DESERT SKIES AND DUSTY TRAILS

Freelance writer Alastair Walker took a week to explore the canyons and desert dunes of Nevada USA. He found wild horses who liked to race dirtbikes, ventured into an abandoned gold mine and breathed the air at 11,000 feet.

Adventure is why I started riding bikes. I wanted to see what was over the next hill, trace the map of my own destiny with an engine and two wheels.

So when Matt asked me if I fancied coming over the Reno to see the air races, and spend five or six days exploring the trails, canyons and mountains of North West Nevada, I was on expedia.com looking for cheap flights faster than a divorcee with a six figure settlement. Matt runs a small outfit called Nevada Motorcycle Adventures and his fleet of six DRZ400 bikes, back-up truck and small posse of riders was waiting for me in a place called Sparks early in the morning.

After a couple of hours checking and double-checking that we had everything, we piled into two large pick-up trucks and headed out of town. I was glad that we started on relatively easy trails, which gave me a chance to get used to the DRZ400 and riding off-road again, which I hadn't done since a BMW Skills Day in Cornwall about a year before. The Suzuki single is arguably the perfect leisure off-roader, especially in the lower geared E spec, as it makes adequate poke and is physically light enough to sling around with some confidence, even if you're a beginner like me.

We then climbed...and climbed. The mountains got bigger, the skies went a deeper shade of blue somehow and the air almost hoovered out your lungs with its crisp empty sweetness. Nevada is a remarkable state, best described as geological Calzone pizza - the rocks look like they've been folded over a million times in the last ten million years.

There's a real `Western' feel about the vast landscapes that surround you as well. We rode out of an abandoned mining town in the afternoon, scrabbling the bikes along gravel roads, and then I was suddenly aware of movement beside me. I looked across and saw a couple of wild horses racing me at 35mph across the desert scrub. Amazing enough, but they were the first living things I had seen in some two hours, apart from the guys riding the bikes with me.

New F 650 GS available for £65 per month with BMW Select

Upgrading to BMW quality is not as expensive as most riders imagine. BMW Financial Services offers a Personal Contract Purchase (PCP) product called ‘Select’ that allows customers to spread the cost of their motorcycle over 24 months. BMW Financial Services also set a Guaranteed Minimum Future Value for the customer bike, which becomes the optional final payment, meaning the customer doesn’t have to worry about what their motorcycle is worth at the end of their finance agreement. Because this lump sum is deferred to the end of the agreement, monthly repayments could be as low as £65. Not only that, BMW Financial Services offers customers 3 flexible options at the end of their Select agreement; either hand their motorcycle back, keep their motorcycle and pay the optional final payment or part-exchange their motorcycle for a new one.

BMW Financial Services offers BMW Select on the entire range of BMW Motorrad models from the HP2 Sport to the F 650 GS.

Brand new F 800 GS available for 2008 on BMW Off Road Skills courses

World of BMW’s Off Road Skills school has confirmed an exciting new line up of motorcycles available on all of its courses in 2008. The increased range of BMW Off Road Skills courses provide the perfect environment to put the brand new R 1200 GS and F 800 GS models through their paces. And with more course places available than ever before there has never been a better time to book a course.

New for 2008 the F 800 GS has excellent off-road capabilities it’s overall package combines balance; power and weight with excellent ground clearance and long suspension travel. The result is a machine with superb off-road riding performance ideally suited to the BMW Off Road Skills courses.


Also available for this year’s courses is the new R 1200 GS. The sales of the hugely popular R 1200 GS and R 1200 GS Adventure combined was the best selling motorcycle in the industry in 2006, proving a popular choice for UK riders. And with the new version of the best selling R 1200 GS benefiting from a more powerful engine, improved drive and traction, where better to put it to the test than on a BMW Off Road Skills course?

The F 650 GS is not forgotten in the World of BMW line up. The exciting new model will feature heavily at BMW Rider Training also based in south Wales. Participants will be able to put the easy handling 71 bhp twin cylinder engine through its paces on the beautiful quiet roads of south Wales for either their Direct Access or Road Skills courses.

Headed by Chief Instructor and six-time Dakar Rally competitor Simon Pavey, the BMW Off Road Skills team is run at the spectacular Walters Arena Enduro Park in the Brecon Beacons, south Wales. The 4,000 acre park is privately owned and therefore not affected by recent legislation affecting the use of public right of ways. The facility offers almost endless trails and terrains with a wide range of challenging, enjoyable off-road courses to suit every type of rider.

After five days of riding deeper into the tropics and four border crossings, the GlobeBusters / Motorcycle Outreach research expedition has reached its most southerly point, the city of Bissau, capital of the West African state of Guinea Bissau.

Guinea Bissau proved to be a highlight of the expedition. The former Portuguese colony is struggling to recover from a disastrous civil war which ended in 2000, only to be followed by a series of bloody coups. However, the warring factions settled their differences and Guinea Bissau has a new optimism that is being expressed with new infrastructure developments, including new roads and a real willingness to work towards a peaceful future.

Craig Carey-Clinch commented: "The people of Guinea Bissau are among the friendliest that we have met on the whole expedition.” He continues. "The roads south have taken us through increasingly lush vegetation of striking beauty, a real contrast to the desert and often arid Sahel country further north."
Next the couple start the final leg of their journey, working their way northwards to arrive in Dakar, before departing for the UK.

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