Motorcycle Basic Rider Class

I'm a firm believer in setting goals and having a bucket list.  Life is so short and time flies so fast, I have to set goals with due dates to keep myself on track and know that I'm making the most of my time here.  One of the things on my list for the summer was to get my motorcycle license.  My husband and I agreed that the best way to do that was to get my permit (check) and then take the Basic Rider Course and test for my license through the class.  So that's what I did this weekend!!!!

I have nothing but good things to say about the class.  You start out in a classroom on Thursday evening and go through all the basic principles of riding, techniques, and road rules.  Then you take a written test at the end of the night.

My husband walked me through the basics back in April, but I hadn't ridden since.  On Saturday morning, they walk you through everything very step by step.  The class is designed for people who have never taken the class before.  They provide the bikes, but you bring your own safety gear.  You learn where all of the controls are, how to operate the bike, and you slowly get into maneuvering and riding the bike.  You go through 16 drills throughout the course of the weekend.  You just stay in a parking lot and they demonstrate each drill and let you loose to ride through it and practice.

Sunday is more of the same, but you build on the skills you learned on Saturday.  You end Sunday with a test.  They test your ability to ride around a corner, make a u-turn in a small space, stop abruptly, and swerve.  I passed!!!

The instructors were amazing.  They really make you feel comfortable and give you tips of things to work on and use positive reinforcement for things you do right.  The class does get to be a little long - each day is 5 hours.  But, it truly is amazing how you can go from having absolutely no clue how to ride to actually feeling comfortable and making decisions as you ride. 

Now, riding through drills in a parking is one thing, now I have to be really careful about actually getting out into traffic and doing real life riding. 

I rode the gray one on the left!  A Suzuki TU 250x