Training: Basic Ride Course for Three Wheeled Vehicles - Day 2+3

Note: This posting is also located on examiner.com. So what's the difference?  I get paid per # of hits on that site, so if you feel like helping my fuel budget, read the article there instead:  LINK,  Thanks!

I finished ABATE's Two Day Beginner Trike/Sidecar Rider Training Course today.  It actually took us three days as weather had caused postponements of the training last weekend until 1:00 PM today.  Botttom line: It's a well-thought out and well instructed course for folks who've never even swung a leg onto a Trike or Sidecar Rig.

Day Two last weekend began with about 3 hours of classroom training that covered such important subjects as driving in traffic, swerving, traction control and tip over lines for three wheeled vehicles.  There was much discussion about the physics involved with sharp curves, the speed you enter them at and the consequences of not slowing down and shifting your weight into the turn.  Good riding practices such as aggressive scanning, following distances, and creating safety buffers around you were covered or reinforced.

The considerations one must take while carrying cargo or passengers was covered, similar to the load triangle idea that is covered in the Basic Rider's Course for two wheeled motorcycles.  Finally, a good coverage of the effects of alcohol and drugs while riding a motor vehicle was done, to include actions one can take to prevent dangerous situations from happening perhaps.  Alan continued the good job he'd done as an instructor during Day One, making sure subjects were covered well and ensuring there were no questions on any particular subject.

As we started the Day Two riding maneuvers and practice though, it started snowing on us.  Since the maneuvers we were going to cover involved faster speeds and harder braking action; Alan decided to postpone the course to ensure safety.  I must say that while I was a bit dissappointed,  I had to agree with Alan's call on this, no sense getting hurt, especially since the other two students were new to Trikes.

The week went by, ABATE rescheduled things to today and we picked up where we left off pretty smoothly.
The maneuvers were similar to Day One's but now we were called on to upshift to second gear, pick up more speed (around 20 mph), lean aggresively and brake more aggressively and control our stops while at the same time downshifting back to first gear.  Lots more going on with each maneuver!

We had nice sunny weather this afternoon, here's a shot of Natasha with the Suzuki GZ250 next to her.

The afternoon passed pretty quickly as Alan ran us through all the remaining training maneuvers.  We learned such useful things as the feel for and control of a stop involving heavy braking.  For one set of maneuvers, we intentionally picked up enough speed and braked hard enough to skid the tires.  Good stuff!

The swerving training was very interesting to me as it's highly different on a sidecar rig than on a two wheeled motorcycle.  One has to do some quick and smooth shifting of one's butt from one side of the seat to the other while steering your way around the obstacle.  It took me some practice runs but I got it down enough to be comfortable with the notion of swerving now with a sidecar rig!  The best thing remains to be alert and scan forward enough to not have to swerve but instead slow and stop around obstacles, but it's a good skill to learn and practice!

Another difference for three wheeled riders is that when forced to stop quickly on a curve, one does not "square" the handlebars before coming to a stop.  Nope, you maintain your lean into the turn and come to a stop.  Took me a couple of tries to "ignore" the muscle memory I'd developed while riding two wheeled motorcycles to get it right.

Finally, as I was the only sidecar rider, Alan covered two remaining maneuvers that involved sidecar rigs.  The first was taking the sidecar rig and going around a circle of cones, the objective being to "fly the chair" and try and make it around the circle with the chair in the air!  I had my reservations but it turned out not as hard as I thought it would be.  Though not as smoothly as Alan, I was able to "fly the chair" and almost made a complete circle with the chair in the air! 

The last remaining sidecar only maneuver involved going into a right turn around the same circle of cones but this time as I came out of the circle, I was to go in a straight line across the parking lot while continuing to fly  the chair!  Alan made it look easy as he demo'ed it, I was not able to go more than a few feet in a somewhat straight line before the rig would start turning to the right again!  I tried several times and while I apparently can keep a rig going in circles with the chair in the air, going straight is going to take some practice!

Still, I was quite pleased that I could fly the chair when I wanted and keep it in a curve.  Since I've read that many sidecarists get in trouble when their sidecar lifts when in a tight right hand turn, they over-correct and go into a straight line onto oncoming traffic.  The fact I can keep her turning until I get the sidecar back down I regard as a good thing!  Again, speed while in the turn is the key factor.  One most shift one's weight into a turn and keep the speeds down enough to not fly the chair and yet not be an obstacle to the car behind you!

