RIDER ED by Don Mitchell

On Saturday, June 5, 11 Essex HOG members rolled out of bed to meet at 7 am for a trip to the Lakehurst Naval Station to take the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Experienced Rider Course administered by Rider Education of NJ. In addition to the 11 members taking the course, brothers Ken and Anthony Wartel arrived in a “ticket” red Lexus sport coupe to lead the way. Ken, the chapter's Safety Officer, organized the event through coordination with Riders Ed and many e-mails back and forth among the participants. Because of the affiliation with the MSF, NJ motor vehicle commission's recognition of RENJ as an approved safety course and the security requirements of the Naval base, there were a lot of requirements that needed to be met and communicated to the participants. Although the content of the e-mail included suggestions and feedback, it sometimes stretched to unrelated tangents, such as leather thongs. In all, the email was informative and helped inspire enthusiasm for the day and for the course.

Sifting through all of the e-mail and feedback, Ken selected a course date, meeting time and location for the group ride to the naval base. Although we had some light rain for part of the trip, there were no other problems.

The course was split into a morning classroom session, followed by a brown-bag lunch, and an afternoon session on our bikes. In the classroom portion, topics included:

· Rider's self-preparation (gear, bike/size, mental prep., etc.).

· Management of risks and the "ladder of risk".

· Total stopping distance and reaction time.

· The SEE concept -- Search, Evaluate, Execute).

· Rider Radar - a Motorcycle Safety Foundation term for looking ahead 2, 4, and 12 second intervals.

· Crash statistics.

· Traction, which is split between driving, braking, side force and traction reserve

· The safety oval, including rider, motorcycle and environment (traffic and road) factors and the time and space safety margin.

· The affects of alcohol.

There was a written test at the end of the classroom session.

During the afternoon session, the instructors set up cones to mark a course for each exercise and explained the purpose of each riding technique. We practiced emergency straight line braking, straightening out in a curve to brake, weaving between cones, figure-8s in a "box”, emergency avoidance, riding over an obstacle and a "slow race". Most of the exercises were practiced 3 or 4 times clockwise and counterclockwise. All 11 of us passed the written and riding course. We did well on the range exercises, but most found at least one skill that could use a little brushing up.

It was overcast the entire day and by the end of the class, it had started raining lightly again. In an odd way, it was a good day to take the course because the weather wasn't too bad for the practice, and it wasn't so beautiful that we missed a great riding day.

The 11 participants' experience ranged from just over a year to over 30 years of riding. Some had recently taken the Beginners Rider course, others had not taken any safety course and one had taken the Instructor Preparation course. The classroom instructor took a little gentle ribbing for riding a Honda Gold Wing (with a trailer hitch); but the ribbing went both ways. Each rider benefited differently based on riding experience, recent courses and personal outlook. We all enjoyed the day and look forward to our Harley Chrome dollars reimbursement. Thanks to Ken for all of the work organizing the group and thanks to Anthony for assisting with the ride to Lakehurst.