I recently attended the Honda Adventure in Somerset to try the 2-Day Exmoor Tour Adventure riding course. As an Africa Twin rider, albeit an Adventure Sports model, I was looking forward to taking on different terrain and doing so with expert tuition. For the two days, I rode a CRF1100L ES DCT and the group also included Transalps, CRF300Ls and a CL500. It was also a great opportunity for me to experience the Dunlop Trailmax Raid tyres on a wide variety of surfaces. The two days didn’t end exactly how I would have liked, but here’s how I got on.
Based in the beautiful Exmoor National Park, the Honda Adventure Centre offers the chance to ride Honda’s range of Adventure bikes under the expert tuition of Dave Thorpe and his team. I was taking on the two-day Level 1 course which is set up for beginners and road riders who have never ridden off-road before.
Once we arrived at the off-road location the first thing the instructors got us to practice was handling the bikes ‘out of the saddle’. We had a mixed bag of bikes, but all of these were relatively heavy except for the CRF300Ls and the CL500. The instructors wanted to get us comfortable moving the bike around in tight situations because that was something that we were possibly going to have to do throughout the rest of the course. After this little exercise was completed we moved further on into the off-road area to get to what was effectively our base camp where they parked the support van offering refreshments, seating, snacks and any bits and pieces you might need during the day. We moved on to a simple exercise of negotiating a flat track around a course of cones to allow the instructors to see what our bike control and body positioning were like. We were then broken down into small groups based on our ability and ventured off with the separate instructors to learn at a pace which was relevant to that particular group. To my surprise, I was placed into the more advanced group but I think that’s really because I’ve done a little bit of off-road training. as had the other guys here and compared to the complete novices that made perfect sense.
I was riding the DCT and this was the first opportunity for me to try the DCT on some proper off-road terrain with instruction from people who know exactly how you should be using it! Once we’d mastered slow turns we headed back to the base camp to meet up with the other group and have a quick drink and a bite to eat. After our little refreshment stop, we were taken onto some of the higher open ground to practice some drills. One exercise was to take each hand off the handlebars independently and swing one leg off the peg onto the opposite side. This helps get that feeling of where we need to be balancing our weight with our feet, and how we can use that to steer rather than putting big inputs into the bars.
Soon time to head back to base camp to get ourselves sorted out and then head off for some lunch at a local pub about 10 minutes away which gave people a chance to sit down and take on some calories. After lunch, we came together as a group to go and do some trail riding. The instructors took us to the highest point in the region where we had fantastic views across the Bristol Channel to Wales. Absolutely beautiful surroundings and a really lovely Trail to ride us back down to finish off the day.
With day one done, the bikes were tucked up to bed, the group were all knackered and looking forward to getting back to the hotel for a shower and something to eat later. I booked a room in the Notley Arms Inn, it’s one of the recommended locations to stay from the school and it’s actually where the instructors stay the night before and in between the two days of the course. Owned by Simon and Caroline it is a beautiful pub with rooms, very welcoming, absolutely fantastic rooms, the food is really good and it’s such a laidback place to stay it is the place I would recommend.
Day two brought a little bit of a turn in the weather, it started drizzly, murky and grey, but eased off as the day progressed. We moved to a different location for a different sort of terrain, more hard gravel, less rocky, with a bit of grass and loamy soil. We had a little exploration of our new location with a few runs up and down the areas where we’d be training. The aim was to get the speed up a little bit on normal trails and tackle some mud, inclines and declines and just a little bit more different and more technical terrain. I spent some time with my group and then dropped off to join the other group to see how they were getting on and to capture some of their Adventures.
There were a few slow speed drops here and there, but everybody pulled together as a team to help everybody else out. Everybody was progressing nicely so before lunch Pat decided it was time to go down and visit the bog and get us a little bit muddy. That allowed me to see what the Dunlop Trailmax Raids were like in probably the wettest conditions that I’ve ridden in them
Once fully mudded up we headed back to the same Pub as before for lunch and then it was time for the afternoon ride.
For the last afternoon of the two-day session, both groups came together and the instructors took us out for a ride on what they called ‘The Adventure Road’ and The Old Mineral Line. The Old Mineral Line is the remnants of a railway line that came from the nearby iron ore works, which was built in the 1850s. Despite it being very narrow and in some places steep it is still a road and so there was a stern warning for drivers of larger Vehicles not to go down it. It’s a fantastic trail to ride, really good fun and a very easy one to do on big adventure bikes. They call it the Adventure Road because it’s the sort of place where you’re likely to be taking these bikes and the conditions that you’re going to be riding. It was suitable for everybody in the group. However, it was the place where I had a little bit of a moment. You do still have to keep your wits about you and I think this was just a case of maybe a lack of concentration with just half an hour to go left of the ride for the entire two days
I had the most innocuous of crashes, started by the world’s tiniest root, which just threw the front end off. I lost traction and as I tried to correct it it pulled me up against the dry stone wall. Unfortunately, that wall grabbed my right foot and twisted it out and around to the right. After a few minutes, I was able to get back up to my feet. It wasn’t particularly comfortable and something didn’t quite feel right but where we were, it wasn’t very easy to get away from so the only option for me to keep the group from being held up was to ride back to the centre. We were only about half an hour away. The rest of the ride was almost as much fun even though I could only sit down, but it was a hell of a route to ride.
Once back at the centre, Pat and his team gave us a debrief. We collected our goody bags and said our goodbyes to the rest of the group. With a four and half hour journey home, and being in quite a lot more pain, I decided to visit Minehead Community Hospital to get my ankle checked out. Sadly the hospital confirmed I had a spiral fracture of the fibula and had also broken a small piece off of the bottom of the tibia. Cue a cast, and a call to my lovely wife to arrange coming to collect me, my camera gear, riding kit and car the next morning. Thankfully the Premier Inn over the road to the hospital had a room.
Despite the unfortunate ending, it was a fantastic two days. We rode a wide range of terrain, and I really got to see what an Africa Twin can do off-road, particularly the DCT model. I spent most of the two days riding it in Manual mode but with a much better appreciation of the best traction control settings. If you have or are considering an Africa Twin and want to learn how to handle it away from the tarmac, I can’t recommend this course highly enough.
The two-day Level 1 course costs £499, which includes bike rental, lunch on both days and an evening meal together at the close of day one.
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