There’s a well-worn saying among motorcycle riders that goes something like this: two types of people ride – those who have fallen off their bike and those that will fall off.
Count me in the first group.
Since getting my first motorcycle in 1965, I have hit the dirt in an intriguing variety of ways. There was that time I was coming home from my girlfriend’s in the wee hours of the morning and collided with a locomotive; or when I rode for 12 hours straight and was so fatigued when I got home that I rode right over a six-foot embankment and slept where I fell. And let’s not forget that time I dropped my bike on Douglas Street in Victoria, B.C., right in front of a loaded bus – much to the delight of passengers.
I have also come off the back seat while fooling around – facing backward – at 50 km/h, flopped over into the curb while riding a Honda Goldwing through downtown Needles, Calif., and dropped a fully loaded BMW K1200LT in front of crowded restaurant in Texas.
Those are the ones I can remember, and most were my own fault.
It seemed timely, therefore, to take a course on motorcycle handling. After all, it’s only been 46 years since I got my licence – a guy doesn’t want to rush into these things.
And I should also point out that when I got my motorcycle licence – lo, those many years ago – there was no motorcycle licence, per se. You just bought your bike and rode it. And even when the authorities did institute a testing program, some time in the 1980s, it consisted of executing a figure eight in the parking lot and demonstrating that you knew how to start the bike and shut it off.
That certainly won’t cut it at Roadcraft, an advanced riding school in Richmond, B.C., that specifically offers an advanced, non-government curriculum in the fine art of handling a motorcycle. While most of the instructors are ex-safety council alumni, the course(s) are designed to provide an all-encompassing riding experience. “We look at Roadcraft as a multi-level skills enhanced training program,” explains head instructor Graham Street.
Quite a mouthful, but essentially, it breaks down into three programs: basic and advanced low-speed handling and manoeuvring, and traffic skills.
I registered for the first, which focuses on manhandling your bike at various speeds, through various obstructions, without dropping it. While safe riding is the overriding focus of the course, emphasis is placed on learning the handling limits of your bike, and the dynamics of weight transfer, traction control, braking, and low-speed balance.
Roadcraft breaks it down into three classroom sessions with two full days of riding exercises. This is a serious advanced rider training course, and not for newbies. If you’re looking for an escorted joyride through the countryside, don’t sign up. As it turned out, it also rained heavily, which added to the challenge, to put it mildly.
But before the cone-dodging starts, the first thing riders have to deal with is getting past bad habits. What Street and his colleagues call “riding on autopilot.” In other words, you’ve been riding this way for years and it’s gotten you this far, so you must be doing it right, right?
Not necessarily. Among other things, we learned that:
