A bit late for the OP but I've just done the introduction course today and thought it better to post here than start a new thread. My reasons for doing the course were 2 fold:
First to see if I wanted to get back into biking after a 5 year absence, to get a feel for a bike again and pick up some new skills which might help me later...
Second I just fancied a day out doing something different.
The day started with the usual briefing and paperwork and after sorting me some kit out we had an hour or so on some small 125 off road bikes to gain the basic skills needed before I was let loose on the Triumph as I'd not ridden a bike for 5 years!
Once Richard was happy I could handle a bike off road we returned to base and changed over to Tiger 800xcx's that were new this year. We then repeated the routes done on the smaller bikes then started to build on that including a bit of road riding to get to other locations. After doing a number of trails and some mixed riding around and across fields on flat-ish ground we returned to base, picked up our lunch and headed for the hills......
After an alfresco lunch the afternoon session again built on what I'd learnt in the morning with new techniques being explained and demonstrated on how to ride on more hilly terrain and we ventured onto more technical sections with again bits of road riding mixed in. It was also surprising how much difference just a very light shower made to the off road riding conditions- everything just got more slippy.....
One thing that made me laugh was as we were returning to base at the end of the day we were being followed by a car down one of the lanes and Richard signalled right then slowed down and we both just rode straight into a field.... who needs roads eh! I wondered what the driver behind made of our chosen route!
Things I learnt on the day
Richard is a great instructor
The Tiger 800 was brilliant to ride off road and on road it was a doddle to ride- it felt 'right' straight away
If you ride on the road you WILL need to use a different set of skills and techniques to ride off road, some of which are counter intuitive. If you just 'go and try it for yourself' it'll probably end in tears
Is the course expensive? Not in my opinion. Quality instruction isn't cheap, especially when its 1:1 plus you get to have fun too. I did and Everyman racing driving experience last month and the Triumph day was in a different league, the former I would not do again.
Would I recommend the course? an unequivocal 'Yes'
Oh and I didn't fall off all day-testament to Richards instructor skills and a great bike.
Next steps for me... well there's another day course they do once you've done the intro and it happens they do it around my birthday
Then there's the Bike show at the NEC to go to. Go on the train and have a few beers rather than pay parking and sit for free on the M42 sounds good to me
Then there's the test ride and well you can guess the rest....
