Agreed! I have 20 years pavement experience on street & track, but only 2 years off-road. I am well trained on sport bikes but self-taught off road, so I recently signed up for BMW's GS off-road training to help steepen my learning curve. Can't wait!

 

Do they not have traffic signals in third world countries. What a cluster F#@$.

 

Hey Cytocis, my buddy in the video came all the way from Hanna AB. to join me for the course. Bought his first bike in 29 years last Sept. (FJR1300) and realized he needed some training NOW! His improvement over the 2 days was incredible and we were like 2 giggling teenage girls the whole time. Never too old to learn!

PS. Glad your sticking around and love the BMW...

 

I'm full of life stories so I'll share another for beginner riders.


It was new years a few years ago, I decided to take my bike and see a firework show that was only about 30-45 minutes away from my house. As most riders should do even with short trips you wear your gear. I geared up with leather jackets and cevlar jeans, helmet, and gloves and rolled out.

After seeing the show I started the trip home. It was lightly raining at this point and I noticed that ALOT more drivers by this stage had become intoxicated so I slowed my speed and stuck more to the left for escape routes (Japan, we drive on the left) I maybe got about 10 minutes down the road when a drunk driver decided to cut across 2 lanes of traffic from the right side in a parking lot, to the left side (my side) into another bars parking lot.

I didn't have time to think, but looking back here is how the situation looked.
I had a car in front of me, a Taxi just ahead in the oncoming lane, and a truck at my rear. This is one of the worste positioning situations as a rider you will face, slick road, and blocking from all sides..

My body from this point did what it was trained to do, as the car cut across the 2 lanes of traffic in front of me the taxi slammed his brakes...I hit my rear brake and that brought the bike into a slide allowing me to position myself at a angle to race across the road...I somehow managed to end up on the on coming traffic break down lane..I suffered a bruised shin somehow but I managed to navigate the bike to safety..

I didn't think about this, my body reacted how it needed too. Young riders, and beginner riders need to practice, practice, practice..And even experienced riders need to refresh their skills.

 

+1 on the practice! I still do, the guys at work think I'm nuts when I go out at lunch and do steering lock circles and figure eights in the sandy parking lot. Especially if I dump it.
Dirt riding is a great place to learn how it is to be out of control.
One of my fondest memories is borrowing a Honda 250 and riding through a muddy cornfield for hours. Mud, ruts, skidding both wheels, and of course crashing were all part of the fun. But more importantly, it gave me the feel for being out of control and how to compensate, which has saved my *** on the road countless times.
A few years after that muddy ride, I leaned into a turn...both wheels started sliding...I applied pressure to my outside peg and waited...and the wheels caught and off I went. Having felt that slide before, I wasn't alarmed, at the feeling just aware of it.
I still got the adrenaline surge, it's just that my brain was able to process because I had that "muscle memory".
And this past winter on studs in the snow/ice has taught me all about riding in sand and mud apparently. I have become somewhat fearless with all this traction, now that I finally feel connected to the ground. And I need new knobbies!