduro Park!
 
 


October 25-26, 2014

Hechlingen (Germany) Enduro Park


When Dan and I went on our very first off road trip together we were vastly unprepared for the challenges that we would face. We had planned to spend a week riding our KLRs from the southern border of Oregon to the northern border with minimal pavement involved. Called the “OBDR” for short, it is roughly a 1,200 mile journey of unmarked trails and roads.

Our first day went poorly and we quickly realized that if we were going to enjoy ourselves, we’d have to make a change of plans. So instead of exploring the truly wild back country, we decided to enjoy the less challenging forest service roads throughout the state, leaving the wilderness to those with more skills.

Fast forward eight years and the time had finally come to learn those skills that we should have had back in Oregon. We signed up for a two day course at BMW’s Enduro Park in Hechlingen, Germany and eagerly awaited the day. We had scheduled a weekend well over a month away – in mid-October – just to ensure that we would be able to rent the same motorcycles that we currently own. It was taking a chance with the weather, but at least we’d learn on bikes that we could transfer the knowledge to easily.

We debated on riding to the course or renting a car and finally decided that the car was the way to go. We didn’t know what the weather would be like, and at almost four and a half hours of motorway (in each direction), a cold and wet day would really be taxing. In addition, the car would ensure that if anything went awry while taking the course, we’d have a comfortable way of getting home. When the time came, we picked up a small Fiat 500 from the airport and drove north.

Our travel estimation was a joke: we had discovered German traffic. The four and a half hours was extended to over five hours by the time we crawled our way through construction site after construction site, joined by thousands of others on this beautiful Friday afternoon. Eventually we left the motorway behind and instead took winding country roads through farmland and forest. The traffic had disappeared almost completely and we spent the last hour of our drive enjoying the view and the perfectly clear weather.

Hechlingen is a small village and it was easy to find Hotel Forellenhof, the sign on the wall proudly stating that it was built in 1904. After dropping our gear off in our room (which had a lovely view of the church high on the hillside), we took a walk around the town to see what there was to see. It turns out that there isn’t much. While there are many nicely-kept homes, we didn’t see any sign of economic means other than agriculture. Considering how far into the countryside we were, I wasn’t surprised.

It was dusk when we returned to the hotel for dinner. There were half a dozen people seated in the restaurant area and we suspected that they were here for the same reason we were. We sat down and ordered our meal. Only after we had finished eating and were contemplating if another beer should be ordered did the couple at the table behind us joined the guys at the table next to us. They all spoke German, but we knew that they were there for the course. They eventually noticed us and invited us to join them at their table. The six of us then proceeded to make our introductions and tell our stories until not-too-late in the evening; we had a big day ahead of us!

While the BMW Hechlingen Enduro Park is listed as being in “Hechlingen”, it really isn’t. It is about 5 km south in a disused quarry. Dan and I hopped in the car and drove to the dirt parking lot at the stone-lined entrance to the old quarry. We hauled our gear to a fancy, glass-walled building and checked in with one of the waiting employees. The building wasn’t huge, but it had large locker rooms where we could stash our clothes and even take a shower afterwards. While you had to bring your gear, the Park did offer Enduro motocross boots for rent. Considering that we planned on pushing our limits this weekend we sprung for the sturdier boots and I was happy with the decision.


The worst possible picture of the main building


"...a heightened risk of accidents in off road training and travel is to be expected"



Just over thirty people eventually gathered in the main room and we were soon called to attention by our four instructors. They introduced themselves, but unfortunately I didn’t catch all of their names. They then proceeded to give us a quick overview in both English and German. The group was predominantly German, but there were some people from Croatia, Greece, Switzerland and the Netherlands, at least the ones I met.


Our instructors

The instructors formed four groups based on our own self assessment: one beginner, two intermediate and one advanced. We choose our own level but if we ever felt that we needed to move up (or down), it would be easy to slip into a different group at any time. It was nice to know that I wouldn’t be locked in to the intermediate group I had chosen if I felt I was in over my head.

[Sport-Touring]

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Dan and I had the same instructor, Manuel (spelling is questionable for all names) who wasted no time getting our group of eight started. We picked out our previously selected bikes (either the F800 or R1200; and the one guy who brought his own Transalp) and immediately did some laps around the main training area. Then the work started.


The bikes ready for the students

Balance. It is the key to keeping your motorcycle under control. We started out with some easy stuff: while riding in a large, slow circle, I stood up on the pegs and stuck alternating legs out. Then a strange maneuver: putting a foot up on the seat behind me, and eventually both feet up. I can’t say that I’ve ever knelt on a moving motorcycle before and it was surprisingly easy. But then things got really tricky: side saddle.


