Thunder Roads Magazine of Oklahoma/Arkansas May 2016 | Page 13

FEATURES

HOW MANY
MILES IS
ENOUGH?
Story by Radar

Rider Name:
Number of Years Riding:
Age of Rider:
Course Taken:

Radar
Over 50
Over 70
MSF Basic Rider Course

and forth across the course. Whew! Next comes
the fun stuff: clutch friction point, low speed and
panic breaking, low and moderate speed turns,
“U” turns (my downfall), riding over obstructions,
swerving, and weaving. Of course, safety gear is
always reinforced.
I had a bad habit of not looking far enough into
the curves. Lisa kept reminding me to stop looking
the wheel and start looking further ahead. As
Day 1- Our instructors, Lisa Brogdon and Don at
she eloquently pointed out, “no motorcycle wheel
Rains have a casual, yet professional teaching
style. We spent the day doing classroom work: has ever fallen off in a curve”.
friction points, braking techniques, curves are our
friends, etc. I thought I might get a little catnap, but
Day 3 - review, then test time! I felt more at
it was not meant to be. Good refresher day, the old ease riding in LA traffic then taking this test. I
dog was ready for whatever they threw at me.
mean, what if the old dog failed in front of all these
young pups? Of course, I didn’t fail. I want to thank
for serving those who serve(ed) our country.
Day 2 - course time. The bikes are 500cc H-D’s. H-D
Lisa explained the H-D felt that 500cc sized bikes Thanks to Lisa and Don for excellence in training,
are more realistic size for most starting adult bikers. and thanks to Gunner.
Gunner told me that I needed to take an MSF
riders course – you’re never too old to learn.
Come on , Gunner, how many miles or years of
motorcycling experience is enough? But, when
I saw that Harley-Davidson was offering free
certified riding courses to vets and first responders,
I decided to take H-D up on the offer.

We started by pushing our bikes, engine off, back
Thunder Roads Magazine of OK/AR

13