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The ride stuff

Hechlingen am See (Germany) — It is the biking school that movie stars love. BMW Enduro Park Hechlingen is a place where motorcycle riders learn the tricky art of riding off-road, and you can count Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom among its alumni.

Hechlingen am See (Germany) — It is the biking school that movie stars love. BMW Enduro Park Hechlingen is a place where motorcycle riders learn the tricky art of riding off-road, and you can count Brad Pitt and Orlando Bloom among its alumni.

Set in a disused quarry 150km from Munich, the school teaches riders to handle steep gravel slopes, water passages, deep mud and sand, and just about anything the adventure rider would encounter in the wild. The school has a picture of Orlando pulling off an impressive jump, too, although that isn’t part of the syllabus.

A one-day introductory course is available, but the two-day course covers far more Enduro riding essentials, including how to recover your bike if you’ve dropped it right in the middle of steep hill ascent. The fees are €590 (S$890) if you rent a BMW motorcycle from the school.

This is a good investment, according to Arianto “Ari” Wibowo, yet another film star (this time from Indonesia) who was a student at Enduro Park earlier this week.

“I definitely have a much better feeling handling the bike now, and also building my self-confidence on dirt,” said the 45-year-old, who has been riding motorcycles for 31 years. Despite not having ridden off-road, Arianto did not feel intimidated by the demands of the two-day course. That’s largely because the instructors fine-tune the programme as they observe the students’ progress.

“It’s up to my evaluation which (obstacles) are included and which are maybe too difficult,” said Walter Bachhuber, an instructor at Enduro Park since it opened in 1994. “We go step-by-step.”

Hechlingen attracts students from around the world, according to Walter. The school trained 3,216 riders last year.

Although not owned or operated by BMW, Enduro Park is an official partner of the brand, and is part of its efforts to go beyond simply selling bikes to customers and wishing them good luck.

“A BMW is about the riding, the experience. It’s sheer riding pleasure,” said Miguel Llabres-Pohl, the head of the brand’s motorcycle business in East Asia. “Some of that comes through training.”

Miguel feels that big motorcycle culture is relatively undeveloped in many Asian countries. That means brands can play a part in getting customers up to speed on what their bikes can do.

Other BMW academies have sprung up in Chile, South Africa and Wales. There is even one in the region: Enduro Park Thailand opened last year in Bangkok.

Even if a rider has no ambition to travel off-road, the lessons are still worthwhile. “Some techniques I learnt can be applied anywhere. It’s the confidence that you have handling a motorcycle, whether it’s on the dirt or on the road that will help you,” said Arianto. LEOW JU-LEN

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