I had been looking into doing an off-road course for some time and had spend loads of time reading up on various schools before choosing the right one for me. The Ady Smith School sounded like a really great one to try, so I booked myself into do the course before Christmas. Ady Smith has been riding off road bikes since he was 10 and has enjoyed a glittering career spanning many years and winning many titles including the British Enduro Championship in many different classes, as well as the British National Supermoto Champion in 2001 and 2003. From what I could see, doing this course would allow me to gain from a wealth of experience, it also sounded like a great way to spend a weekend.
Not only was this off-road course going to be lots fun to do, I was also looking at it as taking some further rider training, and being able to relate to some of things I learned on the weekend to my road riding. With a trip to Russia coming up and the road conditions being at times of a potential unknown quantity, I felt it would be really useful to widen my experience and get some expert tuition at the same time. Although the thought of riding my Varadero ‘Off-Road’ makes me reach for a stun gun in the hope that the shock dissuades me of such flights of fancy.
So the day finally arrived and I have to say, feelings of excitement were mixed with a bit of apprehension and that feeling of 'what if' was quite strong. Fortunately, I need not have been worried; Ady Smith runs a good school that puts the safety of those on the course at the top of the list. So after being kitted up in full protective clothing and introduced to the latest 2008 KTM off roaders, we had a safety briefing and I felt very at ease and ready to go.
The first part of the course was a bit of shake down session where we got used to the bikes on easy terrain. It was also really good to get the feel of how the bike behaved under power on slippery ground and in the corners. With not having fallen off I was feeling pretty upbeat, and so on to a slower section where we learnt basic slow control on a tight course to get us thinking about balance and clutch control when cornering. This is where I learnt how to fall off! And, having done it twice in a row on the same corner I felt that I had mastered the technique quite well.
This format was pretty much the same for the rest of the weekend. We had sessions of instruction followed by practice then a bit of time putting it all together on various parts of the extensive grounds available to us on the course. As the weekend and course continued we tackled more complex skills. All the while it felt very safe, and I never felt under pressure to keep up. I really learnt quite a lot and like everyone else I was far more accomplished at the end of weekend than when we started.
There's a lot you can take into road riding from this course, and for the money it represents it is really good value for money, as it includes all equipment and the chance to try all of the off roaders KTM have available in their natural environment and where they work their best.
Ady and his team really made everyone feel welcome and had a lot of patience when giving instruction. There was plenty of time to get the basics right and enough time to allow people to practice at their own pace. The feeling you get riding at speed over open terrain with a fair bit of knowledge as to how to control things really is a nice feeling to have, and even having the odd off didn't put things into a bad light as there was always a member of the team on hand to help you out and make sure you weren't injured (i.e. alive!).
It all ended with a run around the enduro course where we had a chance to display the skills we had learned, from sliding the back end round bends, flat corners, riding through ruts and Jumps (yes jumps...) to name but a few. As we did this Ady and guys displayed a far higher level of skill and this added to the feel of the day. I really can't wait to go and do this all over again.
Although I didn’t notice it at the time, you really do need to have a reasonable level of fitness to tackle this school. Two days in a row can take it out of you and although I was tired myself, we all had the best time. As long as you have riding experience, you can book yourself onto one of these courses. They are available from one day try outs, to two day Enduro schools. They also have two venues for the courses, I went to the one in Eastbourne but they have others, including an area in Wales that covers about 1,000 acres of trails.
With the range of bikes on offer, there’s a bike for all abilities and judging by the way Londonbikers community member Alliamc was racing around, it’s very clear that the girls would get just as much out of this school as us boys would.
Thanks to Ady Smith for a great weekend. I honestly haven’t shut-up about it since I got back, and I’m looking forward to doing another one soon. My only problem is that it’s made me desire the KTM EXC300 two-stroke, but I think I’d also have the problem of finding somewhere to put the panniers. I warn you doing this course is very, very addictive.
Contact www.adysmith.co.uk
. Off Road Try Out / Enduro Schools / MX Training – Eastbourne
Broad Farm, Hellingly, East Sussex, Nr Eastbourne. BN27 4DU
Journey To Russia
My Russia trip www.journeytorussia.co.uk
