Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

The past weekend the Off Road Rider & Pillion Training Day took place at Nelson's Creek just outside Wellington. The day was organised by Geoff Russel and our instructors for the day was Leon & Louwrens together with their lovely wives. The weather was awesome and at time too hot...at one stage the Adventure's temp indication read 31C...luckily there was lots of energy drinks and water available. Arriving The day started with some breakfast bites that was made available to us as we arrived. This was followed by a discussion session where Leon and his team took us through topics like the plan for the day, protective clothing, ICE Tags, Rules of riding etc. After this we went outside where we were taken through basic steps like the pillion getting onto and off the bike, communication thereof, positioning on the bike both sitting and standing. Positioning Leon made us have our bikes off the side stand and then walking around the bike whilst only touching the bike with 2 finger tips, we had to walk around the bike keeping it upright al the time.....very interresting, what made it special is that after the riders have done this, the pillions had to do the same....it showed at the end of the day how balanced these bikes are. Balancing Act After this the bikes were put on the ground on its side where we were tought the right way op picking up the bike, both the rider and pillion together first and after this the rider and pillion (some pillions) picked up the bikes on their own....was awesome to see Joanne and Tracey picking up the R1200 GSA's. Bike on side Picking up the bike Pick it Up !! We went to the polo field where we were put through balancing excercises, we had to compete in a "snail race" where the last guy to past the line won....it is amazing how slow one can actually go on these bikes when having the balance in place. Polo Field Wayne & Jo Balancing Rusty & Gisela Balancing After having done the balancing excercises we were taken to a gravel road just off the polo field where we were made to do the very feared EMERGENCY STOPS, Leon's words were "in order to receive a certificate for this course you ALL have to complete this excercise together with your pillion" the noises that came from the group was ......let's just say "less impressed". Like always Leon first showed us how it was to be done ....no comment. At the end everyone did it, much quicker than what Leon thought it would take us to complete this and as a reward we were taken for a ride on the farm....something Rusty is not impressed with as his group never did any rides apart from training !! Emergency Stop Afterwards we had the handing out of the certificates and we all had to individually tell everyone around us what our highs and lows was of the day. All in all everyone enjoyed it and we all agreed that our confidence grew a lot. Certificate time Thank you to Geoff for organising the day, Mr. Nelson for the venue and to Leon and Louwrens together with their lovely wives for all the training. Instructors I strongly suggest that if you are a bit uncertain to go on these training days - they add so much value !! Afterwards myself, Tracey, Wayne and Joe went to Isle of Sky farms just outside Tulbagh where we stayed over - but that is another sory on it's own... Tulbagh Thnx again to all. Keep it SAFE !!!