As I've said before, I didn't grow up riding dirt. I have nothing but respect for all of you who did, but that wasn't how my childhood went. And so, I missed out on what seem to be some pretty key skills for motorcycle riding. Yes, street and dirt and track riding (and ice riding, for that matter) are all different disciplines. But there's a reason that every off-road instructor I've ever talked to has said it's a lot easier to teach dirt riders how to function on the street than it is the other way around.
Going to BMW's US Riders Academy to try to develop any level of adventure riding skills (my skills were practically nonexistent, I'll remind you) was a truly encouraging, much chiller experience than you maybe might expect. I was nervous when I started, sure; but chatting with my classmates before we got out on the range, as well as in between exercises, really seemed like it helped us all to put our minds at ease.
And once our instructors got us acquainted with our bikes, and had us do balance exercises to familiarize ourselves more viscerally with these machines we'd be partnering with, it went surprisingly smoothly. Well, except for all the falling (especially on my part). But we quickly learned that falling is just a normal part of off-road riding, and pretty much everyone who wasn't an instructor did it at least a couple of times.
In this video, you'll ride onboard with me as we take a super chill lap around the grounds, and you'll see how mesmerizing it can be as you're piloting this mega beast through a crisp autumn landscape in South Carolina. You'll also get to watch the most painful fall I had all day to round out the experience; I made sure to include it because even though it was on a much smaller bike (the G 310 GS), I'm here to tell you that the R 1300 GS falls a lot less dramatically.
My biggest challenges, personally, seemed to stem from getting at least one foot down on the ground in time whenever I came to a stop. If I did it quickly enough (which I did finally manage to sort out), then everything was all good. I could put the side stand down, arrange my handlebars, and clamber out of the saddle of the behemoth of an R 1300 GS that I rode most of the time.
If I didn't do it quickly enough, down we went. Sometimes on the right. Sometimes on the left. Always on one of my elbows; both came back black and blue, but thankfully the bruises healed up quickly, and the armor in my jacket meant that a few bruises were really all I had. A small price to pay for increased knowledge and skills, I feel. You may, of course, feel differently.
In any case, consider this a bit of an onboard video diary of the experience. It's a good one to check out if you're thinking of taking this (or a similar) course for yourself. The BMW school seems like a really good, thorough, supportive experience if you're looking to up your skills doing this type of riding, even if you've never done it before.
