Teaching My First BRC of 2015

This past week and weekend, I taught my first Basic Rider Course of 2015. I have seven courses scheduled for this year.

This class was at Century College. The normal schedule is a weeknight classroom session followed by a half day Saturday and Sunday.

I had the afternoon class this past weekend with eleven students and a co-coach. The class went well. It rained a lot on the second day, which I think makes the students better since they can get over being scared of rain.

Most of them did very well, and only one failed. She is determined to come back and give it another try. Maybe I will see her again. I have a couple weekends off before I teach my next BRC. It was an enjoyable experience.

RiderCoach Sign up and a Ural

This last weekend, I signed up in the RiderCoach sign up. All the coaches for the college I teach at meet once a year to pick which classes we are going to teach.

We line up by senority. Even after teaching for four years, I am still at the end. This year, there was finally one new coach behind me. We signed up to teach together next summer.

One of the other coaches also rides a Ural. He rode his to the signup. I snapped the picture above as he was pulling out of the parking lot. As I took it, I thought "so that's what I look like when I ride my ural."

Another Successful BRC

This weekend, I had the pleasure of teaching a BRC with Tom Day (Geezer with a Grudge). We had a fun time teaching together. We were lucky to have such a good batch of students with varying ages and skill levels. A few were a bit rough around the edges in the beginning, but with a bit of patience they came around. It rained quite hard the second day, but cleared up in time for the skills test. All of them passed. I’m proud of them.

One student wrote this note on the feedback form. It has TOTALLY made my week!!

Thanks to the students (and Tom) for a fun weekend of teaching!

RiderCoach Track Night at DCTC

This past Tuesday night was the monthly RiderCoach night at Dakota County Technical College (DCTC) Driving Course aka the track. It’s a time for us to get together and talk. Mostly about bikes sometimes about coaching. The “track” is about one mile long and in the normal configuration has about 17 corners. Last night it was more like 14 with some of the tighter stuff straightened out. Most of the ridercoaches rode their street bikes there, but a few trailered race bikes to play with.

It was a good time chatting and riding. I was a bit too tired to properly enjoy myself on the track, so I spent most of my time chatting instead. It was nice to finally attend. I missed the first two this year due to my big trip, and then the most recent two because it was 100 degrees both days (or close enough).

I rode my trusty SV650. Two other coaches brought their SV650s too. Nice! There was a surprising amount of BMWs there as well.

Another Successful BRC Taught

This weekend, I finished teaching another BRC (Basic Rider Course). I taught with Tom from Geezer With a Grudge, and had a good time. We enjoy going to lunch, but this was the first time we’ve been able to work together.

We normally do the classroom part on a weeknight and the range on the weekends in either an AM or PM class. Since there was no PM class, the classroom was smaller than usual, and I got to teach it solo. It was a good time.

A quick snap before the students showed up.

Saturday brought lots (and lots) of rain for the first few hours. Some of the students forgot rain gear, so they got wet. The rest of us stayed (mostly) dry.

Sunday was scorching hot with the temps soaring quickly to the mid 90s. We had a strong bunch of students, and all of them passed. One even got a perfect score. So cool. Some of them wrote some really nice things in the comments on the review form too. A fun weekend. I’ll have to sign up with more classes with Tom.

The above is a different group lined up during their skills test – stopping quickly.

MSF SMARTrainer Training

I was recently able to attend the MSF SMART Training for RiderCoaches. SMART stands for Safe Motorcyclist Awareness and Recognition Trainer. I saw the system at the motorcycle show last year, but I didn’t get to use it because of the long line.

RiderCoach Training: Day 7 – RCPC

Day seven of ten is finally over. It was a long day. For me, it started on a low note when I read my email over breakfast. One of the other students dropped out. I was really disappointed to see it.

We spent the first part of the morning on the range working on our second round of peer-teaching. It was nice to get some more practice, and finally the weather was cooperating – mid 60s and sunny! I was co-coach on two of the exercises back-to-back with two other different lead student coaches.

It was a lot to do getting the cones ready while the lead coach was reading the cards, and then ride the demo. I rode the first one perfectly. The second demo didn’t go as well. I got the exercise mixed up in my head with another and was shifting when I was just supposed to be riding the perimeter in second gear. Otherwise the rest went smoothly.

In the later part of the morning, a representative came from the Department of Vehicle Services (DVS) to explain the third-party testing procedures and some of the relevant laws. In Minnesota, we will be trained as third-party examiners. At the conclusion of the BRC, we will be able to give the motorcycle endorsement test and stamp the instruction permits. Then the rider will be able to take the stamped permit and apply for a license. There are lots of little things to protect against forgeries. Lots of chance for mistakes for us too! I’ll be sure to have my manual with me the first few times to avoid making mistakes.

The DVS rep also gave us an exam to be third-party testers. It was all short answer. We all passed, and the best score was five wrong. A couple of the questions were poorly worded, and all of us got them wrong. I hope they fix the test for the next bunch.

The afternoon started off covering some administrative procedures – how to fill out different forms and other paperwork, report crashes, report damaged bikes, etc. Another 50 page manual was also handed out, and it was recommended we read it before our first class which is Saturday morning.

We finished off the afternoon with more range exercises. The other two coaches I am working with and I went to dinner afterwards and quizzed each other for the big MSF RiderCoach test tomorrow morning. The second to last big hurdle.

After dinner, we went back to the range to practice some more exercises and met up with another classmate doing the same. The four of us worked together for a while and compared notes. It was nice to run the exercises a few times.

I was away from the hotel for about 12 hours today. I’m exhausted. Time for some sleep.

RiderCoach Training: Day 6 - RCPC

Sunday was day six of ten for the MSF RiderCoach Prep Course (RCPC). We spent almost the entire day outside working on range exercises and finally finished our first round of peer-teaching.

It rained most the day again, but I was comfortable in my rain suit. In the afternoon, the sun came out between rain showers which made the suit a bit hot. It was pretty easy to take on and off. There were tornados in the area, but we didn’t see any.

We finished Sunday with a mid-course review/evaluation. My instructors are happy with my performance and progress. I am too. I still need to work on the range transitions and cone layouts, but that will come with more practice.

Most of us were pretty exhausted on Sunday. The schedule is a bit frantic as there is a lot of material to cover between the MSF curriculum and Minnesota statute. Many of the other students were following a similar schedule to mine:

• wake up
• get to class around 7:30ish
• class until 5-6pm
• dinner with other students
• back to the hotel to study and do homework until late
• sleep
• repeat

The ride home was fantastic. I think it was mid 60s and clear skies with dark clouds on the horizon (no rain on me!). Sunset at the back and a giant double rainbow in the direction I was riding. The lilacs smelled so sweet. It was so great to get on the bike and just ride after such a busy weekend.

While it has been a ton of work, I have been enjoying almost all of it. I head back to to Hutchinson tomorrow for the last weekend of the RCPC. My plan is to leave after work and head straight there like I did last weekend. One of the instructors mentioned they may repaint part of the range Wednesday evening, and I’d like to be there to help (and learn).

The regular RCPC resumes again Thursday morning at 8am!

 

PS: Sorry for the late post. After I got home on Sunday, it was chores (mowing, laundry, etc). Gonna need a vacation after this class is over!

PPS: I also apologize to my blogging friends as I have been too busy to read your posts. I look forward to reading about all of your adventures after this weekend when I get back to a somewhat normal schedule. :)