We now all went through the skills testing that would allow those of us who passed to skip the riding test at the DMV for the Three-Wheeled Endorsement.  All of us did well enough, I am happy to report, to pass the test!  Smiles all around when Alan made that announcement.  He issued us our training cards and after making sure there were no questions, ended the class.

Roger, one of my fellow student's husband, asked Alan how his Harley Davison sidecar rig did with "flying the chair".  Alan offered to show us!  Heck, he even asked me if I wanted to take his rig out for a spin.  I declined but felt gratified that he was confident enough in my skills to allow me to ride his rig.  I have to tell you, the man can "fly the chair" and make it look easy!

Here's Alan Mason, our instructor, getting his Harley Davidson rig ready for the demo

There he goes, straight down the parking lot, preparing to turn right to come back towards us

Here's Alan as he was coming back towards us, aimed straight at me really, making it look easy.

Note:  his sidecar was up the whole time from shortly after the start all the way to the finish!

As Alan finished the paperwork, he OK'ed my going out on the now empty parking lot with Natasha and try "flying the chair".  Here's what I learned:

1.  Yes, picking up the chair is not difficult at all, but it was a tad  harder on Natasha (most likely due to the ballast weight of the batteries) than on the empty training sidecar provided by ABATE.  

2.  I am now more at ease with the concept of the chair coming up on me on a tight right hand turn, I believe I have the basic skills (which I must practice) to handle that situation when and if it occurs.

3.  The powered sidecar wheel on Natasha keeps spinning and I think gaining speed while I am flying the chair.  Each time I touched down the sidecar wheel without pulling in the clutch first, I heard a small squeal as the tire touched pavement again!  So, not a good idea to keep my sidecar wheel up a long time, as I knew beforehand and as the manual says.   I've mentioned it before, but apparently when the sidecar wheel is in the air, the differential transfers all power to the sidecar wheel!  Theoretically, if I was able to keep flying the chair long enough, I'd come to a stop and the sidecar wheel would be spinning!   This is not something I intend to try and find out what happens!

So, I got some great training on advanced sidecar rig handling.  Learned some basic techniques that I'd not been using properly on my own sidecar rig but will from now on.  A great course of instruction and something I'd strongly recommend any sidecar rig rider or trike rider take!  ABATE of Colorado are the only ones in the whole state that offer this course.  I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

Training: Basic Rider Course for Three Wheeled Vehicles - Day One

Note: This posting is also located on examiner.com. So what's the difference?  I get paid per # of hits on that site, so if you feel like helping my fuel budget, read the article there instead:  LINK,  Thanks!

Last weekend, I attended the two day Beginner Trike/Sidecar Rider training course put out by ABATE of Colorado..  Its part of my commitment to get training where I can to make me a better and safer rider.  I had arranged for participation in this course last year but then I had "issues" with Natasha which delayed participation.  Natasha being a rare beast in terms of having fulltime 2WD, I wanted to use her in the more advanced portions of the course.

This course was the first iteration for 2010 and I was one of three riders scheduled.  The class was at the Mile High Marketplace flea market near the junction of I-76 and 88th Street (they're other regular location is in Colorado Springs).  They've their own section of the vast parking lot that surrounds the flea market and ABATE provides you with either a sidecar rig or a trike, whatever your interest might be.

If you've ever taken the Basic Rider Course put on by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF), then you'll be familiar with the curriculum in ABATE's Beginner Trike/Sidecar Rider course.  Alan Mason was our instructor and he got us settled into about three hours of classroom instruction with practiced ease and confidence.  My fellow students included Mike and Becky.  Both of them were seeking instruction in riding a Trike, I was the only one there focused primarily on learning good sidecar rig riding techniques.

The course is built on the building block concept, and the instruction was clear and unhurried. It is geared for a student who's never been either on a sidecar rig or a trike.   Allan made sure to get class participation by involving us students in the discussions.  Then it was time for us to get on the motorcycles!  ABATE had small Suzuki GZ 250 motorcycles with Velorex sidecars attached.  There were also two Honda Trikes, one with a 750cc motor and the other with a 1300cc motor.  Becky and Mike settled onto these trikes respectively.

