The exotic destination I selected for my wife and I this year was Greer, South Carolina. Why Greer? It is home to BMW’s U.S. Rider Academy, arguably one of the top motorcycle training facilities in North America.
I signed up for a five-day motorcycle bootcamp, which consists of two days on pavement, two days off-road and one day out and back in the Blue Ridge Mountains north of Greer.
BMW — which also hosts performance driving classes for cars at the facility — has a partnership with Hotel Hartness, a first-class resort and spa in nearby Greenville. While I attend the training each day my wife, Deborah, can relax in luxurious surroundings.
If you are training at the performance center, the nightly rate is remarkably affordable, especially considering the level of service at the resort.
The first day of training starts early the next morning. First order of business is breakfast at the performance center. Their cafeteria offers very affordable food and great coffee. The food is good, period. Enough said. After breakfast riders and instructors head to a classroom to get oriented and discuss the day’s activities.
The first two days will be the equivalent of the two-day Street Survival course. Starting out, we discuss the exercises and goals of the day’s training. This is not the first time I have participated in a BMW led training event. EVERY time I have interacted with instructors from the center has been a good experience. They are professionals. All of them must complete a rigorous certification process before they can teach ham-fisted monkeys like me.
In the case of this training there was an unanticipated consequence from Hurricane Helene that passed through the area a few weeks prior. Some people canceled and enrollment was low. Consequently, for the first two days there are three instructors and four students. Hence there is a fair amount of one-on-one instruction.
Day one Street Survival exercises covered turning in tight circles, figure-8 turns, circle turns in a cone box, body position and peg weighting, emergency breaking and turning laps on the track as fast as skills allow (fun).
All exercises are challenge by choice. If you don’t feel comfortable you can opt out with no pressure or shame. Every skill set is designed to make you safer and more confident when riding. Oh, and lunch in the cafeteria was good as expected.
At the end of the day, the hotel fetched me, and I spent the evening eating a great dinner and resting up.
•••
After getting dropped off and breakfast at the center, we are back at it in the classroom on day two getting briefed on more training on emergency braking, avoidance drills, counter steering and selecting the right apex in corners.
The one exercise that stood out in my mind is emergency braking in an apex. If you are older and remember motorbikes without ABS, this one is disconcerting. In this exercise, the rider enters an apex at 45-50 mph. While in the turn, instructors step into the lane and the rider is coached to apply 100% brakes while in the turn.
On a bike with no ABS, traction control or IMU wizardry, this would likely end in tragedy. On my provided BMW R1300 GS, the computer doles out the braking force parsimoniously.
As the bike stands up more braking force is permitted until the bike literally did a small “stoppie.” In the Motorrad world this is only possible with the later generation ABS technology. When done, I shook my head in disbelief that I didn’t spill the bike and myself all over the track on every attempt. You must have faith in the tech and trust the awesome.
Technical wizardry aside, doing the drills and getting expert input from professionals who understand the machines and have experience with a variety of rider’s limitations has merit. The instructors watched riders make mistakes then helped correct them. I am a better rider for this and have more capacity to safely operate a motorbike on the street. Best of all, I did this on a BMW fleet bike that I had no fear of damaging. It is part of the price.
If I were to wreck a fleet bike (and more than one rider did), the logistics support staff get another bike and if the rider is able training continues. This aspect of the training removes anxiety and creates a better learning environment. As far as I am concerned, the price of admission is worth it just for that luxury.
The highlight of the two days on the track was when all the drills were complete, the staff trots out available fleet vehicles for students to test ride at will. We had a small group, so there was ample time to ride every bike. I rode several BMW motorcycles for a few hours on a closed track. Examples from their entire fleet were brought out for us to play on. Street, sport, ADV, touring, cruisers, maxi-scooters and even a couple of very interesting electric scooters were lined up and we were invited to ride them all.
The only bike missing was the S 1000 RR super sport bike. Given what I have heard about that bike, it’s probably a good idea not to turn loose an ape like me on that rocket. Believe it or not, the most smile-inducing rides were on the electric bikes. Imagine a totally approachable motorbike with instant torque delivered almost silently. Rapid acceleration with a step through chassis and great wind protection. For certain use cases those things are awesome. The whole experience was first-class.
•••
The third day is the first of a two-day off-road training. For the next two days a bloke by the name of Joe Stacker and I received instruction from Katie Benson, a motocross racer since she was 5 years old. Like the Street Survival course, we start in the classroom. The first part of the day was spent learning the goals of instruction and desired skill set outcomes. There is a logical progression built in the curriculum that makes sense.
After the initial orientation and Q&A we go outside and get on the bikes. All the bikes I rode were in excellent condition. It is apparent the shop technicians do an admirable job preparing the machines. I was again on a 2024 R1300 GS.
I took this class in 2022 and knew what to expect. I am a more experienced rider now than I was three years ago. The off-road class is about adventure riding so nearly all time spent on the bikes is standing-up on the pegs. My butt rarely touched the seat during the 14-plus hours of riding.
The first skills taught and practiced are slow speed moto calisthenics whilst riding side saddle, stretching legs, standing on one peg with the opposite leg and essentially doing moto-yoga poses. The exercise is about clutch control and counter balancing. No throttle, just two-fingered feathering the clutch, trusting the big flywheel in the GS will chug along like an old farm truck in creeper gear. I am struck by the peculiar sight where we are handling 560-pound adventure bikes like they are 30-pound mountain bikes.
