Rider's Edge Class Recap - Day Three

by Carla

<< Day Two

DAY 3
Today was the first day of range riding! The moment we've all been waiting for. We got out there at the butt crack of dawn....well, at least it seemed early since it's Saturday. The instructors were there early with doughnuts and a huge cooler of ice water (no coffee?!).

First order of business was picking out a bike (the Buell Blasts that we used come in two seat heights) then going through the proper mount and start up procedures and reviewing the controls and range hand signals. Then we got comfortable finding neutral, which is actually really easy on these bikes. We played around with what it feels like when you're not in neutral and we duck walked the bikes around a little bit, leaning back and forth to get a feel for the weight. All of this was with the bikes off.

For each of the exercises, the instructor would talk through what we were about to do while the other instructor demonstrated, then we would get on the bikes and simulate it with the engines off. Then we'd start them up and do it.

First task was to play around with the friction zone in first gear with both feet down. We would roll throttle on and let out the clutch just enough to inch forward, till we were up on our toes, then squeeze the clutch back in and rock it back till we were on our heels, over and over. Next up was a duck walk under power. We let the clutch out and duck walked with the bike, but let it propel us. This was actually more painful than riding! So it was nice in the next step to actually pick our feet up after we got up to speed. This was all just back and forth across the range in our assigned lane. At the end of the lane, we would stop, find neutral, and wait for the signal for everyone to walk the bike through a tight turnaround.

We had one of the women drop out at this point. Her and her husband were taking the class together. She was doing all right, but she just didn't have the strength or balance to keep picking her feet up, so she decided she likes riding on the back better after all. She stayed with us and watched the class...and I think she's going to finish the class work with us. She just wasn't comfortable balancing the bike on her own yet.

We took a water break at this point. We were already starting to sweat and it was only 9:15am! Let me tell you, black asphalt on a sunny day is HOT! Thank goodness there was a breeze...I hope it holds out through tomorrow. Next exercise, we followed an oval course laid out on the whole range with cones. We would start out next to a cone, ride (feet up) to the next cone and stop. Once the next cone was clear, we'd go again. 'Round and around. Part 2 of this one was to ride all the way down one side in a go, stop at the end, then power duck walk it over to the other side to get in line for the next straightaway.

Another water break...then...the exercises start to blend in my mind. There was friction zone work, slow riding using the clutch...pausing without putting your feet down, just using the clutch...perimeter turns...quick stops...shifting into second...long arcing turns in second gear (turn your head! LOL.)...constant riding around the big oval in second, shifting to third at the apex of the turn and accelerating out of it....weaving (twisties!! my favorite). Each exercise built upon the previous one and reinforced it. And we'd take a nice long water and shade break after each one.

It was a long, hot day. My hips ache, my hands went numb at one point and also ache now. I'm probably dehydrated. But I LOVED IT! The Buell Blasts are very forgiving bikes. A couple of people dropped them. But no one was hurt and the bikes can be picked right back up with no problems. Several people stalled occasionally, myself included, but everyone was able to get the hang of the exercises fairly quickly, and by the end of the day we all had big smiles on despite the heat. We did 15 miles of riding today!

We finished about 3pm and went up to the classroom to watch a couple more short videos and answer more questions out of the workbook. The day ended at 4pm and now I'm ready to rest up for tomorrow.

I have a date with some more ibuprofen, a big glass of water, and my bed. Tomorrow we're supposed to have about 6 more exercises, including swerving and obstacles (we keep joking that we want a ramp to jump), then we practice and take our riding evaluation. These are all the standard MSF exercises, so I assume they are the same in the state-run courses. And they work...I was very comfortable riding, shifting, and turning by the end of the day. Can't wait for tomorrow! >> DAY 4

<< Back to Index