Mr Badger does the Advanced Sand Course

The Annual [http://www.countrytrax.co.za/ Country Trax Advanced Sand Course] aims to turn people who are afraid of riding on sand into people who enjoy sand so much they seek it out. ===Friday Morning: the crew arrives=== Riders descended on Klipbokkop from as far as Jo'burg as the headlines warned of an epic storm headed for the region. Gathering Forces After a short briefing and some theory, we prepared our bikes for the riding. Preparing for Sand: Tyres to 1bar, screens and mirrors removed ===Skills Test=== The start of the course involves a short technical ride to determine the skill levels of the riders. They would be split into two groups of similar skill. Skills in the Quarry Skills of another kind: Lourens provides a distraction Slalom Dancing: Leon shows the way Lourens took the seven more-skilled riders, and Leon took the others. Mr Badger showed really well in the quarry (having dug several burrows there before, and being a cone-slalom-artist of note), so ended up with Lourens. ===The First Sand=== We rode onto the beach of the Brandvlei dam by the easiest possible (sand) route. Guy Biscoe: loved the Sand Course so much last year he was back for more. Exercise 1: Pullaways on Sand: L2R: Clinton (my roomy from JHB), Kevin, Vincent and Daantjie The lessons start easily. Pullaway on fairly firm sand - the objective is to get into the optimal riding position as soon as possible. The catch is that the exercise involves looping around and stopping at the place you have pulled away from. The sand gets progressively more ''interesting'' and as the exercise gets harder the skills get better. Slow riding on sand Pullaway Practice The next exercise involved riding a course of cones in the sand. As usual, the exercise got harder the more bikes had been through. Cone Practice Once you start worrying about negotiating cones, the difficulty of pulling away is forgotten as you concentrate on the new task. ===Safety First=== A common strategy for riders is to deal with sand by riding fast. On this course, we were taught to ride as slowly as possible, because no matter how skilled you are, sooner or later you will fall. Both our instructors had falls. Everything about the course was about being in control of the bike at safe speeds. Nick Pulls Away Perfectly Hennie and Gareth ===Some Basics learnt=== Practising the Basics * Pullaway and stopping in sand * Turning using the accelerator * Turning using the brakes * Turning using your feet ===Harder Stuff=== By the end of the day, we were riding through camel grass dunes and did some pretty tricky ascents and descents of small dunes and hoops that have been completely mushed up with tracks. Yes David By this time I had had the stuffing knocked out of me a bit, and elected to watch. Mr. Badger and I had fallen many times and had had to be helped by the others every time. All I could see were the spoors of other bikes and I was not looking up and being aggressive enough. About this time, Kevin Tate was also taking a break, and he then elected to have one more go because it was so much fun. He ended up breaking his ankle in a slow fall - and this served as a stark reminder to ride within our capabilities and stamina. Mike had also hurt his foot, and had to withdraw from the rest of the course. Leon's team was down to 5. ===Friday Evening=== We went to bed early, and if my restless night is anything to go by, we all had nightmares about sand monsters, ruts, dunes and shopping trolleys. ===Saturday Morning Before Breakfast=== We assembled at 7:30 for coffee, ready to ride. It was raining and the wind was howling. Vincent stands out Surprisingly, most of us wore the same kit we would have worn in the Karoo in summer. Rain gear is too hot when you are working in technical terrain and you end up sweating yourself wet anyway. The beach sand-blaster This is not good for bikes... Nick and Guy in the mud We rode in the thick mud in a quarry that was sheltered from the wind somewhat. Within minutes I had fallen 3 times and I was beginning to think that the day and the course were going to be a disaster (already my cool image was ruined because my whole left side was covered in clay). Then, things improved, and I managed to stay up and not fall. We rode to the beach and kept close to the water where the sand was not so bad. ===Breakfast and Wattsie=== By 9:30 we were sopping wet and came in for breakfast. Breakfast It was then that the mystery of the black plastic bags that had been put over the chairs the night before was solved: the guys could sit down in the conference hall in full wet gear without fear of damaging the upholstery. Clinton and I changed into dry clothes before breakfast - so our room was a teenager's swimming pool with wet clothes everywhere. Cameraderie Gloomy Weather The storm was a problem, as there was only so much one could learn on mud or the hard sand near the water. During breakfast we studied the weather forecast over