Every exercise progressively builds upon the previous. All exercises are “challenge by choice,” and there is no obligation to perform a task that you feel uncomfortable doing.
Benson demonstrated each task before Stacker and I attempted them. Her skills are extraordinary. She is of much smaller stature than I and probably not as physically strong. Hence her technique is flawless because she cannot overpower the bike’s heft in a pinch.
It was a pleasure to watch her effortlessly guide a big bike through several challenging situations. Stacker and I were appropriately humbled. In addition, her communication skills were excellent, and she never displayed any ego in her instruction.
“I still do race but there is not a lot of opportunity for women to make a good living racing motocross,” Benson said. “My family moved to South Carolina, and I heard the performance center was recruiting female moto instructors, so I applied. I love riding motorcycles, and I enjoy seeing students get better and have fun. Plus, I get paid to ride!”
In one exercise, we were tasked to ride the bike through a deep and treacherous gravel pit. I was struggling to make it all the way through without falling or veering like a sliced golf ball. I passed Benson, and she yelled at me, “BREATHE!”
I was so focused and tense I was unaware I was holding my breath all the way through the pit, turning what should be smooth small corrections into over corrections. I calmed myself and started breathing properly. It made a big difference.
The performance center has miles of single-track trails and constructed obstacles of the kind that I would normally associate with a mountain bike and not a quarter-ton GS. The enduro rides can be intimidating. The trails are rough and narrow in places. Throw in a bit of mud, sketchy looking wooden bridges, off-camber terrain, tree roots with ruts everywhere and you get the picture.
I you keep your momentum going, the bike chugs its way through woods and swamps with no complaint. Before taking the course, I would have never attempted to ride a big bike in such tight challenging quarters. This time I crashed less and navigated most of the terrain.
The day ended with more turning exercises, clutch control practice, enduro rides and frequent reminders to KEEP YOUR EYES UP, look where you want to go, breathe!
Instructors emphasize regular practice is a key habit that students should all adopt when back home. Practicing what are perishable skills is necessary. With that in mind, I left for the hotel tired, a little sore and happy.
•••
The following off-road day brings more of the same with added challenge negotiating emergency stops in sloppy loose dirt, camel-hump hills, balance beams, railroad ties, concrete culverts, bridges, deep gravel, deeper sand, and steep hills that you see in motocross races on TV.
The enduro rides get more technical as the day progresses. The entire riding course is diverse, well sorted out and FUN.
Students are coached out of bad habits and encouraged to push the boundaries of their individual abilities in a controlled environment without fear of destroying an expensive personal vehicle. In my opinion, using their bikes is a key benefit to this training. In my actual life, I am a middle-class proletarian. I own a 2022 BMW R1250 GSA. It cost me more than $30,000, which is real money to me. I do ride it off-road, and I have dropped it more than once.
My healthy fear of potential repair bills likely fuels my forgetting to breathe. It tenses me up and causes unforced errors. Removing the fear of damaging my personal bike gives more mental and physical freedom to push my skill boundaries. By midday I realized that my riding-confidence was increasing.
After another great lunch, we head back out for an extended enduro ride. Classes are designed for a dozen riders. The previous off-road course I took had nine riders and three instructors. In this one there are only two riders, partly because Hurricane Helene was a very recent unwelcome guest and there were cancellations.
With only two riders the exercises went fast. No lines and no waiting. There is only one short emergency hill stop exercise left to go. We have extra time to ride enduro.
This was physically demanding, all-day riding. For context, I’m 59, fit for my age, but I am tired. Confidence, a full belly and fatigue can be a bad combination.
I follow the instructor through the rough wooded terrain. She leads us through a deep sand pit. Earlier in the day, I traversed this sand pit without serious issues at least six times if not more. On this ride, I followed her through it twice right on her rear tire. Confidence is exuding from my pores. On the third pass, I find myself face down in the sand unable to take a breath.
I was not going very fast, but I landed awkward trapping my elbow between the ground and the left side of my rib cage. I got up and tried to walk it off, but my day was over. The logistics staff rides the bike back to the shop and I am forced to take the shameful slow ride of humiliation in the cart back to the performance center. I have broken several ribs over the years, and I was pretty sure this was just a hard fall that knocked the wind out of me and bruised some internal parts, so I refused a trip to the nearest medical facility. A crap ending to four great days of riding.
•••
The last day is an out-and-back tour led by Benson through the North Carolina mountains. Lunch at a local BBQ joint and more honing of the enduro ADV skills are on the schedule, but I let them leave without me. I probably could have toughed it out and gone, but I would not have had a great time. I didn’t want the other riders’ experience to be diminished because I couldn’t keep up. So, I deferred.
Despite that, I recommend the BMW Rider Academy as an investment in yourself. Riders spend thousands of dollars on gear and gadgets on their bikes, but arguably the most important part of riding is being a better safer rider.
There is the upside to that harsh ending. I am once again a better rider having participated in this first-class training experience. I got to ride many excellent BMW motorcycles as fast and hard as I wanted. My wife got to come and experience a first-rate resort stay and visit with old friends.
Best of all, without hesitation or negotiation, BMW credited my account with a one-day out ADV tour that I have scheduled for May 2025. I have requested Benson lead the trip.
I told my wife I was going back for the one-day, make-up tour.
“Oh, I’m going, too,” was her response.
Visit bmwperformancecenter.com for more information.
