Some of you may remember that I was selected to attend motor training. There was some interest in hearing about the training, so I agreed to do my best to document what it's like. Here is a summary of the first 2 days (long read), with more to follow:

Day 1, Monday, April 26th

The classroom portion of the 2 week class lasted about 1 1/2 hours. Consisted of introductions, waivers, equipment checks, going over the class schedule, etc… No more classroom, the rest of the 2 weeks will be spent riding.

We started out slowly by going around the bikes, basic familiarization stuff. 10 students, seven on E-Glides and 3 on Road Kings. “This is your jiffy-stand, this is the jiffy stand spring that will eventually break, this is where you check your oil”, pretty basic stuff. Then we were shown how to walk the bikes forward and back (no straddling here), and how to properly pick up a downed bike.

Once we saddled up, we went to the range and started with friction zone drills. Front tire resting against a 2x4, clutch out, throttle up gently over the board, then rest your back tire against it, same thing…object being to go over gently enough to not spit the 2x4 to the rear. We did this for what seemed like forever.

Basic figure 8’s were next, large circles, head and eyes up, look where you’re going, don’t look down. As soon as we showed proficiency the figure 8’s were tightened…a lot! We rode figure 8’s for quite a while… it’s day 1 and we’re doing full lock turns and some are scraping boards.

Slow, straight line cone weave was next. I think the cones were about 15 feet in between. Sounds like a long distance…it isn’t. I managed to do it many times without taking out a cone but some of my runs weren’t as smooth as I would have liked. From the slow straight weave we went immediately to a slow, very tight offset weave at the end of the afternoon. I was doing as well as anyone on this and I never made it all the way through without killing cones. This thing is TIGHT. I was assured that by day 3 or 4 this would seem like child’s play. I can’t imagine how! Bikes were dropping all over the course, nasty sounds all around!

We did a little bit of “off-road” riding, which I wasn’t expecting. It rained last night and has been spitting on us a little throughout the afternoon. The grass was a little slippery, one bike went down.

At the end of the day my upper back is sore and my neck is killing me. I dropped the bike just twice on day one and managed to do it without getting hurt or damaging the bike. One of the other students wasn’t so lucky. He went down in a figure 8 and was pinned under the bike for a bit, left in an ambulance. He was smiling as they wheeled him away and assured us that it wasn’t serious and that he’d be back tomorrow. Hope he’s right.

The bike I’m training on is an ’09. I am having a little bit of a tough time getting used to the throttle. I’m used to the feel of the cables on my ’07, there is definitely a difference. The clutch is a little grabby, the bike doesn’t run nearly as well as my own and there is a nasty vibration in the fairing…I suspect a broken fairing bracket. The police seat is OK, sits me up higher than I’m used to but that’s OK, I miss my backrest badly. I certainly wouldn’t trade my bike for this one!

Day 2, Tuesday, April 27th

We started the day, kickstands up, at 8:00 A.M. sharp. We were told when we arrived that the rider who went down yesterday would not be back, his ankle was badly broken. He’s looking and pins and screws and re-hab. The scary thing was that the guy who went down was easily the most experienced “student” rider in the class. If it could happen to him, it could happen to any of us.

We were then allowed to warm up and practice on our own for the first hour. I used that time to do the slow weave and then the offset weave, with some figure 8’s worked in as well. This off-set weave thing is tough, but I managed to do 4 or 5 clean runs on my own before the hour was up and was feeling pretty cocky. I managed to crash just once during this first hour when I was pulling a tight figure 8.

The instructors came out and led us on a short ride though the park. By that I mean the grass, dirt, and mud. It was very wet and very slippery, but everyone managed to stay upright. Then it was time for a new exercise, the 90 degree pull-out. You start with your bars at full lock, left or right, whichever direction they say, and have to put your feet up as soon as you’re moving and pull away without hitting the cones that are seriously close in front of you. I did this exercise well, really had no problem going either left or right. Some struggled though, lots of crashing. While waiting for another chance to do the pull-out we were encouraged to practice figure 8’s, slow weave and offset weave.