the next two days and it seemed that the worst would be over by lunch. We elected to wait until after lunch to decide whether to cancel/postpone the course or not. Lunch: R2L: Vincent, Tian, me, Gareth, Hennie, David?, Kevin I was already feeling the strain of picking up the portly Mr. Badger so many times, and also the psychological strain of accepting help from my team mates every time with little chance of returning the favour. At this stage I did not mind if the course was postponed and we did the rest after I had recovered somewhat. David drying out: the fireplace was very popular ====Inspiration==== The gap between breakfast and lunch was filled with a DVD of Shane Watts teaching the basics of enduro riding, and an episode of ''Top Car'' on scooters in Vietnam. I drew a lot of encouragement from 'Wattsie' and for the rest of the course approached many hazards with the thought ''what would Wattsie do''? (Typically, he would gas it through, and so this is what I did too and it worked). ===Saturday Afternoon=== We put our wet gear back on and ventured out into the rain. I'm sure more than one person asked themselves what they were doing here and perhaps they should just go home. I felt that probable death lay ahead of me here, but I knew that certain death awaited me at home if I spent money on training and then chickened out. A big comfort was that Leon and Lourens are professionals who know what they are doing when it comes to teaching people how to ride. During this session we covered: * softer sand * jumping * tweespoor * berms * riding with a pillion * hoops with steep ascents and descents Gassing it Body position Clinton having a ball Daantjie makes the bike look small Vincent and Tian We stopped in the forest and Lourens asked us to pair up. Guy and I were together. Then we were told that we would be taking each other pillion! Guy was smiling, because I am by far the smallest in the group. We went on his KTM990 because I had removed the wide offroad, bone-crushing and flesh-gouging steel pillion footpegs from Mr. Badger. Our route started in the forest, and entered the sand via a big, steep, very sandy and very rutted incline. Guy handled it with aplomb, and I made sure I was glued to his derrière like a good pillion. When we came back down that incline, we had a little tumble. Then it was my turn, but the KTM is a bit large for me (not to mention my pillion), and I elected to rest up and sit out. I've done the West Coast sand twice with pillion - so Guy went with Wayne. There were a few incredible incidents where the rider was practically on the ground and the pillion prevented the fall by leaning on the outside peg. A good, active pillion makes all the difference. Pillion on Sand: Vincent and Tian, and Clinton with Daantjie ===Water Break=== Grillers in the mist Water break: L2R: Gareth, Nick, Guy, Wayne, Hennie Giving Thanks: Me, Lourens, David and Nick When we stopped for a water break I was feeling very confident on sand. My struggles from earlier in the day were over, and I thanked my team mates for helping me through - without their help I would have been totally shattered by now and unable to continue. Little did I know what lay ahead, but the wicked smile on Lourens' face might give a clue... The big boys: Clinton and Daantjie on the biggest bike - you're looking at close to half a ton ===Mini Dakar=== Lourens led us onto what they call the 'mini Dakar'. A narrow trail in soft sand with turns and hoops and obstacles that prevent you from getting up to a sand-cruising speed. We were exhausted after 300m. The Paris-Dakar race has days of 12 hours riding 600km of terrain like this! All were humbled. ===Rollercoaster=== My euphoria of earlier was gradually weathered away by increasing exhaustion. We had a half-hour left in the day before supper, and rode to the 'roller-coaster'. The start of it was a very sandy and very rutted road, and suddenly, all I could see were the ruts - I had run out of ''moed''. With Kevin and Mike's incidents in mind, I pulled over and let the group go on without me. Last Half Hour I was very disappointed in myself and sunk back into the feeling that I had not really mastered sand riding yet. Then, Leon's group arrived and Leon asked me what I was doing there all alone. When he heard that I had not even done one lap of the rollercoaster, he suggested I ride with his group onto an easy stretch. ====highlight of the course==== It was incredible - Leon took us onto an unrutted section of sandy enduro track and I could make like Wattsie around the berms and over the hoops. My earlier disappointment turned into victorious euphoria and the day ended on a high. ===Saturday Evening=== We returned cold, wet and exhausted. The scheduled night-ride was canceled so that we could shower and get dry and warm. The course was essentially over - Sunday would bring an outride where we would apply all our newly-learned skills and end the course on a high. Hennie 'Jaegi Bear' regaled us