Completed My First Experienced Rider Course

[billyboy]

Saturday afternoon in northeast Ohio was 90 degrees and sunny. Although there was a decent breeze, it wasn't a day to be doing slow motorcycle maneuvers on asphalt in the blazing sun for 6 hours with the required MSF attire.

But it was a GREAT class! It's been 12 years since I took the Basic Rider Course and I was overdue for a refresher. I thought I did pretty well considering that I don't practice slow maneuvering - I tend to get out and ride and just don't think about practicing, but that's gonna change.

Although the class had full enrollment, only 5 showed so we were able to get more time for each exercise. It was a good mix of bikes: Nomad, Road King, Shadow, ST1300 and Rocket III. All of us were in our 50s and despite the fact that the other 4 guys claimed to have ridden for decades, I was the only one who didn't put my foot down. The Road King got dropped.

It was an eye opener. I was thinking that these guys were gonna make me look bad. The grizzled old H-D guy with 2 Road Kings dropped his and I thought for sure that the ST1300 could turn around inside a phone booth, but he was having trouble staying inside the box.

I found it difficult to find the friction zone on the Nomad - same thing with my Intruder 1500. After a while on some exercises I was overthinking and would probably do better to practice alone. But overall I thought I did well. I reviewed the Ride Like a Pro DVD a few times over the past month and that really helped in remembering to turn my head and eyes and keep my feet on the floorboards.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Congratulations on a job well done. I know the Nomad isn't the easiest bike to maneuver with. Once again, congratulations.

[billyboy]

Originally Posted by AlabamaNomadRider

Congratulations on a job well done. I know the Nomad isn't the easiest bike to maneuver with. Once again, congratulations.

Thanks! Actually, I found the Nomad to be very mannerly at slow maneuvers. I gotta practice more. The funny thing is, I took this class at the college where I work and the parking lot course is across campus from where I usually park. I believe they chain the entrance to the course, but I'm gonna look into whether I can practice there.

I was having trouble with a couple things. First was staying in the clutch friction zone. The second was being able to see the course layout on the ground while looking with my peripheral vision.

[recumbentbob]

I took the same class last August. Me and my Nomad had the problem with the figure 8 in the box. A 19 Year old kit on a sport bike made it look sooo easy.

Great class, my wife took it last april on a new Yamaha 950 and she really enjoyed it too.

[peterdarby]

I wouldn't be surprised about the grizzled riders not doing well. It can be hard to tell someone with 40yrs experience from someone with six months experience repeated 80 times. I haven't taken the course but I will. If I have learned anything in forty years of riding it is that I don't know everything, besides those courses look like a lot of fun.

It sounds like you did well.

[glwilson]

I am taking the advanced riders course July 3rd.

It starts at 7:45AM and goes to 6PM -- a long day -- but I am looking forward to improving my skills.

[flightdoc]

you all will not regret taking that or any other riding course. For many it's the only practice they ever get.

vin

[Jared]

I have considered the advance class. I'm glad I read about your positive experience. I think I start looking into signing up.

[recumbentbob]

It's worth it go for it........ :)

[glwilson]

Well... my course was this past Sat (July 3rd).

Started at 7:45 and ended at 6PM. 90 degree temp on asphalt all day on top of a hot motor made for a very, very long day.

I would recommend the advanced rider-skills course to anyone, as it is always good to re-learn good habits and skills you forgot, and to learn a few new tips... and I did learn a few new tips.

Overall though... I must have had my expectations too high. I feel they spent too much time to review some of the basics we were supposed to know already; and not enough time on advanced skills.

I also would have combined the exercises more than they did.

They broke-down all the exercises to individual "rides", or exercises which took too much time out of the day for riding because of the setup required for each.

I think they could have combined several of the exercises together, which would have let us do them longer.

So... while I would still highly recommend an advanced rider-skills course... don't go into it with any preconception that it will be a epiphany of knowledge and skill... especially if you have ridden for quite awhile or have taken other courses.

[pagemastr]

For anyone close enough to be able to take a Ride Like A Pro class, I totally recommend it!

Took it last spring in Michigan with barely 2000 miles on the Nomad. Gary jumped right in on the exercises you see on the video. Challenging at first but he did great coaching everyone through the exercises until we figured it out. The best part was riding through all of them a few times at the end of the class, following him through the entire course.

I was still a little uneasy with it before then until I realized what the Nomad and I were capable of after going through a figure 8 handlebar lock to lock. Once I found out how far the Nomad can lean, it has been much more fun to ride ever since.

As was mentioned, the friction zone was a bit elusive during the course.

I would say it was funny to see, but not so much thinking of it but... two harleys dropped, one more than once, with one of them sitting out half of the class trying to get it restarted, and a Honda GW dropped out half way through after a couple of hard drops. They were totally in over their heads enough it was hard not to worry about them getting in trouble on the road!

[stewart]

This course is free in the state of Illinois.