If you have been following my occasional blogs you cannot have escaped the fact that I like riding motorcycles. In fact I like it so much I want to share it with others. What better way of sharing my passion than becoming a motorcycle rider training instructor!

I have teamed up with Puget Sound Safety, an MSF endorsed training company operating in Pierce & Thurston counties, that drives a very comprehensive schedule not only for riders, but also for instructors. Bret and Chrisie Tkacs have been running this successful operation for over 10 years.

I have started my road to becoming a certified instructor by shadowing PSS’ instructors as they conduct the actual training.

[Picture to right] Bob is instructing students on "the range". Wayne (fellow instructor student) is on the far right. 11 students are listening intently.

A full beginners MSF class with PSS runs over three days. The class I followed started with a Thursday evening class running from 6pm to 10pm, covering a wide set of topics in the classroom. We continue the class by starting at 7:45am on Saturday morning, with practical training on the bikes from the start. The session continues on the range until about 12:30pm. After a 30 min break we reconvene back in the classroom. The afternoon is spent doing the second half of the classroom training. The training is concluded with a written test. Even though I am an instructor in training I decided to take the test. To my embarrassment I didn’t nail it, and my single wrong answer can be attributed to sloppiness: I answered that the fastest way to stop is 1) to lock the front brake (!!!??!!) and 2) use the rear brake. Yikes! that wont just make you stop quickly, but go down faster than the blink of an eye! Next time I will "read" the answers!

The third day is 3/4 day spent on the range with further practical exercises and rounding off the day with the practical tests that may or may not lead to an endorsement. After the test all the students are apprehensive to get their verdict.

[Picture to left] Cameron acted as the supporting instructor. Here he is assembling the students and sharing some stories while Bob is preparing the final results, and calling each student for a one-on-one conversation about the results.

This class ended with 8 out of the 11 students passing the class.

What isn’t visible in these pictures but what will remain in my memory for a long time is the fact that the Saturday was brilliant but very cold. I felt very sorry for the students who all were wearing too little and too thin clothing on the first day. The final Sunday everyone was better dressed but then we had snow and slush the whole day.  I can definitely do with sunshine and warmth. Well, lets see what I say in August! 🙂