Hog Heaven

I'm a firm believer that you should often seek out opportunities to experience new things, especially when they force you to exit your typical comfort zone. Unfortunately, this is not something I often do; it's so much easier to stick with what you know and what you're good at. However, this past weekend I got the chance to exit my own halo of understanding and learn a skill that I've long coveted at the same time.

Friday night through Sunday afternoon, I struggled through the 14 hours of instruction involved in the Basic Rider Skills class offered by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. I say "struggled" because that's exactly what I did. The classroom instruction--over on Friday night--was valuable and simple. Beginning at 7AM on Saturday, I boarded a motorcycle for the first time in my life and things got a little crazy.

I felt in over my head from the beginning: I was the only person in the class who'd never been on a bike before (most were experienced riders trying to get the MSF endorsement for either insurance reasons or so they could get their bike on a military base). Several of my classmates had never been in the front, but had years of experience as passengers behind their spouses/significant others, so they still had an advantage of experience over me. I'd always known that riding a bike was a complicated feat, it is an intricate machine that requires the constant use of both hands and both feet for basic operation...not to mention the required physical effort to maintain upright.

The class started with the most elementary steps (I'm very thankful that the riders with experience were patient). We started with "mounting the bike" and learning the basic controls. It was over an hour into the lesson before we even moved the bike with our feet off the ground. After this first exercise I felt quite elated: I joked with a classmate that as long as my final destination was always a dead-straight line from where I started I'd be just fine.

Of course, the experience became quite humbling from there. We moved rapidly through a series of 16 drills (over two days) that were designed to teach the basics of starting, stopping, shifting, cornering, etc. Each was challenging in its own way and one in particular (the off-set weave) demolished my morale for a short time.

At the end of the first day I gave myself a 50-50 chance of passing the final riding exam. I called my brother Mark (who took the same course in Connecticut years ago and just bought a new bike) to tell him that my hat was off to him for surviving the experience. He laughed and assured me that he "barely" passed himself and that he remembered well his amazement at the difficulties of bike operation. We'd finished our morning lesson at 11AM and I was so drained--physically, mentally and emotionally--that I was basically useless until about 6PM.

On Sunday, things were better. I expected as much; your mind can assimilate new experiences so quickly. In the end, I never dumped the bike and only had a few embarrassing moments. One time I was sitting with my bike in neutral and I was running through the procedure for an emergency stop in my mind. I was so focused on the steps that I unconsciously started doing them: popping my right foot onto the shift lever and engaging first gear. The bike jumped forward a foot before stalling. My classmates got a good chuckle--for which they apologized--I explained that I'm always dangerous if you give me idle time.

Miraculously, I got a 95 on my riding test and 100 on the written. I successfully navigated the U-turn box, the obstacle avoidance swerve, the emergency stop and the corner. After I finish this blog I'm going to the DMV to get my official motorcycle endorsement on my license (passing the MSF course is the same as passing a DMV licensing exam). I'm not sure when I'll get a bike or even if that will ever happen (though I definitely want one today even more than I did before the class). Even if I get a bike, I don't consider myself ready for the street yet. I'd probably practice for a month or two on parking lots and small roads before ever riding in real traffic. None-the-less, four days ago I didn't know how to ride a motorcycle and now I'm licensed to do so in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

In all, I considered the experience to be at once humbling, challenging, exhausting and satisfying. The instructors were great and I'm thankful for their patience and encouragement. It was also a great chance to be around a whole group of people that I don't think I'd otherwise have gotten the chance to know. Typical "bikers" are very different from me...frankly a lot cooler and more grounded. It was also the first time in recent memory when a ten-minute smoke break meant that everyone actually had a cigarette. This was another little bit of being out of my comfort zone, and it was really satisfying.

I'm really glad for the entire experience. I know that hot-shot bikers can be annoying (and oftentimes dangerous) on the road. These are obviously only a small portion of the riding community, though they tend to be the most visible and memorable part of it. From now on though, whether your cursing a bike on the road or just sharing your lane with one, I advise you tip your hat at the very least to the skill required to successfully handle their ride.