Mongo Nation

We take a ride on the BMW R1200 GS and the F 800 GS motorcycles.

Words by Eugene Faynberg

By Eugene Faynberg

Most of the world’s roads are unpaved, so why limit yourself to the freeways and boulevards?  This is the core philosophy at Jim Hyde’s Rawhyde Adventures (bmwoffroadacademy.com) training facility.

CraveOnline recently got an opportunity to attend a “hands-on” adventure rider training session at RawHyde Adventures just north of Los Angeles.  After getting through the first obstacle – the driveway – Jim Hyde met us at the front of his top of the line training facility.  With chase trucks, RVs loaded with food and camping supplies, and a dozen or more BMW GS motorcycles parked under camouflage netting, it quickly became obvious that this was going to be more than just a ride.  Once everyone from our training group was geared up, we received an introduction to the dual-sport lifestyle.

Initially, I thought it was a joke when our first lesson was not on how to ride in the dirt, but instead how to properly pickup the bike when you fall.  Later in the day, this skill turned out to be very useful.  Taking a spill on your new adventure machine is inevitable and more than a few people wiped out in the first couple of hours.  Starting with basic dirt riding drills on my borrowed BMW R 1200 GS, our training group eventually worked our way up to riding short trails around the facility.

The BMW GS models are immensely powerful, well-balanced, and rugged.  My 1200 GS was even equipped with heated hand grips and ABS.  If you’re coming from a sport bike background like me, this motorcycle will open up another world of riding.  The GS is a go anywhere bike that can take you through the Mojave desert, unpaved fire roads, byways, but can also tear it up in the canyons or even during a trackday at a racetrack.  I have actually seen a guy on a GS that passes sport bikers like they’re standing still on Mulholland Highway in Malibu.

The second day of training was our moment to shine and show what we had learned.  These motorcycles took us through street, dirt, and even snow, until we arrived at the perfect place to break for lunch with a jaw dropping view of Pyramid Lake.  After getting down from the hills and getting back on road, we hauled ass on the canyon roads back to home base.

If that’s not extreme enough, RawHyde has a more advanced training event which takes you to “Base Camp Alpha” at the edge of Death Valley and an annual event called Adventure Riders Challenge (adventureriderchallenge.com) (ARC) which is a competition among amateur dual-sport riders.  This year, the ARC is a qualifying round to represent Team USA at the official BMW sponsored “International GS Trophy” event in South Africa.

This was one hell of a ride through terrain that previously seemed impassable.  I even got some airtime over some humps.  No question about it…Adventure riding will definitely get your adrenaline pumping.  Glad we wrapped up the day with a beer at Jim Hyde’s “Dakar” Bar and put on some South Park.  Coincidentally, it was the episode about obnoxious Harley riders.

Check out the video from the event:

Photos by Jonathan Beck

For more information on the BMW GS, please visit BMWMotorcylces.com

For more information on Rawhyde Adventures, please visit Rawhyde-Offroad.com