Learning to Ride a Motorcycle - A Newbie’s Journal

by Dee Dee Baker (DoubleDee)

>Page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

Lesson #16, Friday, August 1st:
 Not many miles…practiced the infamous U-turns and panic stops in the rget Parking Lot and then went to Jay Berry’s in Issaquah for dinner. kay, it’s time to buckle down and get

prepared for the DOL Endorsement Ride Test now scheduled for Saturday,

August 16th, at 0755!! Holy smokes…I hope this time I pass it!! Things

seemed to start clicking for me tonight. This took me by surprise since

I haven’t been on my bike for over a week! Some girlfriends and I traveled by cage down to Ashland, Oregon to attend the Shakespeare Festival for 5 days. However, during that trip I read more extensively into the David Hough book, Proficient Motorcycling. This is an excellent publication for any Newbie Riders and really goes into details describing all aspects of how to ride safely and proficiently. I think things started to click because I now had a better understanding of the mechanics and dynamics of the motorcycle.

Newbie Tip: Purchase and read early on, the David Hugh book "Proficient Motorcycling". It is rated one of the best publications on learning how to ride a motorcycle and much of its content is used by others, including the actual test material for the MSF, BRC and DOL courses; written exams were developed based on this author’s writings.

Lesson #17, Saturday, August 2nd:
 160 Miles. THIS WAS MY 1ST EVER SOLO CLUB RIDE!! Destination: Roslyn, WA

OMG I did it…YAHOO!!! The plan was to meet up with the group in North end, WA. We left North Bend with approximately 25 bikes. Including myself there were three newbie’s on this particular ride. Prior to us leaving North Bend the Road Captain gave everyone the road rules and demonstrated the hand signals. My heart was pounding and I hoped I could manage the ride without incident. What a thrill it was to ride in formation with a group that large. We rode straight to Roslyn, approx. 60+ miles East on I-90. My right throttle hand became tired and there is not much you can do about that because releasing the throttle brings you to an abrupt slowdown…not good in a group ride. So I would wait until we were going downhill and would shake my hand out to start the circulation going again. I will again consider purchasing one of the cruise control throttle locks that I can see would be very useful for long trips and freeway riding.

We arrived in Roslyn around Noon and met up with several more bikes from the Southern Cruisers Eastern Washington Chapters. It was time to check out everyone’s bikes, talk bikes, take pictures of bikes; it’s all about bikes!! I created a photo website to post pictures of the rides that I participate on and this is the link to those photos: http://community.webshots.com/user/doubledee01.

It was time to depart and many of the riders split off to go in different directions to take other routes back home or to new destinations. We left Roslyn with approximately 8 bikes. Once we hit Snoqualmie Pass we stopped to take a break. Then my friend Dee and I separated from the group to take a little diversion down a twisty road that ran along Denny Creek and then we returned to I-90 for the rest of the ride home.

This was such a sense of accomplishment to know that I could ride successfully with the group. Everyone was so supportive and I know many of them were looking out for my back. That’s just what bikers do for newbie riders. It is a good feeling that there is so much camaraderie between all bikers, no matter where you are or what groups you are affiliated with. I look forward to building my riding experience on longer day and overnight rides. There are always people in the group planning a ride, or who want to ride no matter what…so there will be plenty of opportunities.

Newbie Tip: Riding in a group requires you to ride in staggered formation, 1 second behind the rider staggered either to the right or left in front of you, depending on where you fall into the formation and 2 seconds from the rider directly in front of you. This gives you an adequate safety cushion without allowing space for other vehicles to cut in. It is your responsibility to remain visible in the rearview mirror of the rider staggered to either side in front of you.

Lesson #18, Tuesday August 5th:
 12 miles. Practice at the Kirkland DOL Riding Test Course.

Well this was an eye opening lesson, but I am feeling confident with enough practice I will be able to pass my endorsement test riding my own bike. I’m not going to say it will be easy, because what I learned tonight was that with my bigger bike weaving through the cones and performing the U-turn maneuver will be much more difficult than it was on the smaller 250cc bikes used in the BMC training. However, after several runs through the DOL I think I did okay. It will require practice, practice, practice, to insure consistency during the testing.