Just before lunch I noticed the instructors setting something up on the opposite end of the course. Lots of cones. This was a little piece of torture called “the intersection”. Basically, the cone layout forces you to ride a cloverleaf pattern. Oh my God! If I thought the off-set weave was hard, this was impossible! I watched the demonstration (made it look easy) and then, one by one, every rider who attempted it crashed repeatedly. They were drilling it into us how important it was going to be to turn our head and eyes. I pulled in, made my first right hand turn, started back around to the left and crashed. No big deal, right? Picked the bike up and started again. Right turn, then left, then crash. Dammit! Try again, right, then left, then crash! This was proving to be a real problem for me. I tried and tried, crashing every time, or at least wiping out the cones, until I managed to make it through 2 of the 4 quarters of the pattern. At this point I know it can be done and I’m going to keep trying until I get it, but I’m getting frustrated and my confidence is taking a nose-dive. It’s lunchtime now and I’m glad for the break.

After lunch, just like this morning, we were allowed to go out and practice on our own for a bit. I went straight for “the intersection” and proceed crashing again. I finally cleared it with an instructor to go over into the corner of the slab by myself and work on turning as tight as I can in both directions, without cones, instructors or other students watching. I manage to figure out on my own that when the bike is at full lock and the boards are scraping, it won’t fall and go boom as long as I keep on the throttle. I’m over there doing seriously tight circles in both directions relatively easily. This bike will dive into those full-lock turns and stay upright after all! Now it’s time to go back to the cones and try again. First time in I make it ¾ of the way around and crash, but that ¾ around gave me a huge confidence boost. Back in line and then the next 4 runs were clean!! I was feeling good about myself again!

The end of day 2 brings the first of many instructor evaluations. They meet with each rider individually and talk about what they’ve noticed that we need to work on. I was encouraged to hear that the instructors, or at least the one I was talking with, think I’m one of the better riders in the class, but it was no surprise to hear that I need to work on turning my head and eyes to look at where I want to go and quit looking at the cones. I am also “jerky” and will need to make smoother runs if I want to make it all the way through.

At the end of the day we did another short ride though the park but the grass was dry by now so it was pretty easy. I’m sore and I’m tired, I’ve crashed at least a dozen times today.

 

puts truth to statement that you go where you look, so look where you want to go. If you want to go in a tight circle, then twist right around to look right around, even to point of looking behind you.

 

Here are a couple of pics from today. Me practicing on my own, me in "the intersection", and me following one of many crashes. You can see, even while practicing, that I'm looking down instead of looking back to where I want to go. Might explain some of those crashes!

 

good info looking foward to more posts threw the week!
Thanks

 

"Here are a couple of pics from today. Me practicing on my own, me in "the intersection", and me following one of many crashes. You can see, even while practicing, that I'm looking down instead of looking back to where I want to go. Might explain some of those crashes!"

yup. Thanks much for posting this, much appreciated!

 

Thanks, really great info. I didn't know you can turn the bike full lock, scrapping the boards. Good luck, I'm sure you'll pass the course.

 

I've been riding for a year now and try to make it to a parking lot a few days a week to practice tight turns and figure eights on my 09 Road King. My only instructions were at the MSF class I took last year and am eager to learn new techniques. I'm curious if they have some type of a guard on the bottom corners of the crash bars. I've dropped mine a couple times while practicing and it seems like it would be good to protect them. This class sounds pretty intense but it will give you some great skills when your done. Good luck.

 

I'm curious if they have some type of a guard on the bottom corners of the crash bars. I've dropped mine a couple times while practicing and it seems like it would be good to protect them.

Take some rubber hose, slit it down the middle length wise, wrap it around the crash bar and zip tie it.

And to the OP. Just wait till ya get to the 180 pull out, at the middle of week two when good wheel placement in the course is getting pretty routine, and you are running it clean (most times), thats when they usually throw in the 180 pull out. Its all good, enjoy it.

 

Stro, what's the experience level of the other riders? Any complete novices?

 

Your description brings back memories from my time on the course. Keep Plugging away at it. About Thursday afternoon it all started clicking for me, but Friday morning for the 1st week slow course exam, I had a belly full of butterflies, knowing I might not be coming back for week 2. Good Luck to you.