I Am Not a Motorcyclist
Some years ago, Leonard Nimoy wrote a book called I Am Not Spock. I have not read it, but I presume that he felt that he had to establish his own identity, distinct from that of the beloved character that he played on Star Trek.
This spring, I got interested in motorcycles. I have never before this ridden a motorcycle in my life. What actually happened was this. Last spring of 2004, I believe it was, I was teaching a class at the University of Memphis, and picked up a copy of the student newspaper, the Daily Helmsman. On the front page was an article about the Memphis dealership for Vespa, an Italian motor scooter. For some reason, I got intrigued and was looking into getting one. I was discussing it with a coworker who rides motorcycles. He said, as long as I was thinking about a scooter, why not go for a regular motorcycle? So I started thinking about it. I also went to the current Wonders exhibit in Memphis, "The Art of the Motorcycle." Since I had never ridden, I decided to try taking a training course.
On July 29 and July 30, I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation basic rider course. I would like to have said, July 29 through July 31, but I cannot. I flunked out of the course on Saturday, July 30.
The course started out OK. Friday night, we were in a classroom and went over various aspects of motorcycle safety, gear, and handling. On Saturday morning, we went outside for riding practice. It started slowly, with checking the bike, starting the bike, walking the bike, and then finally slow riding. There were different exercises in starting, stopping, turning, cornering, and use of the friction zone. It was quite a thrill to be riding for the first time in my life.
I was doing OK until the exercise on weaving around cones. I was having difficulty managing the weaving and was missing some of the cones. Then, on one of the turns, I had a low side fall. I was not hurt, and did not even damage my helmet. I learned something very important from that: don't put on your brakes during a turn, especially the more powerful front brake.
The real trouble came with countersteering. Before taking the course, I read the course material. The one thing that I could not understand was countersteering. The basic idea is that to make a motorcycle turn, if you are going more than about five miles per hour, you have to make the motorcycle lean in the direction that you want to turn. The way that you are supposed to do this is to press forward on the handlebar in the direction that you want to turn. This seems totally counterintuitive to me. I told the rider coaches this when we started the course. Their answer was, it does work, just wait until you try it, it is something that you have to feel.
Well, when I tried it, I still could not feel it. When we got to the countersteering exercise, I was doing it so poorly that they stopped me and wanted me to ride behind one of them while they showed me. I found this too frightening. So they told me that if I could not get this down, I could not continue the course. I went home at lunch time and did not return.
I am not criticizing them for stopping me. That was what they had to do. My only criticism of the course is that it seemed to me that they were asking us to do exercises, such as the weaving among cones and the countersteering, for which we were not sufficiently instructed. It felt more like a test of the abilities that we already had rather than instruction in how to acquire those abilities. I really had a fear of and a mental block about countersteering that I needed to get over.
Since then, I have read a little about countersteering on the web. I think that I understand the concept a little better now, and may be able to do it given some patience, instruction, and practice.
My suggestion to the coaches in the course, which I offer freely, is: get a gyroscope. Let people hold it and see how it behaves when you apply pressure to it while it is spinning.
I was about to give up on the whole idea, when, oddly enough, I ran into the president of the Memphis Motorcycle Club at an event at my church. He offered to help me learn. They have an event where they get out and ride in a field, and he said that he could help me there.
So who knows? I hear that Leonard Nimoy eventually wrote another book, I Am Spock. Maybe some day I shall be able to post another article here entitled "I Am a Motorcyclist."
This spring, I got interested in motorcycles. I have never before this ridden a motorcycle in my life. What actually happened was this. Last spring of 2004, I believe it was, I was teaching a class at the University of Memphis, and picked up a copy of the student newspaper, the Daily Helmsman. On the front page was an article about the Memphis dealership for Vespa, an Italian motor scooter. For some reason, I got intrigued and was looking into getting one. I was discussing it with a coworker who rides motorcycles. He said, as long as I was thinking about a scooter, why not go for a regular motorcycle? So I started thinking about it. I also went to the current Wonders exhibit in Memphis, "The Art of the Motorcycle." Since I had never ridden, I decided to try taking a training course.
On July 29 and July 30, I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation basic rider course. I would like to have said, July 29 through July 31, but I cannot. I flunked out of the course on Saturday, July 30.
The course started out OK. Friday night, we were in a classroom and went over various aspects of motorcycle safety, gear, and handling. On Saturday morning, we went outside for riding practice. It started slowly, with checking the bike, starting the bike, walking the bike, and then finally slow riding. There were different exercises in starting, stopping, turning, cornering, and use of the friction zone. It was quite a thrill to be riding for the first time in my life.
I was doing OK until the exercise on weaving around cones. I was having difficulty managing the weaving and was missing some of the cones. Then, on one of the turns, I had a low side fall. I was not hurt, and did not even damage my helmet. I learned something very important from that: don't put on your brakes during a turn, especially the more powerful front brake.
The real trouble came with countersteering. Before taking the course, I read the course material. The one thing that I could not understand was countersteering. The basic idea is that to make a motorcycle turn, if you are going more than about five miles per hour, you have to make the motorcycle lean in the direction that you want to turn. The way that you are supposed to do this is to press forward on the handlebar in the direction that you want to turn. This seems totally counterintuitive to me. I told the rider coaches this when we started the course. Their answer was, it does work, just wait until you try it, it is something that you have to feel.
Well, when I tried it, I still could not feel it. When we got to the countersteering exercise, I was doing it so poorly that they stopped me and wanted me to ride behind one of them while they showed me. I found this too frightening. So they told me that if I could not get this down, I could not continue the course. I went home at lunch time and did not return.
I am not criticizing them for stopping me. That was what they had to do. My only criticism of the course is that it seemed to me that they were asking us to do exercises, such as the weaving among cones and the countersteering, for which we were not sufficiently instructed. It felt more like a test of the abilities that we already had rather than instruction in how to acquire those abilities. I really had a fear of and a mental block about countersteering that I needed to get over.
Since then, I have read a little about countersteering on the web. I think that I understand the concept a little better now, and may be able to do it given some patience, instruction, and practice.
My suggestion to the coaches in the course, which I offer freely, is: get a gyroscope. Let people hold it and see how it behaves when you apply pressure to it while it is spinning.
I was about to give up on the whole idea, when, oddly enough, I ran into the president of the Memphis Motorcycle Club at an event at my church. He offered to help me learn. They have an event where they get out and ride in a field, and he said that he could help me there.
So who knows? I hear that Leonard Nimoy eventually wrote another book, I Am Spock. Maybe some day I shall be able to post another article here entitled "I Am a Motorcyclist."
posted by John at 1:33 PM
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