with Jaegermeisters and 'Bergie Bombs' (don't ask) ;) and spirits were high in all senses. On Sunday we could sleep in - report at 08h00 for 08h15 departure... Before going to sleep, Clinton and I draped all our wet gear throughout the room and around the wall heater so that we would have something wearable in the morning. During my dreams the rutted nightmare that had caused me to chicken out gradually became a rutted sandy road that I felt I could handle. The closer it got to morning, the more confident I felt about riding sand. ===Sunday Morning=== The day dawned with the still after a storm. A beautiful day by comparison We checked our bikes and found that the sticky wet sand had: # Ground down all our brake pads to virtually nothing, # Got stuck in all our switches and controls, so that starter buttons would not work, or would stay engaged once activated, and # Jammed up various controls, like the rear brake lever and/or the gear shift lever. The outride headed off at first into the mountains and fynbos. Daantjie and Nick Then into some bluegum forest where we pulled out a stand of hakea saplings for good measure. Trees for cones Next, we rode onto the beach and played in the dunes. Yes, we played. Guy rode Lourens' HP2, and Lourens took off like a bat on the KTM. I had no falls - and did a single-handed hill recovery when in my exuberance I landed in a restio at the top of a dune. We were on the beach when Vincent needed help in the dunes. Tian raced off to help, and hit the dune so hard he catapulted off his bike, somersaulted, landed on his feet with a flourish, and ran to Vincent's aid. He was so smooth about it he completely forgot to turn off his bike as it lay on its side with the back wheel spinning. ===The Dude Hill=== Next stop was a very steep sandy hill that had not seen an ascent by an 1150, a 1200 Adventure or a KTM 990. This exercise was optional and I thought I might give it a go. But after seeing how better riders than me on more suitable bikes were battling, I decided to stand down. Here are some video clips of the ride: * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VIhPZEZAIk Lourens doing Hill Impossible] * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VUdlbzcgacI Guy Biscoe doing same on a KTM 990] * [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Osybtpe6psI Wayne Sheppard (1200 GS Adventure)] ===Rollercoaster Homeward=== Leon led the more fragile of us towards a tricky section of rollercoaster on the way home. I went first and Leon told me to pin it over the curve at the top, then wait halfway down. This I did, but I could not know how far halfway was, and kept on seeing more section to ride. Eventually, I had almost done the whole section Leon had wanted me to avoid. Everybody else took a shortcut. I learnt another method of getting unstuck when Leon came to help me out. ===A Rest=== The rollercoaster had tired me somewhat, and soon I lost concentration and fell. I picked up Mr. Badger and continued, only to fall again. This time I was past the tricky stuff and had only plain sailing ahead. So I set off without resting up, and within metres was eating sand again. So I parked the bike on one side, took off my helmet, and sat down to recover. Eventually Nick came past, and Mr. Badger proved so magnetically attractive that Nick caught the side of him a bit. Then Guy came along - battling. He had gotten himself tired and ended up falling also. He stopped to rest with me a while. After Guy left I kitted up and followed. ===The last sand road=== The sand road under the pylons was the last - we cut it up with exuberant joy. Our newly acquired sand-riding skill allowed us to surf the sand from side to side, spin around the corners and bounce off the berms. ===Team Photograph=== A last photo-stop before the end of the outride ===Prizes=== Daantjie and I won the big shovel awards, on account of the amount of sand we shifted with our big 1150s. We forged some solid friendships in that storm and sand, and many a departure from Klipbokkop was a bit sentimental. This course is by far the most fun, and you leave excited at the prospect of being able to enjoy off-road riding with confidence. ===If you want to do this course=== * Be sure you are fit. The course is '''''very physically demanding'''''. * You must have '''''proper protective gear'''''. Country Trax did have some neck braces for loan or to buy, and some knee pads. Proper offroad enduro boots are critical. I bought a neck brace before attending, and bought extra knee pads there. * '''''You will fall'''''. Several times. As they say, if you are not falling, you are not learning (which means that Mr. Badger and I are now geniuses. ===Thanks=== I would like to once again thank everybody who helped me complete this course. Mr. Badger is on the portly side, and I am a skinny computer nerd, so we fell a lot. Had we not gotten the help we did, I would have been physically incapable of riding all day and learning what I did.