Journey to GS Trophy 2024 - Namibia

[Malmoer]

I was sitting in my office and thinking why not do a ride report on my journey to the GS Trophy international event. Sharing what it took to achieve this goal.
Hopefully it can be a reference for other riders also wanting to try out the GS Trophy.

My idea is to create more interest in this and obviously to share my experience in being a amature rider being selected to represent SA against other countries.

So what is the GS Trophy??
Its an event that is held every 2 years and anyone can participate with any GS model available even the 310.
But you cannot be a pro rider with a valid motorsport lisence or have won the event (Nationals) or be a BMW employee.

You and the bike will be tested against other like minded riders.
The top 3 men and top 2 women get to present SA.

I know over the years that the trophy event did not attrack much attention on this forum, but if i can convince 1 person to try it out or maybe help with some info on making it through then i will be happy. If no one reads this then so be it. Piece of history for me to share with my grand children
BTW: My English airtime is running low so excuse some spelling and grammer mistakes. I will as always try my best.

So here goes!!

So i have been watching this event from 2018. When the mongolia international event was on youtube. Sat there next to the wife and said. Dink jy ek kan dit ook doen, dit lyk lekker.
She said why not try it, if you do not try the answer will always be a no.

So 2019 came and i was thinking about the qualifier but having just lost my job and starting out a new one i did not think it to be wise to participate in the regionals.
2019 came and went and i watched the 2020 international trophy in New Zealand on Youtube. I thought no hell man i must try. Ja volgende jaar gaan ek dit try, come hell or high water.

So 2021 came and the Western Cape regionals was held at Cape dirt. We stuffed up that lawn on that day. Was muddy and doing skills challenges became a matter of who can limit his mistakes the best.
I came 2nd in the WC regionals.

National Qualifiers was to be held in Amersfoort at the Jan Staal Du toit Country trax venue. For you who have not been there previously, you should go. Very impressive and guess what BMW spoiled us rotten with gifts and food. But before you could enjoy all that a rapid covid test was to be done. A neg outcome would mean you cannot enter the "Covid bubble"
We were all stressing......

I came 4th on my first attempt in 2021. Watched G Du Toit, D de Bruin and W Venter go through to represent SA in Albania. To say i was jealous is an understatement, but now the determination to reach my goal was even bigger.

 

[Malmoer]

So what did it take to reach the national qualifiers in 2021?
I will give an breakdown for you nice oakes to see it is not a cheap thing to try. Also this will decide your decision going forward.

regional Entry money - R1450
National entry money for 2021 - R1500 (But this was not the norm. Because of covid they shared the sponsorsjip money equally between the riders. Normally you are looking at around R5000 entry money.
We coeriered our bike up and back, we also flew up and down. R6000.

Travelling and practicing with team mates app R5000
Team practice with Country trax traininers all in about R7000 that was in Aberdeen. Travelling is the biggest outlay in terms of money.

Bike maintenance.
tires - we were sponsored
Services - Donford assisted us but i never took my bike for service
And if you had any damage then put that in.

So app between R20 to 25k pending how much you put in.

BJ Vosloo who was one of the guys in New Zealand said to me, work on a bike per GS Trophy (2 years)
This event can be hard on a motorcycle if you drop it much ect.

 

[Black_Hawk]

Thanks for sharing your story/experience with us and congratulations on be one of the finalists.

Looking forward to read about the rest of your journey and all of the best

 

[roxenz]

Thanks for the background - it helps to appreciate the main event so much better! There must be a story - tell it.

 

[ETS]

sub

 

[EssBee]

Watching this with interest.

So....are those my fork springs in action up there?

 

[Malmoer]

Watching this with interest.

So....are those my fork springs in action up there?

They were yes

 

[Seank]

Sub and watching with Interest

 

[Malmoer]

2023.........

So after watching the international event i was hopping around like a cat on a tin roof.... Excited was an understatement.
Also going into the 2023 regional qualifiers was approached with sense of overconfidence....... (Thinking to myself you came 4th in the previous nationals so this should be a breeze right. well i was wrong.)

Playfull riding and not taking the competion seriously was almost my downfall. Came 2nd at the regionals only for Gerrit Cornellisen to phone me and tell me Billy de Wet(He is in the USA team for 2024) won the event. He was flying below the radar and not even the mashalls noticed that he was creeping up to the top of the leader board.
I could have been out of the regional running because of my "windgatgeit". This brought me back to earth....bigtime. I was peed off with myself, but it was a good thing because without that "regruk" i probably would not have put in the hard work and be one of the top 3 at the national qualifier.

Pics of the regionals in stellenbosch.
Gerhard from Podium cycles. BTW open face helmets were allowed at our qualifiers but at the east coast they did not.

Fillmore - Ludwig

Diane Mclean - 1st in the regionals. She was the nr2 ladie at the nationals. Also from the Western cape.

Sonja Jacobs 3rd at the regionals also went to the nationals.

Skye king 2nd at the regionals also went to the nationals - in faact all the WC ladies went to the nationals.

Braam Esterhuizen - 2nd at the regionals and was leading the nationals leader board right up to the last day. Why is he not in the national team you ask? I will answer that later.

