I could feel the nerves bubbling up in me as we walked through the front doors of the BMW Performance Center in Geer, SC.  My hands were shaking as I tried to enjoy a cup of coffee.  We signed our wavers and were shown to the class room.  Our instructors for the day were Ricardo and Gary.  There were a total of six people in our class.  After quick introductions and a short power point presentation we moved out to the bikes.  The crew was more than accommodating.  They had a 1200GS set up for me but I wasn’t comfortable starting with such a big bike.  I asked for a 650GS and within minutes one was brought out to me.  They kept the 1200GS out in case I wanted to give it a try later in the day.

The morning was filled with some basic exercises.  Mounting the bike both from the left and from the right.  Properly putting the bike on the center stand.  Balancing the bike while walking around it.  The instructors demonstrated how to properly pick up the bike.

Once on the bike we headed down to the lower track.  We worked on balance, controlled clutch & throttle, and keeping our eyes up making us rely more on our peripheral vision.  We practiced full stops and trial stops.  Everything in the morning was low speed maneuverability exercises including riding through boards, and slalom cones.  We maneuvered first through cones that were spread out and graduated to cones that were placed tighter together.   We worked on tight turns in boxes and moved to figure 8’s.  The clutch on the 650’s and 700’s turns out to be much more difficult to control in these low speed exercises compared to the 1200’s.  I can’t tell you how many times I killed the engine.  I dropped the bike twice but I was almost relieved to have it happen and out of my system.  I find sometimes you fear dropping the bike so much that once you drop it,  and see that everything is OK, the rest of the day goes much better.  The second time I dropped the bike I broke the clutch lever.  Ricardo radioed up to the main building and in no time Robert drove down and replaced the lever on site.  It was like having my very own pit crew.  I had a whole new appreciation for the clutch lever after trying to ride with a shortened version.  I decided to switch up and try the 1200GS.  They had a lowered version that I could touch tip toe and I thought this is perfect opportunity to check it out.  The clutch and throttle were night and day different from the 650.  I had no idea how drastic the difference would be.  I still didn’t have the confidence level to complete the figure 8’s, I was struggling with just staying in the cones for my tight turns.  These are all good exercises that I need to work on back home.  We ran a few laps on the track before coming in for lunch.  I loved how the 1200 rode.  I was so happy that I rode it back to the main building and was able to come to a complete stop without any issues.

The BMW Performance Center has their own chef on staff.  The lunch they provided was excellent.  Galen and I sat with Dakar and his wife Wa who were also part of our class.  Turns out Dakar is in charge of the body shop located at the Performance Center.  This shop services and maintains all the BMW fleet vehicles.  We had a few minutes after we were done eating and he took us on a tour.  The shop is spotless.  Dakar has done an amazing job keeping this place in tip top shape.  I was honored to get a behind the scenes look at this facility.

In the afternoon session we rode the bikes back down to the lower track.  The speeds in the afternoon start to increase to more real world speeds.  I decided to take the 1200GS since I felt good how the morning ended.  We did a couple of track laps before meeting together for the next exercise.  Wa came into a corner too fast and had a pretty hard get off.  She was tough and got back on the bike.  She made it through a series of braking exercises both with ABS on and ABS off.  Her knee had swollen and she wasn’t able to complete the rest of the day.  Wa and Dakar headed home but she said she would love to come back and go through the class again.  I dumped the 1200 when trying to stop on an incline on the track.  The engine didn’t die and the bike was spinning on the ground.  Yes, I was in first gear and had not put the bike in neutral.  I was wrestling the bike trying to hit the kill switch.  I can’t imagine what that looked like.  I finally got the bike turned off and decided I would go back to the 650 for the rest of the day.  The 1200 is great when I am up and riding but I just don’t have the confidence to control it when I come to a stop on anything but a flat solid surface.  I scrapped up my leg a little but nothing too bad.  We continued on with exercises in risk aversion through steering only and risk aversion through steering and braking.

We learned and practiced the three types of corning.

The day ended with track laps throughout the whole upper and lower road courses.  By this time of day I was pretty exhausted physically and mentally.  I was trying to apply what I had learned earlier in the day but I could tell my body was ready to be done.  I was grateful when we made the right hand turn to head toward the main building and park the bikes for the day.

At this point I was over joyed with emotion.  I had finished the day with very minor scrapes.  I had performed each of the tasks that were asked of me, maybe not well but at least I tried.  I had made it through the whole day on my own bike.  I felt a since of accomplishment.  It was far from pretty and I was beyond grateful with the patience of the instructors and other attendees.  We headed back into the classroom where we received a certificate of achievement and a fun goodie bag.  We filled out an evaluation form and were free to head home.  This girl was ready for dinner and a beer!

Fantastic On-Road Class:  Ricardo, Aaron, CranberryCarrie, Galen, Dave and Gary

Thanks for helping me overcome my fear!

Limited time offer: Book a class now and a friend attends half off!