BMW Proficiency training

So, this morning I find myself heading towards Killarney instead of the office. The skies were overcast and dark rain clouds where swirling around Table Mountain. Surely the day's training was not going to be rained out.

At the track there were about 20 BMW riders signed up for the day. A K1300GT, a R1200RT, a F800GS and the rest were (yes you guessed it) all either R1200GS or GSAs.

Chez, our instructor from the BMW Motorrad Rider Academy was ably assisted by Neil Berry, John Carr and Wayne Fritz. After introductions and the day's itinerary we dived straight into the theory of motorcycle riding - "cockpit" ergonomics, counter-steering, cornering and braking. After concisely covering the required theory and answering a couple of questions we headed out for some practical application.

We started with straight line emergency braking - use both brakes, clutch in, run the gears down to 1st (in order to be ready to move off immediately after stopping if necessary, i.e. taxi behind you can't stop fast enough). Oh yes, don't forget to look up!

This was followed by cones with a few variations - opposite foot off the peg, one-handed, dragging the rear brake, etc. Then the obligatory slow exercises - riding at walking pace and some very tight figure 8s (full lock required). The figure 8s was a little intimidating as it was done on tar - dropping the bike was really not an option!

Some more theory on cornering followed - lines, tip-in points, apexes and exit points were explained. Then Chez told us that we would be doing a few emergency stops midway through a corner on the track. What! braking when the bike is already leaned over and in the corner - impossible! All too soon we were out on the track, time to give it a go. Good news, it's possible to bring the bike to a stop while cornerning!

Then the real fun started. Riding laps in groups of 5, each with its own instructor. We even did a few laps in the rain. We progressed to the "4th gear" exercise - ride around the track in 4th gear only, no gearing up or down and no using brakes. Hint, swerving from side to side can be used to slow down if you're coming into a corner too fast. Exhilarating stuff!

The day ended with a few reverse laps - wow, those corners are completely different when riding the wrong way round the track!

Somewhere in between all this we even had a couple of water/cooldrink breaks and lunch. Far too soon I was heading home via the sweeping curves of Contermanskloof - maybe just a little quicker than usual!

An excellent day. Highly recommended for anyone riding on the road. (don't we all ).

Once again, a big thank you to all the instructors.