Went on the Experience at the weekend
Had a relatively last minute chance to get on the HP2 experience this weekend and was supposed to be going with JimboGSA - he bruised his ribs on doing the level 2 so had to drop out (big girl!
) Paul (wildbeeste) took his place. There were only two other guys attending - an older, and very experienced, chap from Stratford and Niki from Touratech Austria. Si Pavey was leading the day with Scott who is normally a mechanic for BMW Off-road Skills... turns out he's rather handy riding as well!
Here are the bikes on the road wheels, ready for the morning road ride - NB: brand new tyres, had not been used at all! we took it a little steady for the first couple miles.
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The road ride was great! Really easy to ride the bikes, great feel from the front brakes and coming from the Dakar the dive was not a problem. Seemingly endless torque allowing you to be very lazy with the gear change.
After a little playing over the Brecon Beacons, we headed to the Enduro Park to change the wheels - things have moved on now and they do it for you
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Had a little lunch and got ready for a play in the park. Here's me looking a little scared and aprehensive:
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The off-road ride was incredible! Scott and Si were great guides. For a while, Si had to leave us (one of the level 1 guys had broken his elbow
) So Scott led us (with his girlfriend on the back!!) around the park and still managed the odd tailslide!
Si then took us around some more - a bit more pace, some good decents and ascents and some water. The bike seemed to make it all remarkably easy! We then joined up with the rest of the group to head back to the base... but Si and Scott were still up for some playing... for those still wanted to. Paul and the other chap went back leaving me with Niki and the instructors. Niki races trail bikes back in Austria so I was suddenly feeling out my depth
But they were great with me. We played in a ditch learning to carve turns at the top of the sides and then they took us to this ridiculous climb through the trees. You knew it was bad as even Si Pavey had to paddle to get up!
Here is Scott getting up the track:
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All in all a great day!! Found the bike to be far less intimidating than I thought it would be. All the power and balance of a 12 a bike that feels like it weighs less than my Dakar! So, either there is enough room for the girlfriend on the back or I have to find enough money to keep the dakar and buy the HP2. Anybody had any experience riding more than a couple miles with a pillion?
PS: Thanks for the encouragement to do the day! Although you guys should feel responsible for debt I'm about to get myself in to!!
If the day goes well I'll give you a call, probably won't be for a month or so... Do you have a price in mind?
