Off-Road School
 

Hey guys,

Anyone done any off road days? Im really interested in doing one and been looking around... BMW look like they do a good one but its quite a distance away, 2 days, £400 without accomidation and you need alot of kit yourself.

Ive been looking at http://www.tracksense.co.uk/offroadschool.htm these people and it all sounds good, they supply everything and there are 2 levels (since ive never done it before level 1 for me :P) its close to home, £200 a day and they give you everything... only down side is have to take a day off work to do it and im running low on those :P

Anyway... anyone done any days like these? anyone recommend a company? anyone got any advise in general?

Cheers
Leon

Yep...

I've done an MCN off Road Day. It was advertised in the back of MCN a while ago. £175, Bike, and Bike kit included. It was on a Honda CRF250 4 stroke and it was brilliant fun. Not over marshalled. We were given a tour of the bikes, some tips on stuff like. Body position and things like that. Then taken round the track to get a feel for it behind an instructor and then once we were happy we were told just to ride for ourselves. There were instructors there that you could ask for help or could follow if you wanted to. But otherwise you were left to yourself. It was great fun. I went over the bars once and face planted into the ground, I bent the handlebar clamp and caught my ribs on the bars on the way over. I fell off again later on the day when I lowsided the bike. But its all part of off road riding and they expect you to fall off. They were not bothered about the bike and as long as I was OK they were happy to let me go back out.

Its phsyically exhausting. I found I could ride for about 20 minutes and then I would have to stop and have a rest and then go back out again.

My legs and arms were absoloutly knackered by the end of the day and I found muscles in places that I didnt know existed. I was stiff for a 3 or 4 days after. Mostly my legs before you ask :wink: The first few laps it felt weird to have the bike moving around underneath me. However once you learned to trust the tyres I was surprised by how much grip they had and how much corner speed you could carry. It was great fun getting air of the jumps and going round corners with your foot stuck out crossed up sideways getting back on the power and spinning the rear up.

Its done wanders for my throttle control on my road bike and my confidence on loose road surfaces to.

Thorougly recommended. However make sure you eat plenty and also drink plenty of water during the day. Your body will need fuel to keep going.

Ah cool that sounds great :)

Do you remember the school that was with? I think im definatly going to do one, unless i find abetter school than the one i posted before I will prob book in for the 7th and do a day then :)

It was all done through MCN. It wasnt really a school as such. It was run by people who worked for Honda. But MCN looked after booking the places and such. If you get what I mean.

Ive not done either having used the school of hard knocks but I think they fall into two camps really the dirt bike ones and the BMW one which uses the F650 and then (if you want) the 1200GS. So although there will be some overlap they would seem to me to be quite a different kettle of fish. If it were me I'd go for a dirt bike-ish one I think if I couldnt do both, although thats just a feeling. The BMW one does have a really really good rep tho but I think many people going go specifically to learn how to attempt to make a big pig go where you want it to.

But I havent heard anyone say:
1. It wasnt worth it
2. It wasnt fun

...cue someone to say it wasnt worth it or fun :lol:

I wish I could go tho.

I did this a few years back, one of the best weekends I've ever had.

http://www.yamaha-offroad-experience.co.uk/

I go with Geoff Mayes MX Tryout every year, you can ring the ACU and get his details (or I could PM you). It's supposed to be for kids really but been as an adult. If you have a group of 6 or more you can share the bikes between 2 or 3 people - if you're riding MX all day believe me you don't need one to yourself. This makes it much more affordable - about £90 a head. All kit included, you just need food and to get there. He gets 5 stars from me. Bikes are KX125s mainly, and if you haven't tried one then you'd be amazed/terrified how fast they can go. MX isn't the same as trail riding for sure, but I've done both and it was pretty useful to have learned how to ride off-road on an MX track before I ventured off into the bush.

In this month's Ride

£150 for a www.yamaha-schools.co.uk off road. It was at Golding Barn Raceway near Brighton.

Not real off roading in the countryside. :(

looking at it I think i would rather do random trials than a track

I did the tracksenes eone a few months ago - exactly the same one you linked to. It's great fun, especially if it's your first time. You'll be amazed at the sort of things you'll be doing by the end of the day, compared to how weird it feels at the start. The guy really knows his stuff and it's great that it's all in one area - you get to know the same bits and know where it's best to slide (or avoid sliding), where you can practise small jumps, etc. - went with a few guys from work and we're all planning on going back there again before the end of the year.