Our instructor

While still moving around the circle, I stood up and swung one leg over so that now both legs hanging on one side of the bike. Then I switched them over to the other side. The final step in this exercise was to swing both legs over to one side, but then stand up on the peg using the inside leg. This wasn’t so bad on the peg of the inside of the circle, but it was much more difficult on the outer peg. I should have enjoyed how easy this was, as the next exercise was very tiring.

After we were done with our circus moves it was time for the next exercise. It was all about cones and clutching and lasted for what seemed like an eternity. There were two rows of offset cones and the idea was to weave slowly through the row with an exaggerated leg and body movement to keep the center of gravity where it should be. By the end of this exercise my quads began to scream. Also screaming was my left hand: the clutch on the F800 isn’t light and with constant use for this amount of time, I could feel the discomfort. One by one, our instructor pulled us away from the cones and had us practice a very tight, very slow U-turn, using the same movement we were supposed to be practicing in the slalom. Every once in a while someone would drop their bike, as the instructor said we could expect. We used the first drop (not mine!) as a lesson in various ways to pick up a fallen motorcycle, and after that we were on our own.


How to lift a fallen bike


The dreaded cones


Dan takes out a cone in the U-turn exercise

Our reward for surviving the cones was a break at the main building. We parked our bikes and went in for refreshments and a snack. Much to my surprise, the young woman I had been talking to the previous evening came hobbling out of the building on crutches. I learned that her bike had fallen over in the sand and it landed on her foot. After a trip to the hospital that afternoon we found out that she had broken three bones in her foot. She seemed to take it very well and encouraged her husband to continue with the rest of the course, which he did.

AFter our break Manuel gathered us together and led us out of the main training area and up a steep, rocky road. It was trail ride time! We rode single file, following the leading bike along rocky single track, up and down gentle hills and through other open training areas of the park. It felt good to actually ride the bike somewhere. With over sixty four acres of land, the Enduro Park has a lot of area to play with it. And being an old quarry, there were already many manmade terrains that were perfect for this type of training. Even though there were so many people in the four groups, we rarely came across them and saw them only when they were traveling through for another practice session.


Advanced group playing in the hills


The main training grounds with the 2nd Intermediate group in the background

We came down from the quarry trails and parked our bikes at the main building, as it was lunch time already. We were to grab anything we needed and then we’d ride the bikes together back to the hotel in Hechlingen where the group lunch was waiting for us.

It was during the brisk ride on the pavement that I realized how blessed we were with the weather. It was only about 16C and overcast. Infrequent drops of rain fell – just enough to keep the dust down. I had worked up a sweat in pushing my F800 GSA around in the park, but now I was feeling chilled at 70 kph. I could only imagine the discomfort this training could be if taken during the heat of summer when temperatures could reach 30C in the quarry grounds.


Nuns coming out of the restaurant/hotel

[Mrs. DantesDame]

All meals were provided by either the hotel (breakfast, if you are a guest) or BMW (lunch and dinner) and they put out a good spread. The entire group filed into the room reserved for us at the back of the restaurant and we piled the food on our plates. After an hour we hopped back on the bike and returned to the park. Dan had made the decision to move to the Beginners's group, a decision that would enable him to more thoroughly enjoy his time. He liked the smaller group size and the slightly slower pace. Also, he could feel the effort of the clutch in his forearm and he wanted to be sure not to push it (foreshadowing!) Meanwhile, Manuel took our group for a couple of loops around the main practice grounds before leading us up into one of the smaller open areas further up in the quarry.

It was time to learn to ride in a rut. A 40' trough had been constructed in the ground, framed with thick wood for the edges and the bottom was hard packed dirt. Our goal was to ride our bikes down the center of this trough without losing our balance or running the wheels along the edges. It took me only one trip down the rut before getting the hang of it: keep the elbows up and loose, look to the end and it was a breeze. Finally, something I was good at!

Throughout the morning I had been fighting with the clutch. Even though I own the same bike, I have never had the opportunity to ride the bike for four hours while using the clutch almost the entire time. There was also the fact that I usually use all four fingers to pull in the clutch, but Manuel insisted (and rightly so) on the safer use of only two fingers on the clutch. This meant a lot more effort with fewer digits. Manuel and I tried to adjust it so that it was easier to pull but it was still a heavy pull. After we left the artificial rut we took some more natural rutted paths through a grassy plateau. They were deep and muddy and took a lot of concentration. And that's when my hand cramped.

