Some of us were apprehensive about the weather, but the School of Dirt team seemed more excited about it.
BHPian CrAzY dRiVeR recently shared this with other enthusiasts:
As we get ready to welcome 2025, I woud like to look back at 2024 as the year which kickstarted a learning transformation for me – I started life fresh amidst a personal loss and also decided to prioritize on building my skills over the year, including the hobby ones and these plans (will hopefully extend) well into next year as well.
Started the year with L1 to L3 Training at California Superbike Schoolattended a basic offroad course at the Triumph Training Academy Chennai and as the final installment in this 2024 learning season – decided to spend one of the last weekends for the year with The School of Dirt Full Experience Program at Vattavada, Munnar, Kerala.
Needless to say – I had a wonderful time at Vattavada in terms of the learning, the difficulty of this natural terrain, the people I got to meet, the beauty of nature all around, the excellent home stay food and the overall adventure of it all. Did i mention that there is no mobile network connectivity as well, except for wifi at the property? A true disconnect for a weekend to focus on self and skills.
This photolog hopes to share the word to more riders in the community and also to put external pressure on myself to follow through my plans for 2025
Some FAQs for the uninitiated, in their (School of Dirt) own words where quoted –
What is The School of Dirt?
The School of Dirt is a motorcycle off-road riding school but there is more to us than meets the eye. Under our umbrella of all the vast and varied things we do, we are particularly proud of the beautiful short films we make for brands. Read on to know more.
We are certified off road instructors for BMW Motorrad India and KTM India.
For our off-road training, we use natural terrain and obstacles to train you how to ride your adventure motorcycle through real world situations so that you are well prepared should you decide to go to Ladakh or even around the world. We keep the numbers small for each batch because we like to know everyone by their first names and the helmets they wear. Keeping the number of participants small also ensures that everyone gets the attention they need while learning the nuances of climbing hills and jumping fallen trees.
In addition, we run adventure motorcycle tours. India has been our playground for over two decades now and we know places to stay and things to eat that no others know about or have the ability to access.
We could give you the google locations to these places but then unfortunately, we’d have to kill you.
We’ve gotten creative too and have shot three short films for Jeep India for their #Jeepmycalling campaign, made owner experience short films for Triumph Motorcycles, product videos for Stanley Tools India, Triumph Motorcycles India, Harley Davidson India and Bajaj Pulsar. Internationally, we have worked with Bike Shed MC, an exclusive motorcycle brand based in the United Kingdom, on a social media content creation project.
What is this Full Experience Program?
Our three day course begins Friday evening and ends Sunday evening. Friday evening is for check-in and a theory session on the basics of off-roading. Saturday morning is for motorcycle setup (suspension, tyre pressures) and a ride modes theory class. We also teach you how to safely fall off your bike and how to pick it up after the fall without hurting your back. Once that’s done, it is time to hit the trails. We take you on the easy trail first to allow you to understand how your bike behaves on the off-road settings you selected earlier. Once that’s done, we get to the technical sections of the School’s trails. Each trail is chosen for its unique ability to allow you to master a particular skill.
Lunch is on-site and we finish the riding day by 4 pm. We can then kick back and discuss any doubts around a campfire and a barbecue session. Sunday is on a wild trail that we choose depending on the weather. All our wild trails will make you use the skills that you learnt on Saturday to get through. Of course you will get stuck and at that point we teach the class how adventure riders can help each other get through difficult sections of the trail. By the time we are done, you will have worked up a solid appetite so it is lunch, get the bikes back to road settings and head back home. We are usually done by 6 pm on Sunday.
Along the way, you might learn how to fix a puncture, how to fix a leaking turbo on the backup truck and sometimes we throw in plumbing, electrical wiring and emergency food rationing depending on situations that arise in the wild place that Vattavada is. All we ask of you is to bring your spirit of adventure along and we will teach you the rest.
What will I learn at this Full Experience Program?
- A quick refresher on dirt riding techniques.
- Bike setup – how to adjust suspension setup and adjust ride modes for different kinds of terrain.
- Extreme hill descent techniques.
- Extreme hill climb techniques.
- Choosing the line of least resistance.
- Safely negotiating rocky terrain.
- River/stream crossing techniques.
- Slush Riding.
