Bob
Well-Known Member
I thought I’d share this in case other’s have done, or are thinking about doing, off road courses and see if it generates any discussion.
A buddy and I did the BMW Off Road Skills course in West Kelowna on 2017-04-22 at the Bear Creek Motocross track site.
The Instructor was Chris Bulger, owner of tntmotorcycling.com. The cost was $385.00 plus tax for the full day course.
I’ve only put about 10,000kms on the new-to-me GS and about 8000 of that was a ride to Alaska last season. Although that was a great ride it also showed me what a n00b to DS riding I am and how much I needed instruction.
Here’s some of the drills I remember from the course:
-Setup handlebars, foot controls and mirrors for standing position
-Turn off ASC & ABS each time ignition is turned on
-Lay bike down and pick it up on both sides using both methods, wheels facing up hill and wheels facing downhill
-Do all drills on gravel slopes of about 5 to 10 degrees, (no flat drill areas) with rocks, ruts, sand and sawdust to keep us honest
-Do most drills standing, elbows out, eyes up
-Emphasis on fine tuning balance, clutch, brake and throttle control
-Take bike off stand and practice waking around it keeping it balanced with one finger
-Ride with one foot on peg without mounting the bike, then switch feet and ride sidesaddle on same side, then one knee on seat, then both knees on seat
-Repeat above drill on other side
-All dismounts done while bike is moving to work on balance, throttle, clutch and braking
-Practice mounting and dismounting a moving bike wherever possible on remaining drills
-Off road steering drills, drop weight on peg of side you want to turn, weave thru cones
-Off road steering on gravel mountain road, steering around rocks and potholes using peg weighting with street tire pressures
-Off road steering on gravel mountain road steering around rocks and potholes with reduced pressures (1.4-1.6 or 22lbs-26lbs F&R…MUCH more control)
-Off road steering on gravel road with no hands running downhill in fourth gear reduced pressures (1.4-1.6 or 22lbs-26lbs F&R)
-Full lock steering inside cones, knee on cylinder and butt way out on same side to counterbalance, eyes up, feather clutch, look where you want to go, both directions, on 5 to 10 degree slope so that clutch, throttle and brake control had to be varied
-Climb small hills, stay forward over tank, apply power after front shocks have rebounded so bike don’t flip back, arrive at top prepared to stop *(see note below)
-Descend small hills, use first gear, weight to rear but not on seat, clutch out, throttle closed, eyes up, elbows out *(see note below)
-Use throttle and front brake during turns to get feel for front wheel feedback
-Same descending drill as above but skidding front wheel with brake on under power, first gear, weight to rear but not on seat, clutch out, throttle closed, eyes up, elbows out
-Use both brakes together to descend small hills while feathering clutch
-Stall on small hills and rolling backward with quick short clutching
-Emergency braking, rear brake only ABS on then with ABS off
-Emergency braking front brake only ABS on the ABS off
-Emergency braking using both brakes with ABS on then with ABS off… all braking drills done with butt back as far as possible but not on the seat
*The hill we climbed was about 50 meters with about a 30 degree slope
**The hills we descended were in steps… first two hills about 45 degrees, about two bike lengths long with a flat bike length section in between them. There was a 30meter flat section at the bottom of the second 45 degree hill and that lead to two more 45 degree hills with a flat section in between but these hills were only about one bike length each with a flat bike length in between. These little hills can be a handful if you touch the throttle when you’re moving your weight rearward.
Chris came out from Edmonton to deliver it in conjunction with the local BMW dealership Bentley Motorrad.
These off road courses are listed as a max of six participants but only two of us were registered for this course. We had lots of time to practice drills and Chris provided the usual detection and correction until we got them right.
Lunch and snacks were provided and Chris entertained us with stories of his ride to the tip of South America with his son; off road training training with Simon Peavey; and related adventure tales picked up along with his 40+ years of riding. We found Chris to be an extremely knowledgable, skillful, personable and intuitive instructor. He and his company also offers a street riding course.
We took the earliest course offered to avoid the heat. I got used to dropping my bike and picking it up… a lot. The course was both humbling and confidence inspiring as most good training tends to be. I’m looking forward to practicing the drills … apparently it takes anywhere from 3000 to 5000 repetitions to commit this stuff to muscle memory, so lots of work to do before I get my money’s worth.
I know there’s lots of good off road riders on ridetherock.com, so if anyone is interested in putting off a similar course, practicing drills, holding a tech day etc. on GS’s I’d be interested .
