Rider's Edge Class Recap - Day Four

by Carla

<< Day Three

DAY 4
Last range day! I woke up sore but excited. Again, we all got out there for 8am and immediately jumped back on the bikes. We warmed up with some laps around the range in second gear. Then straight into the first exercise, which would prove to be the hardest for me all day.

U-turns! In a box. We had a limited area in which to make two u-turns using counter-steering. I was doing fine to the left, but I kept swinging wide to the right. Then we exited the box and went into an s-curve. Practice practice practice. I'm still afraid of turning the handlebars that far and couldn't seem to break myself out of it.

From there, we worked on the 90 and 270 degree curves. You start on one side of the range, shift into second, slow-look-press-and roll into the 90 degree curve to the right, accelerate out of it towards the 270 curve, slow-look-press-roll through that curve and come to a stop a little further down for coaching. This was the easiest for me. I have the leaning thing down...that feels very natural to me.

Then we got to jump things! LOL. "Surmounting obstacles" consists of riding around the perimeter of the range and going over 2x4's placed at intervals. We went through the proper technique. Then on to lane changes: signal, check your blind spot, execute the lane change, then cancel the signal.

Next was safety exercises...the quick stop and the swerve. The objective of the quick stop was to get the bike up to speed in second gear, then at a specified point, use both brakes to stop quickly without locking up either brake, and downshift. On the swerve, you wait for the signal of the instructor on which direction to swerve, then at the specified point, do a quick swerve to change lanes.

The last exercise (I think...I probably have them out of order) was stopping in a curve. We practiced getting up to speed in second gear, leaning into a 90 degree curve, then halfway through straightening up and stopping quickly.

All the markings are painted on the range for each of these maneuvers and the instructors said you are always welcome to bring your own bike out to any range and use it as long as there is no class out there. I definitely plan on doing that when I get my own.

I think those were the only exercises we did on Sunday. We took a lunch break and then came back to practice and take our evals.

The eval only has 4 parts...pretty easy too after such a long weekend. The hardest part is relaxing. I actually got pretty darn close to staying inside the u-turn box, but I did cross the line, so I got a few points off, but I did well on everything else. There was the u-turn box, swerving to the right, quick stop, and short and long curves with a smooth brake at the end.

I definitely learned the value of dressing right this weekend. The white shirt I wore was a lot cooler than the yellow one on Saturday. And I used one of those neck strips with the cooling beads in it...excellent! That made a big difference. We had a couple people take falls during the day. One had her ankle pinned under the bike, but her boots did their job and she was fine. Another accidentally used the front brake in a curve and ended up with a hole in his pants and shirt...but only slight road rash on his knee. His shin was banged up, but he was able to finish the class. We all saw it happen and not a single person reached for that front brake in a curve again!

And....we all passed! So now I just need to finish up the written test tomorrow night. My left hand is extremely sore and stiff from using clutch control all weekend, and I think partially from the gloves I was using. My hips are stiff from lifting and setting down my legs, and my back is a little sore (the Blast is a little small for me), but it was well worth the aches. I had so much fun and I learned a heck of a lot, about motorcycling and about myself, and I've already got 30 miles under my belt! We did 30 miles total in the two days out in that parking lot sized range. It is well worth the money to take a class, whether it's Harley or state-run, and whether you are just starting or have been biking for years. Even the instructors had to re-do a demo here or there. There is always room for improvement. >> DAY 5

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