Jacque Tesselaar’s motorcycle riding philosophy is both practical and spiritual.
“Riding an adventure motorbike gives you freedom – the freedom to go basically anywhere on roads that are inaccessible to most travellers. Those roads lead to destinations where you can get really close to the beauty of God’s creation,” he told Farmer’s Weekly.
For Tesselaar, riding is far more than twisting a throttle and pointing a motorcycle towards the horizon. It is a lifelong passion that has evolved from childhood, through competitive racing, and into a business built around helping others experience the same freedom.
His father rode motorcycles, and Tesselaar was barely three years old when he first climbed onto one. He could ride a motorcycle before he could ride a bicycle. Growing up in Mayville, Pretoria, he progressed to motocross at an early age and in 1979 received his first sponsorship, riding for the Kawasaki Blue Stratos racing team.
Motocross was only the beginning. He moved into supermoto racing, enduro, and eventually rally racing, where long-distance speed was combined with demanding navigation. He competed in events such as the Mmabatho 500, Toyota Desert Race, and the legendary three-day Toyota 1000.
For about 12 years, he also rode for Honda South Africa.
Years of racing taught him much more than how to ride fast. It taught him how a motorcycle behaves when the surface beneath it changes, how to read terrain, and, perhaps most importantly, how to stay calm when things go wrong.
Scars to prove it
A serious accident three years ago left him with a crushed elbow and a broken shoulder.
“My left side and about half of my right side, have basically been rebuilt over the years and are full of steel, but that is part of the sport,” he says.
What began as a passion and sport eventually became a business. After years in construction, where he built residential complexes, office parks, shopping centres, and factories, he decided it was time for a change.
His new direction was a natural extension of everything he had learnt on motorcycles: teaching others how to ride safely and confidently, while sharing some of South Africa’s most beautiful landscapes.
That became 4 Dual Adventure, a business he started about three years ago, offering motorcycle training and adventure tours. The name reflects his philosophy: adventure is available to both two- and four-wheel enthusiasts, while adventure motorcycles themselves are dual-purpose machines. The business also offers 4×4 adventure trips.
For Tesselaar, the adventure does not begin when the destination is reached.
“The adventure starts as soon as you pack your bike or 4×4 and leave home,” he says.
Getting off the tar
He believes too many adventure motorcycles spend their lives on tar.
Large adventure bikes are comfortable, particularly when travelling two-up, but South Africa’s extensive network of dirt roads offers riders a different way of experiencing the country.
Tesselaar wants riders to use their motorcycles for what they were designed to do (and to do it safely).
The challenge is that a dirt road never stays the same. Rain can cut ditches into an otherwise easy route, expose loose rocks, or turn firm ground into mud. Tractors and other farming activities can also transform the surface.
A rider therefore needs to be prepared for sand, loose rocks, mud, ruts, and unexpected changes in terrain. One of Tesselaar’s most fundamental lessons is deceptively simple: look where you want to go. Riders who stare at the front wheel because they are nervous tend to follow their gaze. Look through the obstacle and the motorcycle will naturally follow.
That philosophy underpins his training. Tesselaar works with everyone from complete beginners to experienced riders.
One of his clients was 71 and wanted to gain confidence on dirt roads. Another was a double amputee who could not stand on the motorcycle because of her prostheses. Tesselaar adapted the training so she could negotiate dirt while seated.
“I’ve learnt to think outside the box. Every rider has different abilities, physical characteristics, and needs, but the fundamentals remain the same,” he explains.
Confidence is key
The training programme has been developed from decades of experience. It includes a beginner’s course, the Adventure 1 course, which teaches the fundamentals of off-road riding, and Adventure 2, where riders progress to more advanced techniques such as brake sliding, power sliding, and log jumping. There is also a dedicated sand-riding course.
Safety starts before the engine is switched on. Tesselaar is adamant that riders should invest in the best protective equipment they can afford. Spending hundreds of thousands of rand on a motorcycle and accessories, only to economise on a helmet, jacket, gloves, or boots, makes little sense to someone who has experienced the consequences of falling off a motorcycle.
The training track on his smallholding about 30km north-east of Pretoria in Wallmannsthal provides a controlled environment in which riders can develop these skills. Training days run from 8am to 3pm, with lunch provided, and sufficiently skilled groups venture onto the surrounding dirt roads to reinforce what they have learnt.
For Tesselaar, practice is what turns technique into instinct. He teaches riders not merely what to do, but why they should do it, allowing them to practise until the skill becomes internalised.
The road brings people together
Training is only one part of 4 Dual Adventure. Tesselaar also leads adventure tours, with routes taking riders into some of the country’s less-travelled places and, further afield, to Botswana and Namibia.
The tours attract people who may initially be strangers but often leave as friends. Evenings around the fire provide time for conversation and camaraderie, while accommodation ranges from comfortable bed-and-breakfast establishments to tented camps and basic camping beneath the stars.
For Tesselaar, that human connection is as important as the riding.
“I enjoy the friendships that are shared on our trips,” he says.
Routes are logged onto GPS, meeting points are established, and riders are warned about sections without cell phone coverage. Participants are expected to understand their motorcycles well enough to deal with punctures and minor mechanical or electrical problems, but no rider is simply left behind.
Tesselaar is chairperson of the Pretoria Bikers’ Council and a director of Unity Ride North, a faith-based motorcycle initiative combining adventure riding with community outreach.
For someone who has spent most of his life on two wheels, the road has become both a workplace and a classroom.
Understand your bike
The better riders understand their motorcycles and themselves, the more freely they can ride. And the more confidently they venture beyond the tar, the more of South Africa they can discover.
For Tesselaar, that is where the real adventure begins, and where a motorcycle becomes a passport to the landscape.