Here's the Suzuki GZ 250 with Velorex Sidecar Rig I rode most of today

Here's one of the two Honda Trikes

This gives you an idea of how much bigger the Ural is compared to the smaller Suzuki Rig

Using again the building block concept, we started with basic training such as motorcycle controls, hand signals, basic stop and go of the motorcycles, slow turns and maneuvers.  At first, it was a bit slow for me since I'd been riding Natasha, my Ural sidecar rig, for over 6000 miles now but things got interesting fast enough!

Riding a sidecar rig that does not have a driven sidecar wheel like my Natasha was "eye-opening".  I was now experiencing the yaw forces that riders of rigs that are 1WD experience. For example, when you accelerate from a stop, the sidecar resists due to inertia for the tiniest but noticeable bit.  Left hand turns mean that while the tug is slowing to make the left turn, the sidecar still has the momentum to go straight for a bit.  Right hand turns were pretty much the same as on Natasha, you got to slow down or risk "flying the chair".  Quick stops are marked by the sidecar still having forward momentum which forces you to compensate with the handlebar.  All very new experiences for me since Natasha, with the exception of right turn behaviors, does not do these things!.  Day One, all sidecar riders are given 50lbs of ballast in the form of a sandbag, Day Two, the ballast is removed!

All the maneuvers you do will be familiar if you've ever taken basic rider training.  It involves riding specific tracks outlined by orange plastic cones and explained by thorough instructions and demonstrations by Allan, our instructor.  Allan always made sure to provide immediate feedback, but what I liked best is he did it for the other students in a manner which built up their confidence and with a sense of humor.

Here's a couple of pictures of a home built VW Trike.  I'd never heard of these until today, but Mike, my fellow student had mentioned he had one as well.  It's apparently a VW beetle which has been chopped in half and the front end of a motorcycle grafted on to make it a trike!  The rider was there during lunch to be given the driver's test for Trike endorsement by Allan.  Third party driver license testing is apparently one more of the offerings of ABATE.

Definitely an eye-catching beast

The rider/owner said he built it himself, and took about a year to do it.

After lunch we practiced more involved maneuvers and courses.  I was having a good time with the small Suzuki GZ250 sidecar rig and apparently was getting pretty comfortable with it.  I say this because after I returned to the staging area after one exercise which involved figure eight tracks and tight right and left hand turns, Allan walked up to me and held up two of his finger as if he was squeezing a two inch object together.

He had a big smile on his face and I asked what he meant by the gesture.  Turns out he was indicating that I had taken a right turn fast enough that I'd managed to "fly the chair"; the gap between his fingers indicated the amount of space between my tire and the pavement for a brief moment!  I never even felt the sidecar come up!

I'd told Allan one of my objectives was to "safely and intentionally fly the chair" and to learn to deal with it in a safe manner.  The fact that I'd done it without even knowing was initially surprising, hence Allan's smile at my shocked expression; and subsequently both a bit amusing and thought-provoking.

4:00 PM came around and we were done for Day One.  Allan asked if we had any more questions or wanted to try anything else.  I asked if I could run the same course but this time on Natasha.  "Of course!" said Allan.  All day he'd repeatedly asked us if we wanted to swap bikes and such.  I walked over to Natasha and did a couple of runs of the figure eight course.  You have to upshift into second gear and get up to at least 20 mph in the straightaways so I had some good speed going into the tight right handed turns.

First run, I felt I had kept all three wheels on the pavement.  Second run, I think I must have picked up a bit more speed because at the apex of the right hand turn, I felt the side car lift up!  I immediately rolled off the throttle and pulled in the clutch and the sidecar tire settled back onto the pavement with a gentle bump.  Wow.

I rode over to where Allan was standing and he gave me some pointers about what had just happened and what I would learn the next day.  I apparently had the sidecar wheel up a good 6-8 inches off the ground that time.  Kind of scary but exciting too.  I learned a lot about sidecar riding today, and Day Two promises even more advanced stuff.

A taste of a Moto Referee's Work

This evening, I attended a clinic of sorts for motorcyclists who wished to get a feel for what the duties of a moto referee are within the context of a bicycle race.

This is a follow-up to an article I recently published under my byline on examiner.com where I published an information article provided by Andrew Rosen, a moto referee and trainer of same for the ACA or American Cycle Association. LINK

As I mention in the examiner article, my interest was sparked by the motorcycles I saw riding along the many bicyclist racers of the recent Tour de France. Today, I got a small taste.

