Ladies only – BMW Off Road Training

Adventure Rider Issue #18

• It’s What We Do
• Riding the Cordillera Blanca – South America at its best
• BMW F800GS – Off to the Safari Enduro
• Industry Player – Geeze Goldhawk
• White sand to red dust – A PLB story
• Crazy Kunzum La – A tough run in the Himalayas
• Ladies only – BMW Off Road Training
• Off-road Test – Husqvarna 701 Enduro
• Across Australia – From the Indian to the Pacific
• Tour Of Duty: A Victorian three-day
• KTM Rallye 2016 – KTMs all over the place
• Domestic bliss – At home with the Ducati Multistrada Enduro
• Reader’s Ride – The Flinders
• Trials and tribulations with Karen Ramsay
• Dunns swamp – Another great secret location
• How To Ride with Miles Davis
• Checkout
• Fit Out

BMW’s recent Off Road Training Ladies Only course at Dargle, NSW, set a precedent.

Seventeen enthusiastic GS owners from wide and varied backgrounds, girls of all ages and abilities, assembled at the picturesque riverside venue.

The women were guided by BMW Motorrad trainers Shane Booth, Chris Urquhart and Craig Bernard on how to become more-confident, safer and skilled BMW off-road riders.

Amy Harburg was also on hand to share her experience and techniques as well as tales from her trip to Thailand as part of the International GS Trophy All Female Team.

Course participants were joined by VIPs Kate Peck, Stephanie Redman and Kinga Tanajewska, all of whom revelled in the all-female training environment and shared their positive feedback after the course.

Two-wheeled coach

Throughout the two days a sense of accomplishment and camaraderie developed among the group. A highlight for Kinga from On Her Bike was socialising with other women ‘who love to take on the world… along with the great sense of mutual respect that was shown by all.’

After safety, equipment and body positioning talks, participants were guided through BMW Off Road Rider Training’s Level 1 course over a wide variety of terrain and varied weather conditions.

The group was instructed on the theories of different techniques including acceleration, braking and cornering as well as safely negotiating obstacles and surfaces like hills and sand. There was ample opportunity for questions and practical demonstrations followed by tried and tested drills.

The women overcame fears and self-doubt as they accelerated, slid and negotiated their way through the course. They developed their skills like building blocks, gradually unlocking a pathway to more difficult terrain and trails.

California Superbike School coach Steph Redman thoroughly enjoyed the environment and ‘on-the-fly’ feedback.

“From a coaching perspective, you couldn’t ask for anything better!” she smiled. “The coaching observations were accurate, the feedback spot on, they would validate when you did something well and give constructive advice when something could be improved.

Their friendly demeanour and delivery was disarming which made the information super easy to take on and use.

More to come

A number of riders commented that after attending the course, they’d be more confident to take on further rider training in a mixed group and even consider a GS Safari in the future.

MTV presenter Kate Peck was pumped with the positive atmosphere and progress of the group from start to finish.

“The number one thing for me was there were no egos,” beamed the media pro. “We were all at different levels of ability but still able to take our time and let the training just organically happen.”

The BMW Motorrad trainers had nothing but praise for the group.

“It was great to see such a good roll up of lady GS riders for our first-ever BMW ladies-only course,” said Boothy. “The whole environment had a great vibe and there were plenty of laughs and good times while learning. The improvement we noticed over the two days was massive which gives us great satisfaction in what we do”

There’s more ‘ladies only’ training in the planning. Keep an eye on rider.bmwmotorrad.com.au/ladies-skill-up/ for dates and more info.