Motorcycle Training

I had the first half of my motorcycle courses this weekend and considering I had never been on a bike before, I did pretty damn good. Friday night was all classroom stuff. We went over different classes of bikes, rider protection, accident prevention, and risk management skills. Very good stuff. There were people in the class who had been riding for years and even they were impressed with what they were learning. All day Saturday was on the range. I’d be lying if I didn’t say I was nervous. They basically threw us on the bikes and we were off doing different exercises all day long. Basic controls like accelerating, braking, and turning. We also did a bunch of clutch control exercises. Then towards the end they showed us a technique called counter-steering. That’s basically when you lean into turn and steer the opposite way you want to go. Scary at first, but you soon see how effective it is and how quickly you can negotiate turns with it. We basically rode for 5 hours. Might sound like a long time, but it was so fun that it flew by so fast. Next Friday is classroom time again. We’re suppose to have a 50 question multiple choice test that we have to pass and then Saturday is all range again. After that, you have a motorcycle license.

Oh, I forgot. Joe Rogan was taking the class with us. You know. The guy from The Man Show and Fear Factor. It was his first time too. He was either there with a bunch of friends or contestants of Fear Factor learning to ride. We were all riding in a line and he was behind me on the last exercise of the day. I heard a crash and then a “shit” followed by an “uh oh”. He dumped the bike and broke the clutch handle clean off. That was the end of that bike’s day.

Anyway, Friday can’t come soon enough for me.