There are so many different types of motorcycles. Riding a supermoto, well.. I have never done that until Wednesday, 13th of July. Some of you guys who follow me on Snapchat/Instagram may have seen some pictures of me riding a supermoto. It was not just a day of experiencing a supermoto, but it was so much more!
I went to Supermotorschool in Valkenswaard, a company founded by Marcel van Drunen. Marcel is a 9th time Dutch champion in Supermoto, with also many more titles. He founded Supermotorschool in 2007, to promote supermoto riding in the Netherlands. Since then, a lot of people have visited him for a fun day at Supermotorschool.
So, Beauty Biker went there to experience the difference between supermoto’s and superbikes. But.. mostly because I heard that 95% of his students are male! Say whaaaat! Yes that’s right girls, 5% women instead of 50%! That’s something that definitely has to change. So, brace yourself and read on, because I had superfuntime and I don’t see any reason why other girls shouldn’t.
THE MORNING
At 6.30 AM I got up and got ready for our trip to Supermotorschool. Yes, as the diva I am, I had two people with me for filming. My boyfriend Bram and good friend Jimmy (thanks again for helping!). While they were still sleeping, I was in a rush for doing my hair (which I eventually did in the car) and make-up.
Dutch braid with Princess Jasmine knots
I didn’t know what to expect, which made it more exciting! I brought with me an old helmet, my white Sidi boots and my handgloves. Tip: Bring old motorcycle boots if you have those, because you are going to use them well! 😉
Bram (left) and Jimmy
THE ARRIVAL
I arrived at 9.30 AM, being the first one to show up. Not much later, a group of Belgium guys stepped inside. They had two girls in their group, but unfortunately they were not going to ride with us. So that being said, I was the only girl in the group! After some explanation about the day and what do to when something bad happens, we went outside and walked across the track. We stopped at every corner, so Paddy (one of the teachers) could explain what we should do while riding there. After a while, Ronnie (another teacher) came by on his supermoto and showed us how we had to do stuff. Well, what he showed us seemed impossible in the beginning to me! This whole day is focussed around three area’s: Cornering, sliding and braking (in time). I put the focus for myself of cornering and braking, since these are two things that I will use in my everyday life. Could you imagine seeing me sliding into a corner on my Yamaha R6? LOL!
The whole group!
RIDING SUPERMOTO
After the explanations, I went to change my clothes and got to wear a MVD Racewear suit. The brand MVD stands for Marcel Van Drunen, his own collection of racewear for supermoto riders. I also got to wear some supermoto boots which I borrowed from Paddy, but they were a size 42 while I’m a size 40. This was one of the biggest struggles I had: Since the boots were too big, I couldn’t shift gears easily. At first, I thought there was a problem with the bike (blame it on the bike), but after Ronnie hopped on my bike with me in front, he showed me that shifting was easy peasy.
Paddy showing me how to shift gear with my other boots on.
So, after that I started blaming the boots. The teachers said I just had to go on and stop being such a wuss, so I did. I did change my boots at the end, which I probably should have wore from the beginning on, so take this as a tip! My own Sidi boots are so much more comfortable than the supermoto boots. These boots were too big and stiff, IÂ couldn’t move your feet up and down. So my timing was a bit off, since I couldn’t shift easily. This made it a bit hard for me to learn how to brake in time, but as the laps got more and more, I was getting to know the hang of it and I learned where to use my brakes. This made it possible for me to get my bike flat into a corner. Sliding into a corner was not something I really wanted to learn, since braking and cornering was already hard to do. To get a real supermoto feeling, Marcel invited me to sit behind him on his bike. Well, I sure do know now how sliding into a corner feels like, haha!
Look, one hand! (And there’s me sitting behind Marcel)
This whole day was such an amazing experience. It was my first time riding a supermoto, I got to know the funniest teachers and most importantly: I got a lot of self confidence for riding a motorcycle. You will learn your limits and you will probably fall down too, but it’s all part of the experience. If you want to know full, detailed information, you should book yourself a superfun day at Supermotoschool ;-)! I got a lot of self confidence, which made me pass my motorcycle exam one week later! I can say that I’m not the best in cornering, but since my lesson I’m trying a lot more to get the hang out of it.
This day was powered by Supermotorschool.nl and MVD Racewear. If you want to book yourself a fun day, go to www.supermotorschool.nl and sign up with your (girly) friends. Don’t forget to tell me how your day was!
xo Beauty Biker
All photo’s are made by Hans Vreede, photographer at Supermotorschool.