Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

Hi all

After our trip to Jurg se Kaya this weekend I have revised the advice I give about riding sand.  Geoff has always said that the sandy tweespoor to the Kaya is nothing like the sand at Atlantis, and that being able to ride sand is not the same as being able to ride sandy tweespoor.

Finally, it has dawned on me:  riding to Jurg se Kaya is not a sand problem.  It is a rut problem.  And the technique for sand is not always a good one to apply, and is resulting in some of the more serious injuries.

Normal, flat sand

Traditionally, the advice for sand is:

1. You need to keep your weight as far back as possible,
2. Stand up, look up, and open up.
3. You need to be riding over 30km/hr
4. It is easier with a proper knobbly rear tyre

This advice is true for flat sand, such as a wide flat road, or Atlantis, or the beach.

Sandy tweespoor with deep tracks

Here, the sand is a complication.  The ruts are the biggest problem.  As a result, the riding technique differs depending on the skill of the rider.

Experienced riders

1. Stand up, look up and open up.
2. Ride at higher speeds (>30km/hr) - though the wiser ones keep their speed as low as possible and they can ride at walking pace if needed.
3. Do not hang back on the handlebars as they are constantly shifting their weight around.
4. Use knobblies, or dual purpose tyres, because they can.
5. To slow down or stop, pull in the clutch and coast to a stop while balancing.

Novices (this is the crucial bit)

1. Either sit and paddle your way through the difficult bits, and/or where possible stand up, look up, but control your throttle (i.e. keep it steady)
   
2. Do not try to ride ruts at speed, rather ride slowly (20 km/hr)
   
3. Use less agressive knobblies or agressive dual-purpose tyres.

Rationale

The reason I say this is because when riding ruts, the front wheel catches on one side and the bike starts trying to climb out.  This is regardless of your speed.  An experienced rider will lean the bike back into the rut by throwing his body in the direction the bike wants to climb.  This is instinctive.  The novice, however, does not yet have this instinct and ends up climbing out of the rut, giving gas at the wrong time and fishtailing into a highside.

A popular strategy when riding sand, is to give a bit of gas when things get more difficult.  This works up to a point, because it makes the front lighter.  The drawback is that eventually the rider is riding at an uncomfortable speed beyond his skill level.

The other drawback is that when giving gas the thrust of the back wheel causes the bike to fishtail, which unsettles the rider more and leads to even more gas and lack of control.  This can be somewhat reduced if the back tyre is not very knobbly.

Some novices who end up at speed in the ruts do not know about pulling in the clutch to slow down so end up putting themselves at risk in longer stretches of sand.

What you can do to get the required skills

1. Practice riding cones on a grassy field,
2. Put two long gumpoles on the grass, next to each other to form a rut, and practice riding through them,
3. Find some ruts (for e.g. a muddy road that has since dried up leaving deep ruts from trucks and cars), and ride in the ruts at walking pace.
4. By all means practice riding in sand also - especially at slow speed where you use your footpegs to control the lean and thus turning of the bike.