For the third edition of the motorcycle riding course organized by professional instructors and sponsored by the Outdoor Venture club, the participants were split into groups corresponding to their level of expertise:
The addition of a group of experienced riders was the major change compared to last year.
Slide show of photos of the event.
The day started at 9h00 with a small introduction after which the 4 "experienced" riders were extracted from the group to start their exercises immediately. The remaining 16 (2 people had cancelled late) attended a brief 1-hour summary of the basics of motorcycling theory.
The 7 beginners were then taken aside for more "theory" while the others were split into 2 groups and started the exercises which proved more or less easy depending on the type of motorcycle.
We started with some slaloms (fairly easy early on then more difficult later) in order to practise some basic skills: position of the body on the bike, leaning the bike, but primarily looking where you want to go. This last item was a recurring theme throughout the day and, as one of the instructors mentioned during the lunchtime pause, is 90% of the skills required to ride a motorcycle.
The next exercises consisted of learning the limits of your braking possibilities, i.e. slamming on the brakes in an emergency without locking the wheels. This may sound easier than it actually is as it is sometimes difficult to detect when your wheels are locking (especially the rear wheel).
The first thing that the instructor asked was to brake with the rear wheel only and until the back wheel locks. This is done in a straight line and demonstrates that there is no danger. Then, the exercise is repeated but trying to avoid locking the wheel by releasing the pressure on the rear brake. Finally, making use of the engine's natural resistance to assist braking at the beginning.
The second part of this exercise was to brake with the front wheel only. Here, the exercise is more perilous and it is necessary to remember to lock the arms and grip the handlebar firmly to avoid the front wheel from turning to one side which would cause an immediate fall. During the exercise, it is surprising how easy it is to lift the rear wheel showing (i) that the front brakes are really powerful and (ii) that the bike is totally destabilized to the front.
The third part of this exercise was to combine the two brakes to obtain the most effective results.
During lunchtime, one of the instructors gave a presentation on defensive driving, accompanied by some statistics on accidents in Belgium. Some very useful recommendations were made concerning overtaking and driving in heavy traffic.
The set of afternoon exercises was more fun. The first one consisted of fast curves and learning to use the handlebar for turning. I know this sounds stupid but bear with me and all will be revealed.
The next exercise was to go around in a circle (i) when sitting straight on the bike, (ii) when leaning out of the corner and (iii) when leaning into the corner. These techniques are specially useful if you need to take a tight bend when going slow (leaning out) and when you are surprised by a bend that is tighter than you thought when going fast (leaning in) and especially in the wet.
This was followed by some cornering around a circuit to get used to the best trajectory: staying on the outside as long as possible then turning into the corner and exit already preparing the next curve... always remembering to keep your eyes on where you want to go and not on the little cones inside the curves. Obviously, the technique of leaning in could be used to corner faster.
The final exercise of the afternoon could be the most useful in everyday use: avoiding obstacles. Where you may need to perform an emergency braking once per year, you will find that you will need to avoid some kind of obstacle every time you go out on your bike. This could be to avoid a pot hole, a wet drain cover, a child that runs out onto the road, a driver opening his car door, etc. For this exercise, the technique of pushing the handlebar is used to give a brisk change of direction to the bike and correcting it almost immediately with a push in the other direction.
Once all the exercises were done, there was a quick debriefing to discuss the results of the training.
It is the general concensus that this type of activity is very useful to gain confidence in your motorcycle. In a day, everyone managed to go through exercises that were not thought possible. For my part, I have discovered (once again, but I changed from a Transalp to a TDM last year) that the limits of my bike are far beyond my own limits. For example, during the fast cornering I managed to touch the footrests on every curve.
The last group to have their debriefing were the beginners who finished 1 hour later. It seems that most people are "hooked", the only problem being the finances.
The instructor said that if your legs did not hurt the next day then you had not done the very basics right: hold the bike firmly between your thighs and let the upper part of your body relax. Well at least, I know I have done that part right !
This is not the first time that I followed this training. Three years ago, I went along to almost the same but it was very wet then ! This time the weather was dry and it was a bit warmer. The important thing is that I managed to learn a few things yet again.
Last time, I had promised myself to remember some basic lessons learned and to put them into practice... which I believe I have done. This second time round, there are still some basic skills that I can practise regularly and hope to become a better rider.
This is definitely the most important part of riding a motorcycle and is surprisingly effective once you do it naturally, but it only comes with practice.
The instructors keep repeating this and reminding you throughout the day: look at where you want to go, not at the obstacle you want to avoid. The bike will always follow the trajectory imposed by your eyes. A typical example of this is when you are in a bend: do not look at the bend itself but at the exit.
Slamming on the brakes in an emergency is a good reflex but needs a little more than that. The sequence of actions should be:
Note that unfortunately this does not apply to motorcycles with sophisticated braking systems, such as the latest BMW 1150 RT fitted with ABS.
As mentioned above, this is probably the most useful excercise. Unfortunately, when you need to avoid an obstacle, you have very little time to think back to what the instructors said you should do (oh yes, if I want to avoid the obstacle by passing it on the left, I have to push the handlebar bar to the left...).
This is one exercise that I intend to practise on the open road, obviously when there is not traffic around, in order to get the right reflex action when it will be needed.
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