LOL! Sorry for the overly-dramatic title block. This thread is for all of you that ride or are thinking about riding a MOTORCYCLE.
If you're interested, please read on...it may just save your life.
Last Sunday (10/3), I just completed the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) Experienced (i.,e advanced) Rider Course (ERC). I had wanted to do so for years, but either procrastinated or was not fast enough to register as the classes are small and fill extremely fast. If you ride, you need to take this course!
I have been riding safely for nearly twenty years, have logged many, many road miles, and have taught about a dozen friends how to ride and helped them get their MC license endorsements. Regardless, an old dog can still learn new tricks. I particularly was interested in any info or tricks that would increase my personal safety and enjoyment of my chosen sport by incresing my riding skills and prolonging my life and/or bodily integrity (i.e, keping all my arms/legs and my brain/spine intact, LOL!).
They class was awesome and the instructors were not only great riders with tons of trouble-free miles on their scoots (35-plus safe yrs. in the saddle for each), but they were great guys as well. We drew the senior instructor for the site (Middlesex Co. Voc./Tech School campus in Piscataway, NJ...located in Rutgers U. Livingston Campus...across from the Barn where I saw Stevie Ray Vaughan rock the metal rafters in '86!!!) and his riding partner, both current U.S. Marshalls (the professional fugitive/bounty hunters with badges and guns). One was a MC cop in NYC for five years before being stabbed and subsequently forced to retire in the '80's. They were patient and encouraging and they forced me to utilize my skills and my bike to their maximum. I now feel more confident than ever that I will be able to maneuver my bike to the maximum in the hopes of avoiding any obstacle or calamity that awaits me out on the road.
You spend a couple of hours in the morning (it is a full 10:00am to 6;00pm day!) in the classroom learning safety, preparedness and survival skills, then it's out to the riding practice range to practice and hone all aspects of riding skills (excepting high-speed hi-way riding...you are in a parking lot, LOL!). It was amazing to see how many riders, especially those that have many years and miles under their belts, really needed improvement in their basic maneuvering skills! Regardless, of your skill/experience level prior to the course, there wasn't one person (from the best rider of the group to the worst) who didn't have fun and who didn't leave without being a better rider than ever before.
As a bonus, any MSF class is State Certified and given by State-licensed Instructors, so it counts as a Defensive Driving Course and is goood for a 5% discount on your CAR insurance and a TWO-Point Reduction in STATE DMV Points! All for only $75 and a day of your weekend time. Sounds like a great deal to me!
If you're considering learning to ride, call the MSF or go on-line (
www.msf.com). For $175, all you need is a valid permit and to be able to balance a bicycle! They give you a motorcycle and protective gear and you spend 4 hours in a class (Fri. night) and two full days out on the riding range (Sat and Sun). When you are done, if you pass the riding test, you leave with a validated MC license! You also get the insurance and point-reduction benefits. How can you beat that?
I enjoyed this class so much, I've decided to apply to be a MSF NJ State-Licensed Motorcycle Instructor! I was actually surprised that my skills were good enough and that almost all the info and wisdom I passed in prior years to my 'students was correct! I'm all for anything that prolongs my enjoyment of cycling and keeps my skills sharp in order to prolong my life! In addtion, I can share my passion for riding with others in order to keep them safe and hopefully convert many others who would otherwise be too afraid to try to learn how to ride. I figure it's my way to give back to the sport that I love that has truly enriched my life. I simply cannot imagine my life without being able to swing a leg over my Harley and I hope to keep that alive for as long as I am alive, God willing.
Moral Of The Story: If you ride, take the course and learn how to be a better, safer rider!. If you don't ride, but think you wanna learn, take the course. It is the only way to go. If it turns out that riding isn't for you (or that you shouldn't be riding at all....MC riding is NOT for everyone!), learn in the safest possible environment and for the least amount of financial outlay! The people I taught in the past were very lucky: I had half a clue on how to ride safe. The rest of you are at the mercy of a friend of a friend or Uncle Barney who rides to teach you how to survive on the street. Would you let someone of dubious skills pack your parachute and teach you how to skydive? I thought not....don't do the same when learning to ride a unprotected steel missile down America's dangerous roads!
OK, I'm done: time to climb off the soapbox now, LOL! Who knows...if you're in the Garbage, er, um, Garden State and you wanna learn to ride in the appreciable future, you may end up with an Alembic Playing, Harley-riding, Grateful Dead-loving MC instructor. Don't forget to say hello, LOL!
(Message edited by kmh364 on October 10, 2004)