We met at the Colorado State Patrol's training track on top of South Tabletop Mountain, near the NREL or National Renewable Energy Lab. There were four of us motorcyclists and Andrew Rosen on his red Honda VFR Sport Tourer. My fellow trainees were Joe with his F800GS Beemer, Tom and his Yamaha R1 Cruiser, Doug with his two year old R1200RT. All very nice motorcycles, I must say. I was riding Maria, my 2004 R1150RT.

There were many bicycle racers newbies there, called Cat4's or Category Four Riders who are just getting into the sport and trying to qualify in terms of points for races and moving up in category. Cat1 riders are national caliber/team members for amateur races. The training for the riders this evening was in the form of Criterium Racing, or closed course racing.

He gave us a briefing on what we'd do, what to look for, the roles of moto referees and safetly instructions. This was after he'd allowed us several laps of the training course on our motorcycles to "get a feel" for the track. That was fun!

He led us off as the first training race got underway, showed us correct positioning when in different roles. For instance, one moto referee will be designated to stay with the lead rider and by doing so, designate the lead rider to the judges and chief referee for scoring purposes. This moto referee's job is to ride around 50-150 feet in front of the lead bicyclist racer.

Here's Joe on his F800GS, leading the racers, note his position relative to the lead riders

Another motor referee role is to ride about 100 ft to the rear and outside of the peloton. What's a peloton? Well, it's the main group of riders comprising a bicycle race. I found out, there's actual physical advantages to staying within the peloton until you decide to make your "attack" on the race leaders. Within the peloton, you get to draft off the racers in front of you, and the vacuum created by the racers in front of you aid in letting you keep up while not expending as much effort as the guys on the forward edge of the peloton. I was told the difference can be as much as 40% less effort expended by the racers to the rear of the peloton than what's being expended by the guys at the front of the peloton! As you might imagine, the faster bicyclists in the breakaway group in front of the peloton are working even harder.

Here's Tom "riding herd" on the Peloton

Moto Referees enforce rules such as not crossing the yellow line or illegal actions by bicyclist to gain unfair advantage off other riders, or actions which create dangerous situations. Riders who break the rules, can get disqualified and are taken out of the running for points.

In short, motorcyclists are used to control traffic, ferry photographers at National Level Races, carry Moto Referees who enforce the rules and other roles as mentioned in the examiner article.

At one point, I stood by the side of the raceway and you can definitely feel a strong draft as the peloton whizzes by you. Lots of strategy and physics involved in bicycle racing, I just got a small taste of that while talking with my fellow motorcyclists.

We, the motorcycle riders, took turns either leading or trailing the bicycle riders. It's actually quite interesting and fun doing this. Usually, I'd avoid bicyclists as much as possible when riding around Colorado; today I was riding with them! It almost felt like riding herd on a bunch of really fast moving deer. You really have to pay attention and keep track of where the bicyclists are. Specially when you're leading the leaders, their bikes can corner better than motorcycles usually and if you don't watch it, they're suddenly right behind you and drafting off of you!

The ACA will be conducting a formal clinic for motorcyclists who think they might want to obtain a license as a Moto Referee this fall. I'll put out information on this as I get it from the ACA and Andrew Rosen. He mentioned that moto referees are paid for the mileage on their motorycles in support of bike races plus about $70 for a full day or 8 hrs of race support riding; $50 for a half day of five hours work.

I was the only one of the four motorcyclists who didn't have actual bicycle racing experience and training, the other three had done it or still did it. Now they're exploring doing the referee job on their motorcycles as well in order to help their sport.

So, you're not going to make a living from this, but if doing such things to help ensure safe bike racing for bicyclist while getting to ride your motorcycle interests you; you should contact Andrew Rosen. Email LINK. The ACA can always use the help if you qualify.

Watching Precision Riders make their Harleys dance

On Sunday, August 9th, I was at Top Gun Motorsports watching an amazing display of skill and training put on by Marc Ward and Pam Redfern of the Civilian Top Gun Precision Riders Team.

Previously, I'd witnessed last year's Blue Knight competition where motorcycle police officers from all over the surrounding area compete to see who is best at slow speed maneuvers while negotiating tight obstacle courses. LINK. I remember thinking at the time, that those police officers were incredibly skilled with their big Harleys and BMW patrol motorcycles.