To be clear, it didn't really cramp. I just could no longer feel it and it wouldn't respond to my brain's requests for motion. I was unable to pull in the clutch. Fortunately I was going slow so I rolled off the trail and let the bike stall. My hand started to respond and I flexed the fingers with some effort. The group meandered through this field while I sorted out my hand. As soon as I could gain full control I rode down to where Manuel was and hailed him. I explained the situation and he immediately was concerned. It was a serious safety risk and had to be addressed. He also had a solution.

We rode down to the bike shed and I parked the 800. I was sad to leave it behind but also curious as to Manuel's substitution. We walked into the room and he went into the corner and pulled out a tiny, 200cc dual sport. It was a Betamotor Alp 200. I had never ridden anything like it - but that would change.


Another embarrassingly fuzzy picture of the bike shed

The bike was tiny and the clutch was feather light. I sat on it, feeling like an adult on a child's toy. The group took off and I followed, revving the little bike as we took off across the grounds. The day suddenly got much easier.


Betamotor Alp 200

Our next exercise was to tackle hills. Small hills, to be sure, but hills nonetheless. The ones we first approached were maybe ten feet high and composed of packed dirt. We were instructed to ride until we almost reached the top and then stall the engine. The point was to understand how to back down a hill while using the clutch. It was another simple exercise, but a good one to know. Once we knew how to save ourselves if we didn't make it up the hill, it was time to actually go up the hill. The trickiest part of this was timing the rolling on of the throttle at the base of the hill and then the rolling off the throttle so that I didn't launch myself over the top. Yes, of course that sounds like fun, but the point of this practice was to know how to make a controlled ascent. And what comes after a controlled ascent? A controlled descent. Perhaps these exercises would have been more demanding on the F800, but on the little 200, it was nothing but fun. And the best part was that my hand felt fantastic!

We ended the day with another trail ride through the grounds. This time we went on even more remote trails that snaked through young forests. The narrow trails were muddy and caused problems for the larger bikes but I blew through them like nobody's business. I actually felt a little guilty, but not guilty enough to give the bike back at the end of the day.

Day 2 - coming soon!

[Blue is Best]

Good story on a great adventure. Waiting on day two!!!!!!!!!!

[cjgauthier]

This sounds like a lot of fun and the locale sounds totally cool. These exercises sound interesting, you really have to control the bike in the dirt especially on grades and worse cross grades. After so many years on the FJR, I decided to make  a dual sport addition to the stable. KLRs are ubiquitous and there are many after-market parts avail. but I wanted a break from big bike weight. I just got a Honda CRF 250l and am really enjoying the lighter weight and lower seat height. It makes a huge difference during low speed maneuvers in the woods.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

I knew ahead of time that taking pictures wouldn't be easy in a training like this, but once I was actually on a bike, with full gear and in constant motion, it became painfully obvious that I would be lucky to get any action shots. I eventually figured out a way of attaching the camera to my jacket, but it still required steady riding conditions - not something I experienced very often.


View from our hotel room in the misty morning

There had been a change overnight: one of the instructors had become a father. He got "the call" and left to be with his wife and new child. This left us with one less instructor for the same amount of students. There was a quick reorganization of riders and I was moved to Dan's group. The instructors did a good job of splitting the two intermediate groups into the lesser and more skilled riders and I think that most of the students were happy with the decisions made.


Dan with "his" GS

Much to my surprise, the first thing we did on Day 2 were some off-the-bike physical exercises and stretches. It was a fun little set of aerobics and everyone took it to heart to get their blood flowing and their limbs limbered. I confess that jumping jacks in enduro motorcycle boots are painful.



I was now in Sille's group and as our motorcycle warm up she took us immediately on a trail ride, having fun on the woods trails again. These weren't quite as challenging as yesterday's woods ride, but considering the muscles screaming in my upper legs, I was ok with that. It also helped that I was also still on the little 200 and having a blast. There were constant reminders that we were in an old quarry and we often came upon abandoned equipment rusting in the woods. It would have liked to have learned more about the history of the park.


Woods trail

[Mrs. DantesDame]

We came back down to the training area near the bike shed, this time to work on braking. Starting cones marked the stretch where we were to build up speed and another set of cones where we were to begin braking. The first exercise was with the rear brake, the second exercise was with the front wheel and the third exercise was (surprisingly enough) with both wheels. Sille took a lot of time to explain the various bikes' use of ABS and ACS and when to use each mode and setting. My 200 had none of this special equipment, but my F800 does, so I listened carefully. And it was always fun to watch Sille take off on her bike. She rode a new 1200GS but she was easily just over 5' tall. Instead of trying to swing her leg over the saddle while the bike was on the side stand, every start was proceeded by her putting her left leg on the peg and then rolling on the throttle. Only once the bike was actually moving did she swing her leg over the seat. Some day I might give this a try. Some day...


