Ride Diary

Teaching the MSF's Riding and Street Skills Course

I taught my first MSF class this past weekend. It's non stop for the instructors; we hardly ever get a break, even during lunch since we allow them to practice on the range. There are hundreds of little details and a lot to remember on my end. Where to stand, what to coach, what hand signals to give, what's the path of travel, how long does the exercise run, how do you deal with riders having problems? It's easier in the classroom with the videos (dated as they may be!) and heavily scripted notes to use as a crutch.

Having experienced instructors around is a big plus. I taught a "doubles" class of 24 students, so that meant we had four instructors. Normally there are only three, but they made an exception since there were two rookie instructors teaching the class. The students did very well on average. As always there is a mix of experience. It really is amazing to watch those with no experience start from nothing and by Sunday they are looking quite skilled and confident on the bike. We didn't have anyone drop a bike or run off the range, down the hill and onto the street below. The latter does happen from time to time.

Teaching these courses you realize just how important it is to get the fundamentals down from the very beginning. These are things we take for granted, but they are critical to smooth riding. Taking the extra time to make sure everyone has a good foundation on the friction zone, for instance, makes the weekend go smoothly and enhances their learning because they get over the fear of either stalling or having the bike zoom ahead out of control. Directional control with the head and eyes is another one. Look where you want to go; don't look at what you want to avoid.

For me the most rewarding part is seeing those "light bulbs" come on, especially among the students who give puzzled looks when presented with such esoterica as "leaning" and "pressing." When they get to the last exercise (21) and they're pressing, leaning and rolling on in the curves they realize it's the most natural thing in the world and they also realize it's *fun* to roll on and feel the bike stabilize and accelerate. Some serious grin factor there.