Well, on Sunday I witnessed the same level of skill put on by two "civilians". Both Marc and Pam are graduates of T3RG Motorcycle School's Top Gun Rider Training course. Heck, Pam had just recently graduated this June and she was out there wowing the Harley Davidson bikers who'd gathered for the demonstration.

While Marc has over 40 years of riding experience, he told me that it was not till he tried to complete the practice courses two years ago for the first annual Civilian Top Gun Competition that he realized he needed more formal training.

That training under his belt, he competed the first year and came within 1/10th of a second from winning first prize! He has placed in the top three positions in the last two Civilian Top Gun Competitions.

Pam has been riding since only 2005, and yet demonstrated the same wonderful slow speed maneuvering skills as Marc. Both riders were on Harley Davidson Road Kings by the way, which differ from police motorcycles mostly in that they lack the full fairings and of course some of the police equipment. They're large motorcycles, quite heavy and yet both Pam and Marc made them dance.

Don Gunn, a veteran of 16 years of training Police Motorcycle Officers, a former motorcycle officer, runs the Top Gun Rider Training course for T3RG Motorcycle Schools. The classes are small I am told which allows personal coaching and attention by Don to ensure students get what they need to learn precision riding.

Here's Pam at the start of the demo, addressing the bar crowd at Top Gun Motorsports. They were a bit loud and somewhat inattentive as bar crowds tend to be. That would soon change....

The demonstration starts out with Marc going through the cone obstacle course, acting as your typical untrained rider, duck-walking his bike, rough shifting of gears, lots of stopping and backing up in order to get around some obstacle, unable to make a u-turn without putting his feet down. You get the idea. The looks, smiles and head nodding I saw in the audience said they'd seen such antics themselves from actual riding buddies.

Next, Marc got serious and did the same course several times, at speed and making his big Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle seemingly dance around the cones!

Marc

Pam

As you can see in the above pictures, both Marc and Pam aren't afraid to really lean their motorcycles over, with full steering lock, carving out tight turns in a really smooth manner. The once rowdy audience watching from the bar had turned quite silent as they watched the impressive performances.

Next came a short talk by Pam about precision riding and riders who ride two-up. To back up her words, she then got on the back of Marc's motorcycle and they both proceeded to smoothly and quickly do a few runs through the course. This to show two things, demonstrate the proper attitude by the pillion rider and that precision riding is quite possible even when riding two-up.

Two-Up and heeled over

Each time Marc or Pam finished a demonstration run, the applause was quite strong. The owner of Top Gun Motorsports, Todd, remarked to T3RG's Colleen Boyle that the applause the Precision Riders were getting was louder than what the music bands he usually booked for his customers got!

Next, both Pam and Marc played a game of "Follow the Leader". Both of them rode the cone obstacle course several times, Pam closely followed by Marc. So, not only is each rider having to execute their own slow speed maneuvering around cones but also stay within five to seven feet of each other! Not much margin for error but not only did they do it well, they made it look so easy.

Follow the Leader

The talks by both Marc and Pam emphasized that the skills they were demonstrating were not something only achievable through extensive police training but were skills teachable to anyone that is an experienced rider. I could see some thoughtful looks come over several of the watching crowd. I know I'd like to gain such skills and I am sure some of the patrons were having the same thoughts I was having.

Now, T3RG is not saying you'll be able to give a trained and seasoned police motor officer a run for his money after their precision course but with practice I'd say you'd at least impress said officer with your own skills. Not to mention, the looks on your riding buddy's face when you execute that tight 24ft radius U-turn in front of him like it was nothing!

To finish off the demonstration, Pam "challenged" Marc to execute the course but while riding "side saddle". I missed how that got selected, probably something along the lines of "can you do it while riding like a girl", like back in the day when women rode horses side saddle.

Well, let me tell you, Marc not only did the course several times without error but he also did it while standing up with both legs over on the right side of the motorcycle! Pretty impressive stuff and the audience loved it!

Marc doing the "side saddle" challenge

Side saddle and standing

Several of the biker patrons came by T3RG's table to talk to Colleen and to pick up information materials for not only the Top Gun Rider Training course but the other course offered by T3RG. I am thinking this demonstration put on by the Precision Riders might inspire some folks to get that advanced training to not only make them better at slow speed parking lot maneuvers but help keep them safer out on the road.

