Skill. For adventure bike riders, it’s everything. You can have the money, the time, the right motorcycle with all the expensive baubles, yet in the absence of competency, it amounts to only limited enjoyment and outsized risk. And even after you’ve gained some proficiency on your adventure bike, those hard-won skills require practice to stick. 

For this reason Colorado-based rental bike purveyor Rogue Moto has teamed up with international tour provider MotoDreamer to offer a special seven-day International Travel Training Bootcamp. And while we know there are more than a few options for schooling, what makes this training camp unique is how it blends the learning and practice of those basic riding skills with international travel-specific teachings that help prepare you for the ins and outs of global adventuring. 

Exciting Location

Rogue Moto is situated in one of the country’s best jumping off points for adventure riding: Grand Junction, Colorado. Owner Alex Moore brings three decades of experience in rider training, custom route planning and expedition support. As many of you may know, his company Rogue Moto also houses a large stable of well-outfitted adventure and dual sport bikes available for rent. 

In addition to his background enabling adventures in the US and abroad, Alex brings specialized knowledge to the table, including a background in search and rescue, first aid and crisis management, and “MacGyver mechanics.” 

The Bootcamp not only takes riders to the off-road riding mecca of Moab in Utah but begins and ends in Grand Junction, which boasts an international airport providing easy access to those planning to fly in and use one of Rogue’s machines, all of which are “outfitted with a premium selection of aftermarket accessories that boost their performance, comfort, and long-range capabilities.” 

You can even rent riding gear from Rogue, making this camp a true arrive-and-ride opportunity. Of course participants are also more than welcome to arrive in Grand Junction aboard their own machines.  

What’s Different?

It’s the collaboration between local experts at Rogue Moto and experienced world traveler Mike Thomsen, co-founder of Colombia-based MotoDreamer, that makes this experience unique. Mike is known for crafting “immersive and unforgettable” adventure tours to classic bucket list countries like Peru, Colombia and Thailand, as well as more exotic destinations, such as Oman, Uganda and Venezuela. 

Mike, who’s finished a Dakar and raced in many other international desert classics, has toured on two wheels through 100 countries. Born in Denmark, Mike fell in love with Colombia and opened a backpacker hostel there together with his Colombian wife Diana. During those first years, visitors were always asking about the motorcycle he had parked out front. Eventually the idea struck to drain their savings and buy a second bike so they could offer guided rides. Over a decade later, it’s the now worldwide tour business that is the couple’s bread and butter. 

What Mike brings to the week-long bootcamp’s table is a deep knowledge of the complex ins and outs of two-wheeled globetrotting. So not only do you ride away with skills that will allow you to extract maximum pleasure out of your own motorcycle on local trails, you’ll leave more prepared for skillful and safe international adventures.  

Highlights

• Off-road training
• Sand & dunes riding
• Group touring
• Navigation
• Roadside Mechanics
• Travel Tips
• How to pack
• Permits and documentation
• Shipping
• First aid & Safety

The Route

The International Travel Training Bootcamp is a seven day/six night affair that includes five on-the-fly training days, so you will actually be traveling as you practice new skills.  

Right away on Day One the organizers are planning for a 50-mile “shakedown ride” to establish the skill and experience level of each participant as well as the group as a whole. Note that the overall group will be kept comfortably small at between 6 and 14 riders.

On Day Two the real fun begins as the group rolls off toward Eastern Utah, where 180 miles of mixed terrain and easy dirt roads provide the ideal environment for testing skills and practicing group riding techniques. A roadside mechanics module is planned for the evening, as well as an introduction to global travel practices. 

One of the tour’s highlights is time spent at 3 Step Hideaway, a weathered ghost town turned motorcycle-friendly dude ranch located in La Sal, Utah. On Day Three there will be field training workshops on the Hideaway’s grounds overlooking the Lisbon Valley, followed by a 50-mile ride. Topics covered throughout the day and evening include packing, navigation, first aid and assembling the perfect tool kit. 

On Day Four the group heads to the off-road riding mecca of Moab. Along the way, participants will face opportunities to practice river crossings and sand riding. In the evening there will be a presentation and Q&A on topics that range from international emergency evacuation, travel insurance and permits/documentation to bike shipping and tips for border crossings.  

Day Five is a deeper dive into sand riding as the group explores the sand dunes near Moab on an 85-mile adventure ride that will be followed by evening festivities. On Day Six the strangers from Day One will undoubtedly feel like family as they head back to Grand Junction on a “grand finale” ride custom tailored to the group’s advancements. Day Seven is departure day, with lifelong friendships now forged as well as potential plans for future rides. 

Ticket To Ride

Two International Travel Training Bootcamps are scheduled for 2024, with one running from May 1st-7th and the other, Sept 1st-7th. If you know the region, you know early May will provide the most temperate weather, while the September dates will likely be hotter.

A single rider arriving at the kickoff at Rogue Moto in Grand Junction under the power of their personal adventure bike and sharing a room with a buddy or stranger pays the base price of $3,699 for the camp. 

Riders arriving without a moto will pay an additional rental bike fee of $899 for one of Rogue’s 250cc to 400cc rentals, which currently include these options: Yamaha XT 250, WR250R or DR-Z400S and Honda CRF300L. For an additional $299 you can nab a Honda CRF450L and for a $399 bump you’ll be mounted on a Yamaha Tenere 700. 

So all-in with a well-kept T7 your cost would be $4,997, though a single room upgrade will add an additional $599. Almost everything is included in the cost, even fuel, though riders will pay for airfare and a few other things like park admissions and meals other than breakfast. 

If you’re interested in joining one of this year’s International Travel Training Bootcamps, registration is already open via MotoDreamer’s website. A $1000 deposit is required to hold your spot.

Author: Jamie Elvidge

Jamie has been a motorcycle journalist for more than 30 years, testing the entire range of bikes for the major print magazines and specializing in adventure-travel related stories. To date she’s written and supplied photography for articles describing what it’s like to ride in all 50 states and 43 foreign countries, receiving two Lowell Thomas Society of American Travel Writer’s Awards along the way. Her most-challenging adventure yet has been riding in the 2018 GS Trophy in Mongolia as Team AusAmerica’s embedded journalist.