BMW Adventure Bike Enduro Skills Course

This week, I completed the two-day BMW Adventure Bike Enduro Skills Course at their Performance Center in SC. I didn't have any real off-road experience, and this course seemed like a good way to develop some skills for riding my X-Challenge.

The course had 10 students and 3 instructors, which proved to be a good ratio. The off-road experience level for students ranged from zero to pretty high (Kansas to Ushuaia adventure). Most of the students opted for the BMW-provided R1200GS, but I requested a G650GS to more closely approximate my X-Challenge.

We started with the basics of standing on the pegs and doing low-speed maneuvering in dirt. The building block approach included balancing exercises, railroad ties, small hills, big hills, gravel, sand, braking (with and without ABS), and putting it all together on mini-enduro rides.

I also got to experience coming off the bike a number of times in a variety of situations, as did all the other students, and I managed to avoid any major injuries. I think it was important to get past the psychological baggage of these unplanned maneuvers.

I had a chance to visit the BMW Zentrum (museum) and took their factory tour, which involved seeing most steps of the X3 construction. The factory tours will be stopped at the end of this month for over a year while they revamp the facility. The museum is free and the factory tour costs $7.

All in all, I highly recommend this course. It was pricey (after my session the cost went up to ~$1500 with bike rental), but well worth it. The instructors were very knowledgeable and good at helping a noob like me tackle some tough trails. I feel ready for some real-world opportunities to put my new skills to the test.