Informally, Marc and Pam have shown their precision riding skills within their own H.O.G (Harley Owners Group) chapter: Colorado Chapter Thornton. They've inspired several of their fellow riders to take the T3RG training and in the last competition, they placed 7 of the top 10 spots in the Cruiser/Bagger class competition! You really can't argue with results like that.

The course layout used by T3RG is the same as the Blue Knight Top Gun competition uses. If I didn't make it clear, neither Marc nor Pam are motorcycle police officers or undergone that extensive training. Marc is in guitar sales and Pam is in accounts payable for a nationwide restaurant chain, they just had the willingness and motivation to take the training and practice for many, many hours to hone their skill. Being trained by the same expert trainer that teaches the actual police officers is a bonus. In fact, such skills are taught to most T3RG instructors and they even have a motorcycle drill team!

I also found out that the Blue Knight competition and the civilian top gun competitions regularly exchange judges to help out at each event. This says a lot about what the police officers think of the training undergone by T3RG instructors and the high regard they have for Don Gunn, the senior trainer.

Here's T3RG Motorcycle Schools website: LINK Go on over there and see if they offer training that interests you! Training, continuing training, is a good thing. Folks who don't take training on a regular basis, can get complacent and forget stuff. Don't be one of those. I recently underwent the Experienced Rider Course after racking up over 60,000 miles since the Basic Rider Course and I was surprised at how much I'd forgotten or grown complacent about.

Now, to get myself motivated to attend the Top Gun Rider Training.....

Training: The Experienced Rider Course by MSF

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation or MSF, through T3RG Motorcycle Schools here in Colorado, put on a regularly scheduled Experienced Rider Course or ERC this morning. Up front, I will tell you this course was made complimentary for me when I offered to review it for them in this article.

From the t3rg.com website, prior to taking the ERC:

Recommend 6 months or 3000 miles of recent riding experience) (the bolding is mine)

(Passengers are permitted)

• One day course

• Use your own motorcycle and helmet

• Qualifies graduates for insurance premium discounts with some motorcycle insurers.

Even if you've been riding for some time, there's always something new to learn. Increasing numbers of seasoned riders are utilizing the six-hour Experienced RiderCourse to hone their skills and fine-tune the mental skills needed for survival on the street.

There was four of us students for today's course. 3 men and one woman, two cruisers, one Beemer and one Triumph. The cruisers were a Yamaha VStar 1300 and The other was a Honda 750 Shadow. All were really nice looking motorcycles, I probably should have spiffed up Brigitta some before the class but oh well.

The instructor was a retired Air Force senior noncommissioned officer by the name of Dave Miles. He's been a motorcycle instructor since 1992 and come to the class well prepared and with a great sense of humor to put all us students at ease. His ride is a Kawasaki Voyager XII, first one I'd seen, comparable in size to a Goldwing or a Beemer LT I'd say. He sure made that thing look nimble as he demo'ed the exercises to us.

The ERC is basically a great refresher course of the stuff one learns in the BRC or Basic Rider Course. There's your offset weave through cones, similar to the ones at the BRC but in one part you place your left hand on your leg and then do the weave through the straight portion of the course. That was different, but it showed you the importance of hand inputs to your bike's control.

There were other exercises I remembered from my BRC back in 2006, showing you could stop suddenly whether going straight or leaned over in a curve; swerving left or right at command, negotiating curves smoothly, you get the idea. It's a refresher.

The difference? You're more experienced (hopefully) and can address issues you've found with your riding to the instructor for guidance. You're on your own motorcycle and not that little Honda Rebel or some such that the BRC provides its students.

Dave and the other students, during a water break

I was the first to show up in the morning, ended up being always the first of us four students to go through each exercise. I did OK through most of them, once I got a bit of coaching during the first iteration from Dave, I usually got it right the next few times. One of the students was probably not as experienced as he should have been, and Dave spent some additional time with him to try and get him squared away.

Hopefully, that student will get some more road experience and practice; I hope also he is able to take away from today all the good information passed out by Dave, the instructor. Dave's training style and confidence inspiring coaching reminded of outstanding NCOs I've had the fortune to work with or for me, he is just a great trainer.

