Day 5 - July 10: Day 1 of Stayin’ Safe Motorcycle Class (updated with photos)

Our class met at 7:30 this morning at an IHOP near the hotel I stayed in last night. There are a total of 4 students and 1 instructor. How is that for a student/teacher ratio? Everyone is an experienced rider so we have been able to move right along in the training. All 4 students are from different states. Ed is from Virginia, Irving is from North Carolina, and Shawn is from Ohio. Irving and Shawn are riding Harleys while Ed in on an 2005 1800 Goldwing. When we finished for the night, Ed was 4 miles short of 80,000 miles so he went back out for a short ride to make it past the milestone. Our instructor is Eric Trow; he is the main person behind the Stayin’ Safe program and we were luck enough to have him as our instructor as this is close to his home. His wife Amy also joined us in the evening.

After breakfast and getting the radio situation in order so the instructor can communicate with us while riding, we headed to an empty shopping mall parking lot to begin with some basic cornering skills to refresh everyone and evaluate everyone starting point. From there we were quickly out on the road. Initially the instructor the lead the way and we would take turns following behind him as he provided guidance over the radio. Later we were able to take turns being in front of the instructor so he could see how we doing while leading.

The class is focused on riding safety and things to do that reduce your risks while riding. Some of the topics discussed including: lane positioning (both for your visibility as well as for other to better see you), determining safe speeds based on your surroundings, speeds to enter corners, and cornering lines. The coaching and reinforcement you get while driving is very helpful. Today we covered about 200 miles.

We are spending the night at the Brazenhead Inn in Mingo. It is a quaint Irish inn. For entertainment, there were 5 local musicians that just got together and played a variety of traditional and bluegrass type music in a little informal “jam” session.

Tomorrow we will meet at 8:00 for breakfast and some video training before we head back out on the road. I look forward to another day of practicing and advancing my skills. The roads here definitely give you lots of opportunities to practice what we have learned.