BruceP,
If your wife wants to try off roading for the first time without training ie just to see what it's like, have a look at Southport Leisure Lakes. They have a couple of novice tracks and a full MX track,see their web site for pictures.
It's not far from you and plenty of other activities.
Cheers
Ian

Cool, ta, will have to chase that one up

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http://www.ytc1.co.uk

My experience is that off road is great and make you a better rider ,but you have to ride the right bike for it.if you wife want to have the best experience possible make sure that she is learning on a very light bike, BMW are not great for it and I am not against them ( I have a 1200GS) but compare to my KTM or XR650R its like night and day.You can go to your MX track and ask for classes ,just tell the guys that your wife want to have an introduction to off road and he will certainly find a good 250 four stroke for her to ride. Make sure she have the right boots and protective gear.( can't judge for the price but here in the US you can have a 3 hour classe with a newer bike and a private teacher for $200 a session.
Good luck

Ummm depends on what they are offering.
The tutoring should be for 'Adventure Touring' not racing - yes bike control is part of it .. but riding at max speed is not. Also the methods used have to consider an 'overloaded' bike (in an MXers eyes)...

So say what you want from the training. You don't want to be grouped in with the racers ..

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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S

If you're using their bikes, and don't have to pay for damage, then its not as expensive as it may seem.

I can highly recommend taking a course taught by experts/professionals. You'll learn more, in a short time from people who know how to teach the material. (applies to golf, tennis, skiing, etc.)

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quastdog
Chiang Mai, Thailand

august this year will be the third time my mate and i will have done the bmw course in south wales
twice the beginner group, and last time with the brecon adventure i think they call it, just a further day round the 4000?cre site with an instructor in small groups having fun
they split beginner groups up depending on your experience, although it ends up more being based on your confidence. people at the start saying how hugely experienced they are often get a little fazed with some of the terrain, maybe the less experienced listen more to the instruction, and so do a lot better!
it also seems to be the only training i can find that whatever damage you do to the bike there is no further cost. they have a spare bike if you do break it so if you're happy to you can carry on riding. assuming you weren't riding like an idiot
up until this year the only gripe people doing it seemed to have was the large step between the beginner and advanced groups. this was tempered by splitting the beginner group up as i said, but this year there is an official intermediate group.
first time 2 years ago we used 650gs, which standing up all day made my knees really ache, held out at a bad angle by the tank. quite good ride tho. a brief try on the xchallenge made the riding easy. but last year was the best on a 1200gs, soooooo much better!! only bit it struggled on was a standing start slightly uphill across a greasy muddy grassy slope. small throttle openings still made the tyre spin too quick!!
another fab aspect is the people, the price makes it attract slightly older people, tho not more sensible! and the instructors helping Simon Pavey have so much varying experience, racetrack, mx or the dakar itself.
a fab overall experience. book early!

Use the rear brake! And/or second gear. Go back and do it again...

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Regards Frank Warner
motorcycles BMW R80 G/S 1981, BMW K11LT 1993, BMW K75 G/S