I taught my first intermediate rider course this past Thursday and Saturday. Rider must already possess a motorcycle permit. If they pass the riding evaluation, they get the license waiver they same as graduates of the basic rider course.
The range for the riding on Saturday was terrible. South Suburban College's parking lot was always challenging with cracks, dips, and loose gravel on the old asphalt. It was seal coated this past fall. Saturday's weather gave us intermittent showers which in turn made the seal coat slick as snot. During the demo ride of the cornering exercise (stretch out race track type of oval), my rear tire slid several times even though I was going only 10-12 mph. The students were rightfully timid, but it also cost a few come the riding evaluation.
3 of 10 passed. I bike was dropped during the stopping quickly evaluation because of a front tire skid. Bikes went down 3 other times during the day.
Conditions aside, I don't believe several of the riders had the appropriate level of experience for the progression of the intermediate course. One person that I was greatly suspect of her experience didn't show up for the riding portion. During the self introductions, her stated experience was being on a bike a few times on a parking lot. The problem is that without having some level of comfort riding, shifting, stopping, turning, the riders without the right level of experience aren't able to effectively progress throughout the course as they don't have the right building blocks. They also eliminate exercise 17 Skills Practice for the IRC.
We will see how the next IRC goes this Thursday and Saturday. I will reserve my judgement of the curriculum until after this one.
2 years ago
3 comments:
Sounds tough. Of course, not all conditions of real-world roads are favorable either. In this part of KY, rider safety courses come in two flavors only, the Basic and Experienced courses. Pass the Basic and you receive the license waiver. Complete the Experienced and you receive the benefit of a possible reduction in insurance along with your additional training.
Last year they had a different license waiver intermediate course that was 16 hour, not this overly compressed 10 hour course.
The weather must have been frustrating for those who don't have that kind of experience. I have experience and that was a tough day to ride! Congrats on getting through...
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