A buddy and I did the BMW Off Road Skills course in West Kelowna on 2017-04-22 at the Bear Creek Motocross track site.
The Instructor was Chris Bulger, owner of tntmotorcycling.com. The cost was $385.00 plus tax for the full day course.
I’ve only put about 10,000kms on the new-to-me GS and about 8000 of that was a ride to Alaska last season. Although that was a great ride it also showed me what a n00b to DS riding I am and how much I needed instruction.
Here’s some of the drills I remember from the course:
-Setup handlebars, foot controls and mirrors for standing position
-Turn off ASC & ABS each time ignition is turned on
-Lay bike down and pick it up on both sides using both methods, wheels facing up hill and wheels facing downhill
-Do all drills on gravel slopes of about 5 to 10 degrees, (no flat drill areas) with rocks, ruts, sand and sawdust to keep us honest
-Do most drills standing, elbows out, eyes up
-Emphasis on fine tuning balance, clutch, brake and throttle control
-Take bike off stand and practice waking around it keeping it balanced with one finger
-Ride with one foot on peg without mounting the bike, then switch feet and ride sidesaddle on same side, then one knee on seat, then both knees on seat
-Repeat above drill on other side
-All dismounts done while bike is moving to work on balance, throttle, clutch and braking
-Practice mounting and dismounting a moving bike wherever possible on remaining drills
-Off road steering drills, drop weight on peg of side you want to turn, weave thru cones
-Off road steering on gravel mountain road, steering around rocks and potholes using peg weighting with street tire pressures
-Off road steering on gravel mountain road steering around rocks and potholes with reduced pressures (1.4-1.6 or 22lbs-26lbs F&R…MUCH more control)
-Off road steering on gravel road with no hands running downhill in fourth gear reduced pressures (1.4-1.6 or 22lbs-26lbs F&R)
-Full lock steering inside cones, knee on cylinder and butt way out on same side to counterbalance, eyes up, feather clutch, look where you want to go, both directions, on 5 to 10 degree slope so that clutch, throttle and brake control had to be varied
-Climb small hills, stay forward over tank, apply power after front shocks have rebounded so bike don’t flip back, arrive at top prepared to stop *(see note below)
-Descend small hills, use first gear, weight to rear but not on seat, clutch out, throttle closed, eyes up, elbows out *(see note below)
-Use throttle and front brake during turns to get feel for front wheel feedback
-Same descending drill as above but skidding front wheel with brake on under power, first gear, weight to rear but not on seat, clutch out, throttle closed, eyes up, elbows out
-Use both brakes together to descend small hills while feathering clutch
-Stall on small hills and rolling backward with quick short clutching
-Emergency braking, rear brake only ABS on then with ABS off
-Emergency braking front brake only ABS on the ABS off
-Emergency braking using both brakes with ABS on then with ABS off… all braking drills done with butt back as far as possible but not on the seat
*The hill we climbed was about 50 meters with about a 30 degree slope
**The hills we descended were in steps… first two hills about 45 degrees, about two bike lengths long with a flat bike length section in between them. There was a 30meter flat section at the bottom of the second 45 degree hill and that lead to two more 45 degree hills with a flat section in between but these hills were only about one bike length each with a flat bike length in between. These little hills can be a handful if you touch the throttle when you’re moving your weight rearward.
Chris came out from Edmonton to deliver it in conjunction with the local BMW dealership Bentley Motorrad.
These off road courses are listed as a max of six participants but only two of us were registered for this course. We had lots of time to practice drills and Chris provided the usual detection and correction until we got them right.
Lunch and snacks were provided and Chris entertained us with stories of his ride to the tip of South America with his son; off road training training with Simon Peavey; and related adventure tales picked up along with his 40+ years of riding. We found Chris to be an extremely knowledgable, skillful, personable and intuitive instructor. He and his company also offers a street riding course.
We took the earliest course offered to avoid the heat. I got used to dropping my bike and picking it up… a lot. The course was both humbling and confidence inspiring as most good training tends to be. I’m looking forward to practicing the drills … apparently it takes anywhere from 3000 to 5000 repetitions to commit this stuff to muscle memory, so lots of work to do before I get my money’s worth.
I know there’s lots of good off road riders on ridetherock.com, so if anyone is interested in putting off a similar course, practicing drills, holding a tech day etc. on GS’s I’d be interested .
