Attacking trails at BigRock Trail Attack on Royal Enfield Himalayan

BigRock is India’s biggest and most recognized adventure and off-road training school in India. In fact, I make sure to attend this training facility at least once a year, just to keep myself updated with various off-road drills.  

So when the year was about to end, I made a quick run to BigRock’s new training facility in Banerghatta, thanks to Royal Enfield and their invitation to compete in BigRock’s Trail Attack 2020. So without wasting time, I packed my bags and was off to Bangalore. 

Trail Attack 2020 is an enduro riding competition for amateurs and kids. The idea here is to tackle some strategically done up trails on off-road or adventure motorcycles and do that for a total of five laps on a 2.5kms long trail.  

This competition was divided into a few groups. I participated in the media class that only had Royal Enfield Himalayans and eight other competitors.  The Trail Attack was divided into two days – first day is where you get used to the trail. Here, we first had to follow the BigRock’s trainers for a lap or so, followed by a good practice session. Second day is when everyone competes with each other depending on what class you are in. Luckily, Bengaluru weather was with us, and we had a dry session on both days.

The big ADVs like the Triumph Tiger 900 and the Honda Africa Twins were the first to start the race day. I was numbered first in my class. The winners were announced by adding up the total time of all five laps. The competitor with the least time, takes the trophy home. 

Now with a good amount of practice on day 1 on this capable Himalayan, I was ready to start my laps. A short prayer later, I was off, with good amount of throttle. 

I had decided to go a bit slower in the first lap, because I wanted to gauge the way people ride and also get used to the track. The strategy worked quite well as I was able to know the right entry and exit points. Once the first lap ended, I amped up my pace and started taking the neatly designed trails one by one. Soon I was able to overtake the first bike which turned out to be a big ADV. By the time lap two ended, I had overtaken 2 big ADVs and was now being blocked by ADVs from other classes. So it become a bit difficult to overtake. But thanks to Himalayan’s good mid-range, I managed to squeeze in at fast turns and at places, where other bikes were facing ground clearance issue. 

By lap 3, I had set up a good pace and was planning to go a bit aggressive on the fourth lap. Wrong call! I fell twice, blame the slush that was created by multiple bikes. I lost traction both times and lost some time while lifting the Himalayan and also while starting it up. Nevertheless, with a spirited mind, I continued my ride on those slippery and tough rails. Just before I started my last lap, I had another fall, and this one seemed to be bad as I bent the gear lever. Due to this, I wasn’t able to change gears or stand up and ride. So the last five mins, I was riding in second gear and was on the saddle throughout. I was overtaken by a few Impulses and Xpulses, but luckily, no one from my class passed me. So that was a good sign. But I was sure that I lost a lot of time and the timing wouldn’t have been what I wanted.

But leaving all that aside, I had lots of fun on the trails. This was my first ever competition and I just wanted to ride and have fun. 

And I’m happy to share that even with so many falls, I won the BigRock Trail Attack 2020 Media class.

Well, if you have read or watched our review of the BS6 Royal Enfield Himalayan, you would know how much it impressed us. The bike is extremely capable off-road and with that torquey motor, things just keeps getting better off-road. But I have a new respect for the Himalayan after attending the Trail Attack 2020. The bike just refused to let me down. It had everything that was needed in this competition. Large ground clearance. Good mid-range. Great stand-up ergonomics. Switchable ABS. And oddles of good off-road character. In fact, it has reached a point that I’m in search of a good used BS6 Himalayan (Can’t afford new one right now).