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In September last year, my friend Maarten<br />
Willemse, also in his mid fifties like me,<br />
decided that it was time to buy a bike. With<br />
some nudging from me he decided on a<br />
Yamaha XT1200Z, or Super Tenere as they are<br />
better known. I think the decision was an easy<br />
one after he rode mine on a dirt road trip to the<br />
Eastern Free State.<br />
Maarten had the same problem I had many<br />
years before. He felt uncomfortable on<br />
the bike and not sure what to do about it. I<br />
suggested we do a Country Trax course in<br />
Amersfoort. It worked for me and I was sure<br />
it would work for him. He called me a couple<br />
of months later with the news that he had<br />
booked. There was no way I was going to miss<br />
out on the trip and I offered to go with.<br />
Through the years Jan du Toit, founder and<br />
head trainer at Country Trax, and I had become<br />
good friends. I did the course many times<br />
at Amersfoort and at some of their other<br />
academies around the country. There are 12<br />
of them. I pitched the idea of a story about<br />
Maarten’s training to Jan and he thought it was<br />
a good idea.<br />
The course starts on a Friday morning, so you<br />
will have to travel to Country Trax on Thursday.<br />
It takes about three and a half hours to get<br />
there from Johannesburg. Jan used to do most<br />
of the training himself, but over the years he<br />
had trained a group of young instructors to<br />
take over from him. Gerhard, his son, was one<br />
of them and he was going to be our instructor<br />
for the weekend.<br />
Becoming an instructor is no easy task. All<br />
the Country Trax instructors are registered<br />
as official BMW Motorrad trainers with BMW<br />
Motorrad in Germany. They are considered<br />
some of the best in the world. Although BMW<br />
accredited, the training is open for all bikes.<br />
The course Maarten signed up for was the<br />
“Intermediate Weekend Course”. They also<br />
have an introductory course and an advanced<br />
one. In my opinion the “Intermediate Weekend<br />
Course” is the one to go for. I’ve done it 4<br />
times already.<br />
Gerhard started with the very basics of<br />
balance and weight distribution while riding.<br />
He explained in detail why you should be<br />
standing up, looking up and opening up when<br />
you are riding on a dirt road or even off road.<br />
Then he covered traction. Riding on dirt<br />
roads with a heavy adventure bike is all about<br />
traction. With your weight in the right place,<br />
your gaze where you want to go and a little bit<br />
of the adventure spirit, you will get there.<br />
From basics he migrated to bike recovery. How<br />
do you pick up a 250kg bike when it’s lying<br />
on its side? Turns out there are two schools<br />
of thought; the German one and the one for<br />
the rest of us. The Germans like to use the<br />
handlebars as a lever whereas the rest of us<br />
use our legs to “walk” the bike upright. It’s<br />
COME JOIN THE FUN<br />
www.adventurecompany.co.za<br />
072 177 0621<br />
anette.acc@mweb.co.za<br />
.<br />
www.adventurecompany.co.za<br />
VAN REENENS RIDE<br />
Weekend of the<br />
12th November<br />
<strong>2022</strong><br />
Come and explore beautiful Van Reenens.<br />
From the historic Green lantern Inn<br />
<strong>Dirt</strong>bikes, Quads and Side By Sides all<br />
welcome!<br />
Full day in the saddle on Saturday. Lunch up<br />
in the caves.<br />
Shorty on Sunday before you head for<br />
home.<br />
Optional tech sections for bikes only.<br />
A seriously social dirtbike weekend away!<br />
anette.acc@mweb.co.za
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