The Importance of Training

Not everybody who rides a motorcycle gets good training. Some practice in parking lots and take the test from a testing agency.

I didn't want to do that. The Basic Rider Course didn't cost any more than the test alone -- other than the time it takes, of course -- but it gave me something much more valuable than a license. It gave me skills and a bit of wisdom. And don't underestimate the value of fellowship with people who care; that's priceless.

One student in my class last weekend already had a motorcycle and endorsement for four years. He took the class strictly to get a lower insurance rate. At the end of the class, RiderCoach Ozzie advised us to call up our insurance companies and tell them we had taken a "motorcycle safety course" -- NOT a "basic rider course." He said they might not give discounts for the BRC, but many do give discounts for safety courses.

For some people, the BRC is the end of their training. From the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's point of view, the BRC is just the beginning.

Ozzie said he makes a point of learning something every time he goes out. And he made a point of showing off his skills in that tricky figure-8 box we had to learn. He took out his big ol' full-dress Harley Classic and tooled it around that tight configuration with panache. I was so taken with the sight and sound of it, for a moment, I confess, I could not listen to my own RiderCoach.

At the end of class, Ozzie reminded us that whoever you surround yourself with is the kind of rider you'll become -- whether that's someone who rides smart or someone who drives three miles from bar to bar.

He encouraged us to come back and take more advanced training classes -- which still cost only $25. Such a bargain! I'd like to do that next summer, and bring along my Ironman, who lately has been saying he'd like to do it. He's one of those who learned from an uncle in a parking lot back in the '70s. More advanced courses teach many of the same skills we learned last weekend, but you bring your own bike and expand your abilities.


Support Rider Classes
Something else Ozzie asked us to do -- and I encourage ALL riders to do this -- is consider calling or writing to Oakland Community College to thank the administration for hosting the rider course. He said neighbors have complained about the noise (NOISE? From a bunch of 125 Hondas??) and so there was a lot of debate about having them. He said OCC used to host eight classes a year, and this year there were only three at the Orchard Ridge Campus in Farmington Hills.

This alarmed me. So as soon as I got home from class on Sunday I wrote a letter -- but like in the James Taylor song, I wasn't sure who to send it to. I called OCC till I found the facilities director, and told him I wanted to thank the college for this important service. Later I got a call back from the Dean of Academic and Student Services, Timothy Walter, thanking me for supporting the classes. You can email him yourself at TLWALTER@oaklandcc.edu. He said the classes are a high priority at OCC, and he seemed concerned about passage of the millage renewal for the college on Aug. 3.

"Assuming the vote to continue supporting OCC as the county so generously has over the past decades occurs in early August, I can promise you that Motorcycle Safety will be a high priority course at OCC through community education," he wrote in an email back. So, if you live in Oakland County, support the millage Aug. 3. It won't cost you any more, but it could save a life.

I told him in my letter about an incident my sister-in-law shared the night my class started. She said a friend of hers just lost her 20-year-old son in a motorcycle accident when he took out a bike that was in bad repair. The throttle became stuck, he lost control, ran into some mailboxes and died.

This should not have happened. My first thought, of course, was as my cousin George once told me: Pull in the clutch and it becomes a bicycle. That bike can't run away with you if you cut power to the rear wheel.

If that boy had been trained properly, he would be alive today.

While sitting at the Secretary of State's office waiting to get my endorsement on Monday, I re-read a cycle safety booklet put out by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation some years ago -- a pdf of the booklet is available here.

That booklet reminded me of another thing that boy could have done -- he could have merely flipped the engine cut-off switch next to his thumb, on the right handlebar. That would have shut it off immediately. In fact, that is how I was taught in class to turn off the motorcycle.

These are the kinds of things we learn in our riding class. How to stay safe.

I cannot stress it enough:
GO GET TRAINING!