Braking practice

It was great to explore the braking tolerances in such a controlled environment and I look forward to trying it at some point on my own motorcycle. In the meantime, I was going to have fun with this one. I admit that the braking practice went on a little longer than I would have liked, but since it was a group lesson we kept at it until Sille was comfortable with each of our performances. And of course, one can never have too much practice. Sille wrapped up the morning session with another trail ride around the park. The sun had come out and it was getting warmer. Fortunately the temperatures never rose very far and I was only slightly too warm in my gear.




A little off the main trail

Now that I had my camera with me, I could take some pictures of the ride to the hotel for lunch. The weather was perfect and the colors in the trees added some beauty to the landscape.






Riding through Hechlingen


Dirty bikes at lunch


Guess which one I'm riding?


Hotel Forellenhof

[Mrs. DantesDame]

After lunch we got directly back on the bikes and went directly to the local gas station. Two Park employees stood on both sides of the pump and filled bike after bike as each pulled up. After our group was gassed up we rode back to our little corner of the training grounds. It was time for me to face my fears.

All the previous evening all I could think about were the bikes that zoomed up and down the hills that lined the main training ground (pictured early on Day 1). I didn't want to do this hill. I was even mentally forming my refusal to the instructor. Of course, any of us could refuse to perform any exercise presented to us - this was all voluntary. But this hill? Did I really want to ride up it? No. I didn't have a good reason, but it ate at me.

However, Sille took us to a different hill and while it must have been easier (Shallower? Lower?) it looked more difficult due to the rough, rocky surface. She didn't give us much instruction other than to ensure that we kept on the throttle until we reached the top. And then we were off.

One by one, we throttled up. There were three possible paths and Sille indicated how they lined up by level of difficulty. I chose the easiest - and it was great! My second ascent was the same path, but with more finesse. Then I moved on to the harder path; it wasn't much worse. So then I went all out and chose the most difficult path. It had a slight bend midway up, so I couldn't just roll on the throttle and go. But it felt good and I kept at it for the rest of the runs. I was happy with my level of skill, and Sille voiced her confirmation. I had conquered my fears.


Dan takes on the hardest path


A happy rider

What goes up, must come down. There was an easy loop to get back down to the training ground  after climbing the hill, enabling us to attack it over and over with ease. Then Sille had us reverse directions and come down the steep hill. But we weren't to just ride down the slope, but descend as slowly as possible. This took a very gentle touch on front brake, knowing just how much pressure to keep on the lever to stay in control. It was fun on the little bike and I would have liked to have tried it on the 800.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Our second day of training was almost over. Sille asked us if there was anything in particular we wanted to work on and the consensus was "sand". We rode over to the sand pit and after a little instruction, we were plowing our way across the soft surface. One by one, we attacked the deep sand, with Sille ready to give us tips or, more often, to help pick up dropped bikes.

Boring video of Dan riding across the sand


One end of the sand pit

The woman with the broken foot hobbled her way up to the sand pit to watch us practice but sadly, by the time she got there, we were ready to move on to the next exercise. I felt bad as we left her sitting on a rock at the side of the sand pit, leaving her to hobble back down to the main grounds on her own.


Hobbling through the sand

Sille offered to take us on a tour of the Hechlingen region. She promised an hour or so of dirt roads, trails and some water crossing. It sounded like fun and I was interested to see more of the area. Unfortunately, I should have switched bikes to something more powerful than the 200, as it had a bit of trouble in keeping up with the bigger bikes, especially when we hit the open paved roads.









While it was an interesting ride and it was fun to ride around the base of some of the large wind turbines, I admit that it didn't hold the challenge that I had been anticipating. I was actually glad to get back to the park and would have preferred to take a few more loops there.

[Mrs. DantesDame]

When we rolled back into the park we immediately went to an area I hadn't seen before: it was a large water trough behind the main building. We had one more exercise: deep water riding. Sille told me that my bike was too small to safely take through the water (the air intake was lower than the other bikes) but I wasn't too concerned about missing out on this exercise. I had crossed larger rivers in Mexico and felt that I had a good feel for what was needed. In the end, one of the other riders offered me his 800 to take through the water and I took him up on it. The drop into the water was surprisingly abrupt and I wasn't on the throttle properly, but I made it across without incident.


