Sex Lessons
Sex lessons
UP FRONT
David Edwards
YOU’RE NOT AS GOOD A MOTORCYCLE rider as you could be. Neither am I. Nobody is.
Better riding was the subject du jour recently when I lunched with two officials of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, a good organization unfortunately saddled with a name that carries two of the most colorless words in the English language. Maybe that’s why more riders haven’t signed up for MSF’s Experienced RiderCourse. Of the approximately nine million licensed riders in this country, just 50,000 or so have gone through the program in its three-year existence.
One of my dining companions had another explanation for the low turnout. “It’s like telling someone they need sex lessons,” he said. “Nobody wants to be told they’re not very good at lovemaking.”
As lunch concluded, I was invited to attend a RiderCourse, free of charge, to see what the program was all about. I politely turned the offer down. I intended to take the course, but I wanted to do it incognito, without the to-do that goes hand in hand with a visit by someone from the motorcycle press.
A toll-free phone call gave me the schedule of MSF classes in my area, and after sending in a check for $55, I and my trusty 1982 Yamaha Seca 650 were enrolled along with 11 other riders in an all-day Saturday session. The course was held at a purpose-built riding range owned by American Honda and leased to the MSF, one of five such facilities. There are 800 other training sites nationwide, including community colleges, military bases, mall parking lots-anywhere there’s a classroom and space for a 160-by-260-foot paved riding area.
Class started at 7:30 a.m. with a safety inspection of the bikes, and a check of registration and insurance paperwork. My fellow students were a mixed bunch. Nine were male, two were female. Ages ranged from the mid-20s to senior-citizen status. Occupations included housewife and police officer. One student had just six months of riding experience, another had been riding since 1948. One used a Honda Rebel 450 for oc-
casional backroad touring, another commuted every day on a K100 Beemer through the unholy concrete chaos that is Southern California’s freeway system.
Asked why they were taking the Experienced RiderCourse, most offered a variation on the “I just want to learn all I can about motorcycling” theme. A few had recently completed the MSF’s multi-day Motorcycle RiderCourse for beginners and were ready to move on. One was after a reduction in insurance costs-some carriers slash a course graduate’s premiums by as much as 20 percent. The police officer was there at his wife’s insistence.
Three instructors were on hand to lead us through the course. The morning was devoted to classroom work, and could well have been subtitled “Risk Management,” though as one instructor was quick to mention, “That doesn’t mean we want to take the enjoyment away from riding.” Included were two videos, “Street Strategies” and “Riding With Control,” a slide show and lots of give-and-take between the students and instructors. Some of the information dispensed was basic, such as proper bike preparation and riding gear. Other subjects, notably the portion dealing with traction control, were challenging and generated many questions.
Later, looking over my notes, I
came across an instructor’s quote that I had underlined. “You have the ultimate responsibility for your riding environment. You are responsible for being prepared, for knowing your limits and for staying within them.” Good advice.
After lunch, we saddled up and took to the riding range. Here, we were run through a battery of exercises that covered panic stops, rearwheel skids, braking on a curve, emergency swerving and cornering. An instructor explained each exercise, then another instructor took a bike through the procedure, after which we students executed the movement under the critical eye of the third instructor. The four-hour range session was fun, with dramatic improvement evident in some students’ riding skills. The only casualties all day were a couple of dead batteries from the constant stopping and starting.
Unfortunately, speeds on the test range were limited to 25 miles per hour, so highway-type swerving, braking from high speed, and fast cornering weren’t covered. The instructors did recommend that we take the skills we had just practiced on the riding range and translate them to the street. “Swerve around shadows on the road,” said one instructor “Make sure there’s nobody behind you and practice braking. Safe riding takes conscious effort and constant practice.”
Later, I would talk with Beth Weaver, the MSF’s director of education, about the RiderCourse’s lack of high-speed exercises. “We would like to take it farther and have something for the more experienced rider, but we’re limited by budget restraints and lack of manpower,” she said. “Still, the same skills apply no matter what the speed. What we’re really teaching is technique.”
Riding a motorcycle is a technique-intensive activity. Get it right, and it can be one of life’s great joys. Get it wrong, and the consequences can be dire. For a mere $55 and a day of your time, you can be a better, safer rider. The MSF’s toll-free phone number is 800/447-4700. Give ’em a call.
You’re on your own in the bedroom.
