Whose idea was this?

The daftest thing I did after passing my bike test was to jump into my garden pond to celebrate, a la Jorge Lorenzo. The second daftest was to follow the advice of Ross Noble and sign up to join him and Charley Boorman for two days of enduro riding around some of the most challenging terrain the dramatic Brecon Beacons has to offer. 

Ross recently completed a 26,000km trip across Australia on a BMW R1150 GS Adventure and I’m told Charley has done a bit of off-roading here and there too. My experience, on the other hand, extends to a couple of days experimenting with dirt-track and trials some five years ago. To Ross’s delight my kit from those early adventures remained as good as new – shiny white boots and bright red top and trousers, an open goal for anybody ready to take the p*ss. He wasn’t the only one to gleefully accept.

Thankfully this course is designed for a range of abilities - from riders who have never even been off-road before up to those at clubman competition level – and it is led by an expert team of instructors, headed by Dakar Rally legend Simon Pavey.

With a range of bikes available, including the 650 Xcountry, G650 Xchallenge, F800GS and R1200GS I was pleased to find I’d been assigned an F650GS – the same machine I’d used for my road test four weeks previously, this time with nobbly tyres, obviously.

The 4,000 acre Walter’s Arena site could have been custom built for the purpose, with miles of wooded trails, shallow streams and gravelled open spaces. It was on the latter terrain that the education began, with our group instructor Elvis telling us the first thing we had to do was push our bikes over. Uh-huh, you read that right: he told us to push our bikes over.

Worryingly, the reason for this was that before being taught how to ride such hefty machines off-road you first need to learn how to pick them up when you crash – a technique we would all come to rely on over the next 48 hours, especially me. An F650GS with a full fuel tank weighs over 200kg so the only way to haul the thing to an upright position is by opening the handlebars to full lock, with the wheel turned away from the ground, and using the bottom bar as a lever. If it sounds easy, it isn’t.

We started out with a few exercises on the gravel that were actually very similar to those I’d only recently learnt for my module one road test, including a short slalom, clockwise and anti-clockwise short loops and an ‘emergency stop’ style rear wheel skid.

The main difference between this and module one was the fact you take a standing posion on the bike and obviously the surface, which is much more unpredictable. However, I felt much more comfortable than some of the more experienced riders in my group, especially those who had held a licence since before the new testing procedure was implemented.

Things got interesting when Elvis demonstrated the front-wheel skid. The idea is to feather the clutch and open the throttle whilst holding the front brake, driving the bike forward with the rear wheel while the front remains locked. Naturally it tucks and gradually you develop a response mechanism – releasing the front brake - that keeps you upright.

It takes a few attempts to get the hang of but it’s a great feeling when you get it right and after only an hour or so on the bike it provides an early sense of progress. When I first signed up for the course a month ago I asked Si Pavey how good Ross was. “He has a go,” was the response, leading me to think I might be of a similar level – ‘having a go’ is my speciality, after all! However, having seen Ross expertly handle and slide around the heavier and more powerful R1200GS all morning I needed a little confidence boost, and the front-wheel skid was it.

There was just enough time before lunch to ride a couple of short trails up into the forest, with some wide and winding gravel lanes as well as some tighter trails just wide enough for the bikes, which were heavily rutted with deep puddles. I got a few opportunities to practice picking the bike up off the ground as I regularly put too much of my weight over the front and made it too nervous through the ruts.

Much of the afternoon was spent on a steep hill, again heavily rutted on a baking hot day, mastering downhill control – firstly with the clutch in, using only the brakes, then with nothing but first gear engine braking to control the speed, which I actually felt far more comfortable with. 

The last exercise of the day was learning how to turn the bike on a hill. This involved riding halfway up, deliberately letting off the gas and allowing the bike to stall in first gear. With the bike facing uphill, the challenge is to turn it almost 180º so that you can hop on and ride it back to the bottom. The idea is to stay off the front brake and gently squeeze and release the clutch, turning the front wheel towards you, controlling the bike as it lurches backwards and gradually turning it through the first 90º.

From there you wiggle the handlebars from full lock to full lock, clearing any small obstacles with the front wheel as it edges gradually towards a downhill-facing position. Once you are happy with the angle, jump on and go! Find out if I managed it here: http://www.geton.co.uk/content/matt-roberts-bmw-road-skills

It was an exhilarating and rewarding first day and, as with the BMW Rider Training Centre for road riding, I learnt that the Off Road Skills course would be very much about taking small, consistent steps forward and above all getting into good habits that will eventually become natural reactions.

So, what did I do when another rider suddenly stopped in front of me on the concrete road back down to the main highway? I grabbed a handful of brake, tucked the front, crashed and split my hand open - all the reminder I needed not to take my early progress for granted as I readied myself for the second and final day…