An experienced motorcyclist's lessons in humility

Basic Rider Course

"Are you crazy?!"

It wasn't hostile, but it was clear what he thought the answer to the question was.

I'm going to keep you in suspense for a moment while I set the stage for this encounter.

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Do you know how to ride a motorcycle? I mean, do you REALLY know how to ride a motorcycle? Are you such a good rider that it would be beneath you to even consider taking a Basic Rider Course? You might want to think again.

I took the Basic Rider Course this past weekend, courtesy of T3RG Motorcycle Schools, and I'm pleased to say I passed. Granted, I expected to pass. After all, I've been riding for more than 20 years and I make my living writing about motorcycles and motorcycling.

So would it surprise you if I told you I found parts of the course extremely challenging?

OK, let's see a show of hands. How many of you have dropped your bike going about two miles an hour in a parking lot? Quite a few of you I see. I certainly have. Sure, it's easy to stay upright going down the road when you have the force of momentum and the gyroscopic force of the wheels keeping you up. But can you crank the bars all the way left or right and just go around in circles at walking speed?

Here's the proposition: If you can maintain confident control of your bike at slow speeds, how much easier is it to do so at higher speeds? And unless you're out there competing in some Top Gun competition and winning, you could probably benefit from getting some rider training, even taking a Basic Rider Course.

And if that's something you can't quite go for, how about an Experienced Rider Course? I did them backward. I took an Experienced Rider Course about 12 years ago. I had been riding about 10 years at the time and I definitely came out of that a better rider.

This is not an academic question. The fact is that a very large percentage of motorcycle fatalities occur in single-vehicle accidents. In Colorado last year, 39 percent of all fatalities involved riders who did not even have a motorcycle validation on their drivers' license. Do you suppose some of those people would be alive today if they had taken and passed a Basic Rider Course? Plus, you have the added benefit that if you pass the course you can take your card down to the DMV and they'll issue you your validation. At least that's how it works here in Colorado.

So here was my double lesson in humility last Sunday. First off, in the testing that completed the course, another student who had never ridden a motorcycle before, but did have a lot of experience on BMX and mountain bikes, scored better than me on the skills test.

Then, as I headed home on my bike, I came to where I wanted to turn left onto the highway. There was a fender bender that had just occurred in the turning lane and they were waving people around. I checked the next lane and there was a car there, but he was stopped to allow us to pull out and around. I did, intending to make the turn but when I got even with the front car in the fender bender the turn signal was red.

Momentarily perplexed as to what to do, I stopped dead in the traffic lane. Then I decided I'd have to go forward and turn around to get on the highway. I did, and as I then pulled into the next left turn lane the driver behind me pulled up and yelled at me, "Are you crazy?!"

It dawned on me then that he probably came close to rear-ending me when I unexpectedly (to him) stopped to consider what to do.

Which only goes to show that rider training classes can teach you the skills to operate your machine, and they can even teach you procedures that will help you ride safely. But in the end it comes down to you. If you don't constantly stay on your guard and make smart riding decisions, the rest of it doesn't matter. I got lucky this time.

Next time: I'll tell you a bit more about my riding course. It was a very intersting two days.

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