Southern Maryland ADV Riders--the BMW 2 day offroad class

Well starting this Friday (18 April) and continuing thru Saturday several of the SMIB's are attending the BMW 2 day offroad class, specifically Blaster11, Dorito, Lakota, Joints4sale, and a former co-worker known as Toad. I think we all pretty much came to the same conclusion that we need more offroad training after attending the Laurel forks event and probably other events I am sure. Some of us liked riding dirt so much that we went out and bought more dirt oriented bikes, for instance I bought an HP2E and Joints bought a large 4 stroke KTM somewhere in the 500 to 600cc range.

Hopefully Friday night I will have some pictures and maybe some video. Oh and if you decide to sign up yourself you will get 10% off with a BMWMOA membership. Here is the link to the course description. http://www.bmwusa.com/Standard/Content/Experience/Events/PDS/ProgramsandCourses/Motorcycle.aspx

When this class is over, several of us decided to sign up for the Shane Watts Dirt Wise class as well, Blaster11, Joints4sale, EOD3MC, Badguy and a different former co-worker by the name of Tom. http://www.shanewatts.com/schools

Feel free to chime in with your experiences, thought, or questions.

Final Critique of the course here: http://www.advrider.com/forums/showpost.php?p=15517496&postcount=100

Having morning coffee and signing our release forms. We decided later the center should ask more about our health insurance and less about our MC license numbers..


Food was very good and absolutely no complaints (Advice to others: get your cookies from this area, not the pretty tables on the edges..)


Might give Starbucks a run for their business..


Ensuring levers are in right position before the day starts


Dorito on her G650





Joints4sale--camera up




Lakota demonstrating look left, turn left, lean right


Our trusty instructor...


Balance is everything





Taking a quick break. A bit toasty today at 82F










Taking the road less traveled. One of many falls for the day..




A little dirt


And another scratch..


Oops! A B.I.G. dent in that...


No, even though the dent fits the head it's not how THAT dent happened.. (And Toad is still smiling..)

The gravel pit


The sand pit


Having lunch and resting up for the afternoon




A little extra sod or is it camouflage




J4S after a little throw on the ground


The hillside incident (ask Lakota and J4S what happened)




Dorito doing one of the hill exercises


Dorito and Blaster




Taking a break


































At the end of two days riding

Good Luck...
You riding down or driving?

Driving...its about a 7 hours. :eek1

Figure after two days of "learning" that seat will feel better for the return trip home anyhow

You know there are lighter weight bikes for dirt riding then an HP2 right?
But seriously, have fun at the class.

I bought a GoPro Hero HD from an inmate here. It should show up today before I leave. Along with the Contour HD we should be able to get some good footage.

Toad will have his GoPro as well so we should have plenty of video.

I agree about the small bike thing, thats why I bought a KTM, but you can't always bring the small bike. Several of us are planning trips to far away destinations on BIG boxers. So it makes sense to learn on the big bikes. I signed up to do the class on a 1200GSA. I hope I don't regret it, at least it's their bike so I can drop it all I want.

I am not your hard core dirt biker so the HP2 will do most everything I need without the need for a truck and trailer. Its an old military thing, train the way you are going to fight so bottom line is train on what I will be riding n everyday life. Training on the big bike will probably make my technique better since I will have to concentrate on the fundamentals more...or that's at least my thought.

Maybe with video, we'll be able to see the elusive Blaster actually drop a bike..

So SMIB Ride Report Movie night is when????

Pictures will be easy but the video I am not so sure about. Get it right I throw my stuff on the ground!

That wasn't last weekend's story...

Did I miss something? Mud wrestling in Chuck County? I gotta wash my brain now, I just got a mental image of Bruce and Dave in bikinis mud wrestling.

Bummer I had to work and rest my injuries. It looked like you had fun on the trails.

I'll be taking the 2 day class April 4 and 5....can't wait to see your pictures!

Thanks for sharing...

Come on, I'm trying to eat breakfast over here.

Have fun at the course everyone!

I'm just giving you crap. I used to have a R1150GS, I remember when I got my DR650 and started doing dirtbike/offroad stuff. I thought I had a great dirtbike, but everyone else had a smaller, lighter bike.
Its all relative.
A buddy of mine went from a KLR650 to a WR450f. He showed up at his first enduro and as a new guy had a hard time. A bunch of the enduro guys all tell him, "You know they make smaller/lighter bikes right?" They were pretty much all on two-strokes and 250 four strokes.

(March 18th)...

For those who can't wait till Friday night for blaster's pics, here are some to hold you over.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/BMW-Motorcycle-Rider-Training/126395160763392