Billy de Wet 1st at the regionals

Some random pics of the event:

 

[Malmoer]

Reqional qualifier was in May for the WC and the national qualifier was in Sep. Plenty of time to get prepared.
1. Fitness had to be better!!
2. Riding the circus tricks had to be better. (This is my downfall- i ride natural terrain much better than circus tricks)
3. I had a distick disadvantage because of the F800gs.
4. Funds. Last time we had quite a bit of sponsorship but in terms of money not much, but everything adds up and helps in a big way. (This proofed to be a challenge)

My fitness as at the time 47 year old was not to bad. In my opinion at least better than the average bloke sitting infront of the tv and drinking beer. Starting early with fitness was key at the nationals for me at least.
These blerrie youngsters on average are much fitter than us, but its not only the stamina but also the recovery rate which i had to increase. Hitting the gym and riding mountain bike atleast 5 to 6 times a week became the norm.

Everyone had there own idea of what they should do in preparing for the gs trophy and that is fine, but with set rules that you have to ride within it is wise to train accordingly.
For instance because of previous international events riders will deflate their tires and then jump on and ride, hitting rocks and potholes whatever the orginisers decided on a standard across the board min 2 bar for all competitors. This was adopted by BMW SA and strictly enforced during the nationals.

So with this experience acquired from the previous nationals i started my training.
Put in as much milage on the bike as possible. Most weekends was spend on a deserted gravel road doing GS trophy excercises(Circus tricks) as possible. When ever i could i took footage with the phone to review later.
Seeing yourself ride and make stupid mistakes is not lekker but how else will you know what mistakes you are making.

Where do you look
What is my body positioning like

And then oeps n drop or dab or both...... ****!! try again!!

And this brings me to the scoring system....... till tomorrow again.

 

[Black_Hawk]

We really enjoy this thread, thank you for your time and effort to share your experience with us.

 

[Panic]

Great thread!! Was also fortunate enough to attend the finals. Congrats once again! Keep it coming

 

[Malmoer]

Scoring system..........
Before the challenge all riders will be asked to gather around so as to hear what the rules for that specific challenge will be.
But the basic scoring system works as follow.
Challenge will be timed - Converted to seconds
Putting a foot down = 1 dab = multiplied x a factor of 1
Crossing a border = mutliplied by a factor of 2
Dropping a bike = multiplied by a factior of 3

So if your challenge took you 180 seconds but you had 2 dabs and a bike drop is will be as follows
180 x 5 = 900s

All the scores will be added and the person with the lowest score will win. Easy peasy

So the aim of an excercise is as fast as possible but as slow as neccessary or the other saying slow is smooth and smooth is fast. But competition against other brings out the red mist in people(myself included) and its balls too the walls and normally is not the right strategy....
And there in lies the trick. You must determine when to gooi mielies and when to ride like miss Daisy

I see some of my friends who shared this journey is on the forum as well. Please guys add your experiences here. Just maybe someone can use this as a ref for future competitions.

 

[AfriqueDS]

Nice report. Thnx for the effort

 

[JACOVV]

Following - thanks for sharing.

 

[Malmoer]

So i was asked by @Kokdjembe what my preparation prior to the regional qualifiers was. Having done the previous year i had a good idea what worked and what not.
But let me say this, in 2021 i think i was lucky. I saw some videos on youtube tried to mimic and practice what they were doing but in my mind i was good enough. I came 2nd in 2021. But the competition got better and i would definitely say being better prepared for the regionals will be beneficial to your journey.

AdvmotoSkillz had a lot of helpfull videos and you can get all the dimensions of challenges, do's and dont's from watching them closely.
https://www.youtube.com/@advmotoskillz/videos
And then try and link up with someone who has been there before to tap into that experience.

Now fitness in not a big issue with the regionals so do not stress to much about that, get that skills(circus tricks) up to scratch.
Nationals is the next step up so here fitness WILL become and issue.
I know from talking to previous international competitors this will take a big step up again.

 

[Malmoer]

Some pics from the 2021 regional event.
Had rain that whole week leading up to the event and then it rained some more.....

Look at the gras before the event.

 

[Mikie]

Thanks for sharing, Malmoer.
I am enjoying this read, I have for long dreamed of being able to do one of these, but I am not sure I am capable enough, finances are alo going to be an issue

 

[Malmoer]

Hi Mikey,
Capability is not an issue. Starting the journey i think is better.
Regional entry money was i think R1450. But the experience is what makes this whole thing worthwhile.

Sitting here i am stressing about the coming year and all the costs involved.
With 5 official training sessions scheduled. 2 in Gauteng area and 2 down in the Western Cape with one session in the Richtersveld or even Namibia is going to cost an arm and a leg. Money which at this stage i do not have.

But something always comes up..


I have to apologise for the slow rate of reporting. Doing my part around the house is taking up a lot of time...... hehe.

Happy wife , happy life they say.....right?

 

[Panic]

Thanks for sharing, Malmoer.
I am enjoying this read, I have for long dreamed of being able to do one of these, but I am not sure I am capable enough, finances are alo going to be an issue

I agree with @Malmoer. Its all about the journey and the friendships formed along the way. I only started riding bike about 2 years ago and also came across the youtube vids and miraculously made my way to top 14 at the finals in Aberdeen.

My takeaway from the journey is that it made me a well rounded and most importantly safer rider at the end of the day.

I'd recommend everyone to go experience the trophy at least once, if not as a competitor go spectate the event as a guest(any motorcycle brand welcome). I'm not sure what the guests had to pay. But they got to experience all the routes and destinations with the competitors.

Participants and guests received the following goodies:
80l Turkana Bag
R1000 BMW Cash card for petrol
Tent
Riding Shirt
2 x T Shirts
Power Bank
Headlamp
Mug
Cant remember the rest. Help @Malmoer