The water crossing

Me riding across the water pit

The class was over. We returned our bikes to the bike shed and went back to the main building for some final words. I was surprised when each of us received a Certificate of Completion and a T-shirt. The group was enthusiastic in their applause for each other and the instructors. I changed out of my gear and started to say good-bye to the other riders. Some of us had exchanged contact information and I knew that I'd hear from them again soon. I had to do with simple farewells to others, wishing them well on their future rides.

Then Dan and I had to make a decision: leave now for Basel or wait until the morning. Our original thoughts were to stay for the night because we figured that we'd be so tired. I also expected the class to end later than it did. But the advantage of leaving tonight were two-fold: I wouldn't have to get up at 6 am on Monday morning and there wouldn't be any morning commuter traffic. We decided to just head out and get home. The hotel was very generous with our last-minute decision and we packed up the car quickly.

The sunset was beautiful but I was disappointed to still be on the country roads when it finally set and the darkness fell across the landscape. I had a harsh surprise when my headlights barely illuminated a three-wheeled motorcycle half-pulled off the road. He was pouring fuel into his tank but there were no lights, no safety triangles and no safety vest in sight. We were all fortunate that I noticed him in the darkness and managed to swerve around him.

Once we hit the motorway it was an easy drive home. The Fiat wasn't fast, but it was smooth and we could easily keep up with traffic. Speaking of traffic, while there were plenty of cars on the road with us, it usually didn't slow us down. We made it home in the previously-estimated time of four and a half hours. It was good to be home, and we're already planning on our next training course.

[Blue is Best]

Good for you and hubby. No broken or stretched things.    

Beautiful countryside.

[jp]

Just finished your book last night and then found this thread.

Enjoyed it thoroughly, by the way...

Can't believe you needed more larnin' how to ride your scooter after all those Mexican back roads!
Then I thought of my latest episode last week playing in a nearby rock quarry on the 650 and realizing how much bigger it was than the succession of 250s I used to ride in Enduros.

...and how long ago it was that I rode Enduros...

... and how much younger I was then!

Can't never learn enough, eh?   Hope I learn that I shouldn't be as crazy now as in the 70's!!

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Just finished your book last night and then found this thread.

Enjoyed it thoroughly, by the way...

Thank you!  

Can't never learn enough, eh?  

Too true  

[veefer800canuck]

Very cool. Much jealous.  

[Acadian Rider]

Sounds like a good weekend.  

Colleen, when you do sports by yourself or in this case ride a motorcycle in the dirt you sometimes develop bad habits over the years.  You find out about them when someone such as a coach or instructor observes you and notices.  Did that happen to you on that weekend?  

.... and yea, much jealous II.  
   

[Mrs. DantesDame]

Colleen, when you do sports by yourself or in this case ride a motorcycle in the dirt you sometimes develop bad habits over the years.  You find out about them when someone such as a coach or instructor observes you and notices.  Did that happen to you on that weekend?  

I have a lot of bad habits, but not all of them are pertinent to this course  

The first one to come to mind is using more than two fingers on the clutch. I'm very bad at using anything less than the full complement of fingers  

Secondly, while i know that I should keep my elbows up, I don't until I make a real conscious effort to do so.

And the third isn't so much a habit, but a sheer lack of fitness: my quads were killing me midway through the first day. Standing on the bike is tiring!  




Many years ago I took and ERC (Experienced Rider Course) to see if there were some bad street riding habits I should correct. Instead of finding any bad habits, the instructors asked if I was interested in teaching the course  

[Bounce]

The last one I took (ERC) had me using the BRC (smaller) box to do my S-turns in just to make it fun. From across the area, the BRC class instructor got to gopping and left he class riding in circles longer than she should have.

Fun times.

[R Doug]

Finally!  I remembered to read this thread!

What a great experience.  I bet you and Dan are anxious to get out and do a long dual sport ride now.  I know after I did the two-day Jimmy Lewis School, I was.  And, I was a MUCH better rider for taking the class.  BMW offers a similar two day school just south of me at its North American HQ.  I plan on taking it in 2015 or 2016.  

Thanks for taking the time to post this.

[Paulie]

Nice report, thanks a lot!

I ate it on my WR on a long stretch of super soft deep thick dry sugar sand last Sunday. Jeebus, that's some tuff stuff! I could REALLY use a course like this, fer shure.

[R Doug]

BMW offers a similar two day school just south of me at its North American HQ.  I plan on taking it in 2015 or 2016.  

I've signed up to take this two-day class in October of this year.  I just reread your report and am excited as ever to attend it! Since I ride a 1200GS now, I've rented a 1200GS at the school to take the course.  I'm a little hesitant about this decision. While it won't be my bike (no need to be concerned about dropping it), the big GS does fall harder.