Riders

Riding experience required

The Paris-Dakar Challenge is an adventure suitable for most riders confident on a road bike and who hold a full licence. You don't need any off-road experience to join, but you must be aware that it will be tough going at times. The principal guidelines we have are as follows:

• For insurance reasons you should have held a full motorcycle licence for one year in order to ride one of Kudu’s motorcycles – if you have had your licence for less than one year then please contact us before booking as we may be able to obtain an insurance waiver for you.

• You must be confident riding, maneuvering and handling a motorcycle of the type you will be riding during the tour.

If you feel that your riding experience is lacking or you hold a licence but haven’t ridden for years, there is no reason why you can’t make the effort to get lots of bike miles under your belt in the weeks leading up to your Challenge. This will ensure that you are able to handle a motorcycle confidently and safely before you leave.

Who else will be taking part?

Your fellow expedition members will be like you – after an adventure of a lifetime which they will never forget. They may be any age, come from any walk of life and from any country. They may be experienced bikers or relative novices but we can guarantee that there is little chance any of them will have done anything like this before. Typically most riders come from the U.K., Australia, New Zealand, the U.S. and Canada but we also have riders join from the rest of Europe and all over the globe. The majority tend to be road riders with a little off-road experience - perhaps a couple of days with an off-road training school, or the odd day riding local trails with friends. It is normal for each trip to also have some riders who are complete off-road beginners, and also some very experienced off-roaders too. There really is no typical rider so whatever your level of experience, you will almost certainly find other riders at the same level and be made very welcome indeed.

Important: All riders will be required to pass a basic off-road assessment before embarking upon certain off-road sections of the route. We reserve the right, for the safety of all riders and staff, to insist that any rider deemed not suitably proficient during this assessment, rides on the tarmac and not the trail.

Information for off-road beginners

Many off-road beginners have completed the Paris-Dakar Challenge with us but you must appreciate how difficult you may find some off-road sections. Getting to grips with riding in sand in particular is not easy and there is no guarantee that you will either master this skill, or indeed enjoy it. We have found from past experiences however, that a fit and determined off-road beginner will usually complete all of the off-road trails that we ride, including some quite challenging sections a long way out in the wilderness of the Sahara Desert. In fact, we usually find that it is the beginners who get the biggest sense of achievement from the whole experience, and completing the tour is, for them, an amazing feat.

If you have any questions at all concerning the nature of this tour and your own level of riding skill or experience then don't hesitate to contact us to chat to a member of our team.

En-route training

We try and make the trails that we ride progressive in difficulty in order to give you time to get used to handling a bike on loose surfaces. A lot is dependent upon the weather however, which can be especially unpredictable in the Atlas Mountains. This can make some trails particularly tough which otherwise may normally have been quite straightforward, and so you need to be prepared for some tough days. The Kudu staff are there to instruct and help the novice riders, build confidence and ensure that the safety of all riders remains the top priority. When riding off-road, all rides are done as a group and so you will not be left behind to struggle on your own!

If you find that you are not enjoying the off-road sections then opt-out tar sections are available. This may require you to leave the main group for a day or two at a time, but we will make sure that you are fully prepared with routes and accommodation to be able to meet up with the main group as soon as they hit good roads once more.

Information for off-road intermediates/experts

Although the Paris-Dakar Challenge is in no way a raid or replica race, the stunning roads and trails that we ride from the Atlas and into the Sahara are normally more than enough to satisfy the most experienced riders. The off-road routes may not be technically challenging for you but the overall experience of riding to Dakar, the Sahara Desert, wilderness camping and immersion in the landscapes and people of Africa mean that you are sure to go away having had just as big an adventure as any other member of your group.

We have had experienced motocross and enduro riders join us in the same group as off-road beginners, and everyone has gone away having had an unforgettable experience with many new, lifelong friends.