Heffo Makes Riding Academic
The Academy of Off Road Riding
Most of us can ride a dirt bike, but to ride one well is a different matter. Speed comes with good technique. So you can leave those go-faster goodies on the shelf, and don’t bother calling your local suspension guru. Because if you want to ride a bike faster, your money is better spent on you rather than your bike.
That’s the thinking behind Yamaha’s Off Road Academy – the go-to place for honing dirt bike skills. “Think of it like footy training,” says accredited coach Jason Cater. “You wouldn’t expect to rock up on Saturday and play the perfect game without running through some drills mid-week. Well, it’s the same with dirt bikes,” explains the former pro Enduro rider. “We always tell riders not to worry about riding fast. Because if you get the basics right, the speed will come naturally,” adds Carter.
It's like footy training, You wouldn’t expect to rock up on Saturday and play the perfect game
A typical weekend at the Buckenboura training ground instils good habits from the ground up. The day kicks off with an essential safety gear overview, followed by a trip to the back paddock for the first skills session – using the correct body position for braking and accelerating. Next up, is a spot of cone weaving – using feet and knees and body weight to steer the bike rather than your hands. It all sounds pretty basic, but you’d be surprised at the number of riders who reach a certain level and are unable to progress due to poor basic technique. “It’s easier to teach beginners than riders with a bit of experience because old habits are hard to fix. We also find that blokes are generally harder to coach than women – because blokes generally have more experience and listen less,” explains coach Dean Heffernan, son of former world MXGP rider and Academy boss Lyndon’ Heffo’ Heffernan.
Next up are some braking drills – locking and releasing the rear brake, followed by the same with the front brake. Dean demonstrates as Jason points out the best position to adopt and the reason for the drills – emergency braking on a dirt bike involves a human ABS scenario where braking, releasing and reapplying are crucial if you want to avoid becoming a Ford Ranger hood ornament.
Over lunch Heffo explains the importance of nutrition and hydration – when, what and how much. Then, it’s back to the training ground to practice cornering while standing and sitting. Dean exaggerates his body position to highlight how much you need to move your mass to get maximum traction.
Next up the group practices clutch pops – the art of lifting the front wheel to get over a log or other obstacle. Different from a wheelie because the clutch pop is a low-speed exercise. All exercises are practiced by Academy participants on a large flat field that can handle more than 30 riders at a time. The day wraps up with a couple of laps on the Academy’s newly created natural terrain MX track. Jason and Dean – along with brother Jack - are on hand to pull over riders to offer invaluable advice and to correct poor technique.
Buckenboura is located around 45 minutes inland from Batemans Bay and features everything you could want for a weekend away on a dirt bike – currently the 360-acre property features an MX track, grasstrack, hillclimbs, single track, water crossings, logs, jumps and sand. An e-bike flow track is in the pipeline. Campers are well catered for with onsite camping, hot showers and toilets – and the Academy team can put on a camp fire - fireban permitting - that you can see from outer space.
day two starts with the students putting theory into practice. Some on-bike stretches are followed by more braking drills – this time riders are advised to keep the rear brake on and steer by shifting body weight. By now it’s clear that each drill leads into the next to build confidence in a logical progression.
During lunch we get the chance to see how the adventure bikes are going – their agenda is very similar to the lighter MX/enduro bikes and they are practising hill starts using the rear brake as a traction aid. Followed by how to turn around a bike on an incline – easy with the right technique, but good luck man-handling 250kg-plus without the knack. Next it’s our turn to conquer the two hillclimbs. One is a fair bit gnarlier than the other, but everyone conquers the pair.
Obstacles are next on the agenda – a second paddock has small, medium and large logs to practise on. There’s a surprisingly small
amount of carnage on the logs largely due to the new clutch pop techniques mastered. The right way to rail a berm is demonstrated, ruts tackled, water crossings crossed and throttles pinned in the dreaded sand - which brings a few riders unstuck. Last technique of the day is jumps – when to apply the throttle and how to pre-load the bike on the up ramp for more distance.
Participants leave the Academy with a weekend chock full of riding a wide variety of obstacles and terrain and a head full of new techniques to practice in the coming weeks. But best of all - you can visibly see speed and confidence grow across the weekend as skills are absorbed and practised. Riders leave the Academy a lot faster and safer than they arrived – all for less than the cost of a loud exhaust.