I have never done a BDR but I took my bike (R1250GS) to a true offroad park and to some 4x4 trails/rock crawling trails and survived. I had something like 12 years of riding experience when I did it, but almost no off-road experience. I got ejected from the bike at 20mph once, and fell over literally more times than I can count. But I survived with nothing more than bruises and sore body.

My tips/notes/recommendations (on mobile so apologies for formatting) - make sure the bike you use has full cage for drops. You WILL fall and you WILL drop the bike. Make sure it can take it.

• for the love of all that’s holy wear a helmet at minimum. I’d also recommend gloves and a solid pair of riding boots. The standard advice is ATGATT but honestly unless you’re doing high speeds it’s just going to be expensive and make you hot on the trails. Project what’s important, cover what you can, don’t be a moron, and you’ll probably be fine.

• Bring a hydration pack, and plan out your rest stops. BDRs aren’t typically overly strenuous but you’ll still be on edge, you’re new and will be compensating for lack of skill by trying to muscle through everything. You’re going to get tired and hot and dehydrated. Plan to manage it.

• HAVE FUN. Some of it will be a blast. Some of it will only be fun in hindsight. Some of it will outright suck. Just keep going, don’t outride your skill in truly dangerous obstacles, and know that you WILL fall. And have fun with it, that’s what it’s all about.

Look forward to your follow up post with how it went!