Main training area
Each of the groups have a home-base where they get their lessons delivered and practice their drills. Neda and Bettina stay in the main training area near the lodge and Manuel leads us up the escarpment to another spot. The format is a short 10-minute lesson followed by drills and then a lot of free-riding in between. The first day we learn about body positioning, low speed drills, hill climbs and descents, front and rear braking, managing ruts and picking up a bike when it's down on a hill. And a lot of free-riding!
Manuel and the motocross guys are doing jumps on their bikes. Geez. Watching those motorcross guys on the F800s, if I ever take the course again, I would rent that bike over the R1200GS. However, I'm amazed at how well I'm doing on the big pig. These bikes are well over 500lbs wet, twice what a normal dirtbike should weigh! Theoretically, they shouldn't be capable of doing some of the tight, gnarly stuff that Manuel takes us through.
It's like being invited to go mountain-bike riding and showing up with a zamboni. And then realizing once you're out on the trails that it's a magical BMW Motorrad Zamboni that's capable of wheelying and jumping over hills. Crazy! The only time I struggle is when the BMW Zamboni tips over and I have to heave it up myself from the dirt. There are a lot of tipovers and falls, I'm glad I'm not the only one. I'm also glad that I'm squarely mid-pack in the Advanced group, between the motocross guys and some of the less dirt-experienced street riders.
After all, nobody wants to be the worst rider in the group...
For lunch, we take the bikes out onto the street and the whole school rides to the hotel in Hechlingen for a buffet meal
When we head out onto the public roadways, we are advised to change the electronic suspension, traction control and throttle sensitivity settings from Enduro back to Street mode. However, I forget to change back from Street to Enduro after lunch and the bike is barely rideable back in the park, bouncing around all over the place. Since you can't change the setting while on the move and I was in the middle of the riding pack, to the guys behind me it must have looked like I forgot how to ride a motorcycle during lunch! At the first break, I changed back to Enduro Mode and the BMW Zamboni was suddenly capable of trail-riding once again!
That was a very good lesson on how important the suspension settings are. And also how easy it is to change with the electronics. But these bikes are so computerized that I don't really think they'd make good Round-The-World vehicles. An electronic breakdown will be impossible to fix by yourself or a traditional motorcycle mechanic. You'd need a BMW computer technician to replace the computer or sensor and that's no good for the kind of travel that we do.
Still, it's such a good bike when everything's working. I'd definitely have one in my garage. If we ever have a garage, that is...
Getting down and dirty with my zamboni
I was wiped by the end of the first day, I had to call it quits about an hour before the day was actually done. I've been sedentary for so long that I'm very out of shape. It's embarrassing. That evening, we all slept the sleep of the dead and headed back out the next morning for Day 2.
The curriculum for the second day was more advanced off-road concepts. Practicing front wheel slides and rear wheel slides, then using these techniques to quickly slide the bike around a slalom, advanced hill climbs and sand riding. When I talked to Neda at lunch, we found out that the Intermediate and Advanced groups have the exact same curriculum, just that the pace is faster in my group and there was more single-track free riding. Also the obstacle courses were more tighter. But you basically learn the same skills no matter what group you are in.