fudgypup
Pack Dog
- Joined
- Oct 22, 2013
- Messages
- 226
- Reaction score
- 8
- Bike
- BMW R1200GS Adventure
Prior to March of 2011, I had never ridden a motorcycle. I had ridden Vespas in high school and college but that was it. In November of that year I attended a riding school taught by Jimmy Lewis and it made a huge difference in my offroad skills.
Jimmy Lewis is a racing legend who has won the Baja 1000, Dubai Rally, ISDE Gold Medalist, podium finisher of the Dakar (African Dakar). He's a former BMW factory rider and there's a cool video of him riding the HP2 at Ertzberg that will blow your mind. Jimmy and his wife Heather teach offroad skills at their facility in Pahrump, Nevada. Jimmy is also a former editor of Dirt Rider magazine and dirt editor of Cycle World magazine as well as helps moto mfg's develop bikes, teaches navigation to current Dakar racers, etc...
My riding had gotten to the point of my golf game. The best round I ever shot was an 82 (twice) and I knew my game wasn't going to get any better without more lessons. After the class, I can say I came away with a lot learned and even more un-learned (bad habits). I think it's really wise for someone who rides offroad as much as I do to invest in training at least once/year.
That's Jimmy there
We started out with balance drills on this wooden rocker
After a while you start to get it
Like this guy
He does this drill he said he picked up at the Hoechlingen BMW facility where the challenge is to walk around your bike touching it with just one finger
Later, we practiced mounting the bike and seeing how long we could stand on it before dabbing a foot. After that it was doing that without holding onto the bars! The whole idea there is balance.
You could not put both feet on the ground; you had to have one foot on the ground and one foot on the opposite peg at all times. No side stands!
The food was good too! That taco didn't come like that. I put it on the guacamole/sour cream like that :lol8:
Jimmy Lewis is a racing legend who has won the Baja 1000, Dubai Rally, ISDE Gold Medalist, podium finisher of the Dakar (African Dakar). He's a former BMW factory rider and there's a cool video of him riding the HP2 at Ertzberg that will blow your mind. Jimmy and his wife Heather teach offroad skills at their facility in Pahrump, Nevada. Jimmy is also a former editor of Dirt Rider magazine and dirt editor of Cycle World magazine as well as helps moto mfg's develop bikes, teaches navigation to current Dakar racers, etc...
My riding had gotten to the point of my golf game. The best round I ever shot was an 82 (twice) and I knew my game wasn't going to get any better without more lessons. After the class, I can say I came away with a lot learned and even more un-learned (bad habits). I think it's really wise for someone who rides offroad as much as I do to invest in training at least once/year.
That's Jimmy there
We started out with balance drills on this wooden rocker
After a while you start to get it
Like this guy
He does this drill he said he picked up at the Hoechlingen BMW facility where the challenge is to walk around your bike touching it with just one finger
Later, we practiced mounting the bike and seeing how long we could stand on it before dabbing a foot. After that it was doing that without holding onto the bars! The whole idea there is balance.
You could not put both feet on the ground; you had to have one foot on the ground and one foot on the opposite peg at all times. No side stands!
The food was good too! That taco didn't come like that. I put it on the guacamole/sour cream like that :lol8:
