Jan 11 2009
What will my first time on the motorcyle be like?
Get your motorcycle license. First hours on the bike. You will be on one of twelve running motorcycles with a helmet on and it may difficult to hear. The instructors will be raising their voices for you to hear. If you tend to be a sensitive sort, don’t let it bring you to tears. Understand that he is hollering to you not at you.
You learn where the controls of the motorcycle are in your first classroom session. You get the hands on the first moments on the range. You get to touch and manipulate each of them. If you don’t understand, ask while you are in this exercise or you will spend the whole time trying to figure it out while you should be learning other things. This class is in the form of building blocks, it is important to the next exercise that you get this one. Learn each lesson as well as you can as it is being taught. Practice each lesson as long as the instructor will let you. Even if you “get it”. You want to get muscle memory. You don’t want to have to think about some things later, just do.
After you are mounted on the motorcycle and have it started there will be an exercise that lets you manipulate the clutch for a long period. Now is the time to understand how the clutch works. You want to manipulate the clutch without killing the bike. Get that during this exercise or you will spend the whole day stalling and restarting your bike. Another good thing to take advantage of is the time that they give you to learn to get the motorcycle in and out of neutral. That is a frequent challenge for new riders. Better to figure it out here and now than on a ride with friends. Taking the full time and learning these things at the very beginning will make the rest of your class more enjoyable. The instructor is trained to see how you are doing and will usually give a little extra time if you are struggling. Main thing is to relax. Classes taught the MSF way.
