Ride Like A Copycat the Buddy System
RIDE LIKE A COPYCAT THE BUDDY SYSTEM
RIDE SMART
Four good strategies for becoming a better street rider
John L Stein
This year I observed a two-day MSF new-rider course attended by nine guys and a girl. Ten hours aboard lessthan-250cc learner bikes and five classroom hours later, the group took its “final exam” in a parking lot: doing a figure eight, making a few turns, and briskly braking. Three of the to students could barely manage the figure eight, with one unable to hold a tight line, another dabbing a foot, and the other wobbling badly. Surprisingly, they all passed.
Afterward, the trip odometers revealed each rider had covered about 7 miles in two days of training, and yet now all were certified to get their learner’s permit. This seemed unfathomable because motorcycling in city traffic—precisely where the newbies would soon roam—is very risky business.
My solution: the buddy system. If you’re a new rider, after getting your
learner’s permit, connect immediately with a highly experienced street rider and tail them like a duckling on as many rides as possible. Multiple shorter practice sessions are better than one long ride. CLASS Motorcycle School founder Reg Pridmore trains students on the track because he feels it’s safer there. “If you’re going to learn on the street, carefully plan what you’re going to do,” he says. “With drivers texting and running red lights, you need to be realistic and alert.”
Here are four good buddy strategies:
Follow the leader. Follow your expert’s lines and mimic his actions, including watchfulness, lane selection, signaling, footwork, and smoothness. Then stop periodically to compare experiences, techniques, and lessons learned. When you’re comfortable, trade positions so the expert can watch you.
Start conservatively. Choose lowtraffic hours at first. Work up from parking lots to quiet streets to wide boulevards. Then jump to higher levels of traffic, speed, and complexity only when you’re comfortable at the current level. And don’t forget nighttime riding.
Take a long-term approach. Plan to invest many hours over several weeks, as if you’re in flight training. Although you’re gripping handlebars instead of a pilot’s yoke, such repetition beautifully develops instinctual and appropriate reactions. That’s your critical mission.
Make the rides useful. Everybody’s pressed for time. Therefore, make your training useful (such as running errands, going to lunch, or heading to the gym) so the rides never seem like a time waster. Just leave a pub run off the list, riff