- Ways to safely help your buddy get unstuck.
- How to pack efficiently for a motorcycle trip.
What are the pre-requisites to join the program?
Motorcycle Requirements: Adventure/Scramblers. Your bike will need sump guard and engine protector bars as minimum protection. Off-Road tyres are recommended. If you don’t have a bike or have the right bike you can rent one of ours.
Mandatory Rider Protection: Full face ECE/DOT/ISI rated motorcycle helmet, Motorcycle riding jacket with shoulder, elbow and back protection, Motorcycle riding pants with knee and hip armor or jeans with motorcycle riding knee guards, Motorcycle riding boots with ankle flex protection and ankle protection. Woodlands, decathlon and orazo boots will no provide adequate safety and therefore will not be allowed. Motorcycle riding gloves ( covering full fingers).
What are the costs involved?
The weekend program i attended had an he event fee of Rs 17,700 + Bike rental + Bike Deposit, which, for the Hero Xpulse worked out to Rs 4,750 + Rs 2,500 damage deposit. This may vary based on changes in the season, program duration, stay etc.
PS: Please factor in budget for any damages to the bikes when attending such an event. Do not assume the best case scenario – even the pros are at the mercy of weather here
Why not the Tiger Sport 660?
The terrain at Vattavada is a lot more difficult than the curated course we had at Triumph Training Academy Chennai and the motorcycle was sure to take some damage to the underbody and the guards through repeated falls. Was an unfair ask on the Tiger Sport (with its sport oriented 17″ wheels, 162mm GC and minimal guards) and hence I decided to get the rental XPulse instead.
At this point, let me introduce BHPian skviknaraj who attended the event with his Honda Transalp 750. You will see a lot more of him in the below posts because he was the only BHPian and the only participant I knew (atleast virtually) before landing up there for the event. The Transalp was also the only big bike for the event, the other bikes included KTM 390 Adventure, 250 Adventure, Himalayan 450 and 411s and the lone XPulse 200 which I was riding.
Getting on with the photolog – Timeline is the day prior to the event. A low pressure formation in the Bay of Bengal causing gloomy weather all over Bangalore and heavy rains in several parts of TN and Kerala. Some of us were apprehensive about the weather, but the School of Dirt team seemed more excited about it. Lol!
Reporting Place for the event was the extremely beautiful Top Station, Munnar. We were supposed to reach there by 3:30pm, but we were mostly an hour late to the point due to a fallen tree inside the ghat forest area causing a long traffic block:
The night stay was arranged in a Premium Mountain Log Cabin Homestay. It was already dark when we arrived:
Each room has 5 individual beds with a western Toilet:
First look at BHPian skviknaraj‘s Honda Transalp 750 and the Hero XPulse 200 that i would be riding for the weekend:
A short theory session on the basics of off-roading while dinner was getting ready:
Barbecue dinner on a cold night before we hit the bed! Food was excellent in this property IMHO, being home-made and due to the remote location – locally sourced:
Even more than the food, the beauty of the place was a bigger revelation, the next morning. I spent some time walking around the cabin, absorbing the views:
The rustic and well designed central living space, dining and kitchen area:
All the motorcycles parked outside, waiting for the riders:
Setting up the motorcycles by removing any vulnerable parts, checking suspension settings, handlebar positioning, footpeg rubber and tyre pressures, etc
skviknaraj getting his Transalp setup done:
Most important person for the weekend (apart from our photographer, Teny ) – Teaching us how to safely pick up the bike after a fall is our trainer – Rish John George.
Rish is one of six KTM India’s Master Trainers and also a ride curator and leader on KTM Adventure Tours. He has experience of years of riding over all kinds of terrain (his idea of a honeymoon was a two month trip across India on his Triumph Tiger!) and is the School’s backbone. He plays the one man many roles act. He is the Manager, Asst. Instructor, Chef, First Aid Responder, Electrician, Plumber and Mechanic at the School. Rish also runs an Adventure tour company in Kerala called Plunge Adventures.
A former business consultant, Rish left the finance world to chase his dreams of seeking adventure around the world. Rish loves the outdoors, is a certified emergency first responder and certified kayaker. He absolutely detests being online. He is an active paddle boarder and is a highly experienced bicycle guy.
The most important skill we would need for the next two days:
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