Newbie Tip: Try to accomplish all of the endorsement requirements; however do not set your sites on acing the ride test, but only to pass. There are 20 points out of 100 you can loose before failing, so if you hit a cone, or put your foot down on the ground during the U-turn maneuver there is still hope!

Lesson #19, Wednesday August 6th:
 55 miles. Destination: DOL Riding Test Course in North Bend.

Wellllll…this was more than an interesting experience tonight. OMG, I DROPPED MY BIKE…TWICE! I’ve now joined the statistics that state within the first six months of being a new rider you will have dropped your bike. This was not good and up to this point in time I haven’t even come close to dropping my bike.

My friend Dee and I rode out to North Bend because this was the DOL course I wanted to take my ride test on. I was told the parking lot where the course was laid out on would be free of cars after 5:30 PM weeknights so that I could use it for practice. WRONG, we found lots of cars and some were parked over the course. As the cars would leave we would attempt to get in a run or two on the cone weave. A guy in a pick-up truck stopped and started talking with me. He said there was no way I was going to pass the DOL test riding my large cruiser and I needed to get a smaller bike to take the ride test. I said, “don’t tell me that, this is the only bike I have and I must pass the ride test with this bike”. He continued to tell me what a big mistake that would be. I tried to blow his comments off….but by know you know what happens when something gets planted in my brain…oh shit!

I proceeded around the course and realized that there was a long curb barrier that ran within 1 ft. of the red line that led into the U-turn maneuver and several times I almost ran into it, because that is what I focused on!! Remember, where you look is where your bike will go. Okay, so I got passed that and went to make the sharp U-turn slowing down the bike. I thought I was pulling in the clutch only to the friction zone and throttling the gas…however, in reality I was pulling the clutch in all of the way and not giving it any gas whatsoever. Then I released the clutch all of the way and there was no thrust…WELL over she went like a magnet! I couldn’t believe it. My friend came over and helped me pick it up right away; there was no way I could pick it up by myself. I tried to shake that off and try the maneuver again. Lo and behold I did the exact same thing and within seconds I was down again. I was feeling pretty foolish by now and the bike was leaking gas. A nice man stopped immediately to help us pick it up. My friend said it was better I had experience dropping my bike in front of her instead of the guys. Even so I was pretty pissed off at myself. We decided it was time to leave, re-coop and try to come up with Plan B, so we left to go get ice cream at the DQ to drown our sorrows.

While talking and having ice cream my friend said she would loan me a video on controlled slow maneuvers she had. I told her I was really feeling apprehensive about taking the ride test at the North Bend location since I obviously did not have a good feeling about the course layout there. It would be back to the Kirkland location where last night I faired much better and it is in a wide-open parking lot where practicing without traffic or disruption can be done as often as I want!! Man oh man this testing thing is a real pain in the patoottie, if only I could just ride without worrying about it. When I ride everything is right in the world…but this dang test requirement really gives me a headache!!

When I got home I watched the ‘Motorman’ video multiple times. This guy makes riding the biggest darn cruiser through the cone weaves and doing figure-8 U-turns look as simple as apple pie. It obviously proves it can be done, but I wondered how long he had been riding to be able to perfect them with such preciseness…

The emphasis is on 4 things:

1. Really cranking your head to look where you want to go and NEVER, EVER LOOK DOWN!!

2. Using the clutch friction zone

3. Rolling the throttle

4. Feathering the rear brake…and never ever use the front brake on sharp turning maneuvers

#2, 3 & 4 are done simultaneously.

OK, so this is what I’ve got to practice next. Once I’ve become proficient with the ‘slow-go’ straight maneuver then I will apply it in the cone weave and U-turn. The one thing I have not done before is use the foot/rear brake only to slow down in a turn because I knew you are not suppose to apply brakes in a turn, however the front/hand brake is the real culprit in a turn and feathering the foot/rear brake can be done safely if it is not done with force. This is very important information to know.

Newbie Tip #1: Concentrate learning the ‘slow-go’ 3-5 mph maneuver, simultaneously using the friction zone of the clutch to regulate speed, rolling on the throttle, and feathering the rear brakes. This will help you to master very tight cone weaves and U-turns.

Newbie Tip #2: Dropping your bike is not a good thing, but it is bound to happen sooner or later. Hopefully you will only have a bruised ego and now that it’s past you, shake it off and get on with the riding.

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