BMW Off Road Course - TIPS!

Just one more, for the budding strippers ;)

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Jimbo caught short...and then some!
 
off road

Went last year on the level 11 mid summer scorching hot.
Took the armour out of my Ralleye 2 and wore it under a MX vest, gaffer taped knee pads on over Mx trousers. Drink more water than you think you need to keep your pee clear, if its yellow you are dehydrated and will have less energy as a result.
 
Speed is your friend

Probably more aimed at people trying Level 2....

If you increase your speed off road riding is easier, there are 2 major things to consider.

Forward Momentum

If you are going slow then your forward momentum is reduced, your bike will work better with a little speed (see second point below) There is obviously a fair amount of confidence involved and this is something you need to work up to pushing yourself in small amounts as you go.

Suspension

If you have no real forward motion the bike will not absorb any of the impacts and your body will instead. Think of the suspension travel, if you have no speed the suspension will not absorb any shocks and the bike will simply rise up and over obstacles transfering the impact to your body, this is why most people are really knackered on day 2.

So stay relaxed and try a little more speed as our confidence grows!

Remember to try and steer with your feet.

Lastly the bike has an engine that is powering you along, you should try and use the engine power instead of muscle power.
 
Jonothan thanks for the call will ring the BM man in morning to to get it all arranged here's the link to BMW training I did a while ago.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZXARyxgXHxQ

Thanks, Loiq! Looking forward to meeting you there. JimboGSA, sorry mate, but Mrs J's place has now been taken by Loiq (just as far as off-roading is concerned, not in any other way!).

Cheers

J
 
I'd also recommend taking some industrial strength pain killers, we were all popping them like smarties on the morning of day 2, riding a bike off road uses different muscles and the area around my kidneys still aches, looking for some body armour that covers this area now.

Thanks - I will pack some Dihydrocodeine and some Diclofenac.

J
 
The "hardcore" gang
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Hey Chris

Great to meet you at the weekend. Any chance of getting the high res of this pic? (Although not sure we qualify as the "hardcore gang"... more the "easily led astray gang"! )

Cheers

Mav (Jase)
 
Hey Chris

Great to meet you at the weekend. Any chance of getting the high res of this pic? (Although not sure we qualify as the "hardcore gang"... more the "easily led astray gang"! )

Cheers

Mav (Jase)

yeah more like the ooo do we have to get muddy again gang!
 
ah you loved every minute of it, and you know it!


tell you what tho, that one 'puddle' werent half deep! im sure it came up to my knackers!
:eek:
 
off roading

I have just been on this course and have the aches! to priove it, anyone thinking of going stop thinking and do it. The instructors are very good and patient they encourage plonkers and have endless patience as one who dropped it whilst attempting to mount the 1200 with no sidestand down.
save the bike by bweing underneath it just glad it was not my 1150 as would have lost a leg instead of a pulled muscle. (no, not that one) You do get much more confident as the course goes on the bigger wall of death is really
not bad and this is on a GS!. Before the course I would not have even thought about doing it but have now done it several times and it gets better each time. I only did the first day owing to the leg but DO HAVE A GO, it is amazing how well you will do . And remember it's the same for every one,
so do it and enjoy.
dave ( looking for a crutch, three cornered hat and a parrot) GS.:beer: :beer: :beer:
 
Remember to try and steer with your feet.

Can you explain a bit more about that?
Do you mean shifting weight and thereby your balance or do you mean actual steering? (I haven't got a clue about off-road stuff.)
 
What a blast...but god do I ache. Did the Level 1 course last weekend. All the advice here is good and I would repeat the following words of wizdom:

1. Go at your pace...don't get sucked along by the whizz kids.

2. Drink often. I just carried a little side bag with water and energy bars. BMW do provide water often but not as often as I wanted. The other advantage to constantly sipping is you never need to pee...you just sweat it out. All those that guzzled at the main breaks were peeing 5 minutes later. Camel packs looked very useful.

3. I did consider buying body armour and from a temperature point of view it can be a good idea, but in the end I just took my normal bike gear, removed the linings and just wore longjohns underneath. Hot at times but fine. The most important padding is on the knees, elbows and shoulders. I hired boots and gloves but thought the gloves looked like BMX bicycle gloves!

4. Eat ibruprofane like smarties on day two. :mmmm

5. Speed will either get you through that obstacle or delivery you in a bruised and battered heap...unfortunately there's only one way to find out. :eek

Gaz...the comment about steering with your feet is indeed shifting your weight on the pegs. It's easier said than done and I didn't always find it intuitive...quite scary on tight bends covered in loose gravel :eek:
 
Abercrave Part 1 27,28 Apr

I'll be there - anyone else from here?
Nic
 
Top Tips:
- Don't Panic
- Have Fun
- Don't worry about not knowing stuff - they teach it all
- Understand that you WILL drop the bike (many times) in the wet slimey bits, and the 1200 is a heavy beast to pick up when you do (but great fun the rest of the time). Choose a 650 if you're not big, strong & fit!
- Don't worry about wrecking the bikes (if you bend something they'll re-engineer it with a big rock!). NEVER try to stop the bike falling if it starts to go. (On our course a 60-year old tried hold a toppling 650 to on the first morning > ambulance > hospital > home.)
- Drink lots of water (supplied) as you'll sweat continually - but a camel back is only a 'nice to have'... not at all essential
- Don't Panic
- Have Fun
 
More tips:

Don't wear warm clothing - you'll fry even if it's not hot out

Take some lightweight gloves which aren't lined - your hands will sweat and if they're lined, it will take ages to put them back on again...

Unless you have some already, don't bother getting some off-road boots - use theirs! Only cost £20-odd to rent and if you're riding home, you'll have your normal dry boots to wear. They're also pretty solid ones that they give you.

Enjoy it. It's a great couple of days, although pretty tiring.
 
Smashing course but broke my ankle. Probably worth doing some forearm/wrist strengthening exercises in preparation they get very tired by day two. Also, if you're not used to it, riding and slow manouvering standing on the pegs, also getting on and off the bike, side stand up, from both sides. A proportion of the first morning is getting to be confident handling the bike both static and slow moving.

You'll really enjoy it - (the local fracture clinic is superb)
 
Great course - just got back from part 1 this week-end and discovered Whatton was on it too! And he had a camera, the jammy bugger!! So no doubt shots of him doing a water splash will surface in here!

Bloody aching like hell, especially my back - Si made picking up the GSA look so easy - it's still a heavy bugger. But I'm still grinning and looking forward to doing another course!!
 


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