I won't bore you with descriptions of the exercises we had demo'ed to us by Dave and then executed under his watchful eye. You can go here and download templates on how to lay out a course. Find yourself a parking lot, cut up some old tennis balls to use as your cones, and practice, practice, practice!

One thing that was new to me, was that one should use the motorcycle's engine cutoff switch to turn off the motorcycle, THEN turn off the ignition key. As Dave put it, removing your hand from the right grip means you've just given up control of both your go and stopping ability. I am guilty of this, I am going to have to work on that perhaps.

I do tend to put Brigitta in neutral before shutting off the engine, then leaning over to turn the key off since it's on the left side of the headlight bucket. Maria, my 1150RT on the other hand, I just put the sidestand down and that kills the engine. Something to think about I guess.

Some of the instruction is worth repeating however:

To properly negotiate curves. The saying is: Slow, Look, Press, Roll.

Slow down enough so you're not going too fast into the turn, better to slow too much and have to roll on more throttle than not slow down enough and have to use brakes while in the curve and leaned over!

Look as far ahead into your turn as you can, gives you better chance to spot hazards, takes your eyes off the dang road immediately in front of you, look where you want to go and your bike will go there.

Press down on the inside hand grip to lean your bike over into the turn, keep your eyes up and looking into the turn.

Roll on the throttle once you're executing your turn and leaned over, it stabilizes your motorcycle's suspension and smoothness really does count when making turns. I was pretty heeled over on some of the curves, it seemed to me anyways, it was enjoyable to get it right.

For the swerving exercise, Dave saw I was leaning slightly into the swerve's direction and coached me so that I was able to do the next swerve maneuvers remaining straight and upright. Yes, it's better that way. Also, hold your initial swerving press of the grip longer than your reverse press to get you back in line with your original direction of travel. This puts more space between you and the perceived hazard.

I did OK on the limited space turns exercise. Basically the dreaded U-turns within the confines of a rectangular box painted onto parking lot's pavement. I managed to stay within the lines each time but I did not go as fast or as smoothly as Dave, the instructor and I did dab my foot down once during one U-turn. The other students on the cruisers did pretty good as well with just one or two breachings of the box's borders. The remaining student, will need more seasoning and practice, let's leave it at that.

The last exercise had us riding in a line, in what the MSF calles the "Multiple Curves" course, where everything we'd discussed, practiced and learned was put together. That was fun and everyone seemed to be much smoother. Like I mentioned, I was always first in line so I could not see much of #2 and #3 student's style. I would come up on #4 on most of the exercises and so watched him sometimes struggle through part of an exercise. Still, he kept plugging away at it.

The last 40 minutes or so were review of concepts such as TCLOCS, the Risk Ladder, SEE and other such mneumonics designed to help you remember to do such things as:

Check your motorcycle and wear proper gear

Scan agressively ahead and behind you, Evaluate your options and course of actions/Execute the plan

Be aware that doing everything to increase the amount of space and time you have to react to outside factors, the better. This means, proper following distance, looking out 12 seconds so that things don't surprise you, be prepared to stop and assume that cager will turn in front of you or do something likewise stupid. That last sentence is my opinion, not the MSF's.

So is this one my opinion: You ARE invisible on the motorcycle, ride like you are and position yourself where the chances of you being hit by a clueless cager are minimized.

The instructor was queried on lane positioning. He reminded us all that the best lane position is the one where you can be seen, not the left third or the center or the right third. Position yourself to be seen, it boils down to this: the situation dictates the best lane riding position.

He also reminded us, after one student's question, that even though you may have the right-of-way and the other guy doesn't, you will still lose in a collision since you're on a motorcycle. Don't be DEAD right. Try and be unhittable.

All in all, a great way to spend five hours of one's time. I re-learned concepts and skills that I'd acquired at the BRC and they're now closer to the surface of my brain, helping to keep me safe on the road. I can see now why some riders choose to repeat this course every year, specially if they don't ride in the winter.

I highly recommend, if you're really an experienced rider, that you consider taking this course if its been a long while since the BRC or if you're a re-entry rider. Training is good stuff, and the folks at t3rg motorcycle schools know what they're doing.

Finally, when's the last time you ran TCLOCS on your motorcycle? I thought so. Here's a TCLOCS checklist you can download from msf.org to aid you in doing this as often as possible. The MSF says you should do it each time your ride but reality is I am doing good if I do it once a week.

LINK to TCLOCS checklist