Half-way through this eight-day course, I’m keeping my fingers crossed hoping I pass. This is not easy!
I signed up (and paid my money–$450) to take RiderCoach training. RiderCoaches, in case you don’t know, are those instructors who train others to ride motorcycles. I figure that training others to ride is a good thing to do, it should help me become a better rider myself, and it will afford me another modest source of income.
What I never imagined was that I would pay my money and take the course and then possibly end up not getting my certification.
During the first day they explained to us that part of passing the course requires passing the riding test that students in the Basic Rider Course must pass, except that we are required to do so with a better score than is required of them. That makes sense. If we’re the supposed experts and can’t do a better job than rank novices what the hell are we doing teaching?
Well, that first day in class was so challenging that I was thinking with more than a little bit of longing that maybe I’d fail the riding test and that would put me out of my misery. I didn’t really want to fail. That would be extremely humiliating to not be able to pass the BRC test. But there was still some appeal.
Then the second day I did fail the riding test. Not because I couldn’t do it, but because on one of the exercises I stopped midway across the course because it was not at all clear to me what I was supposed to do. I’m a visual learner, and every time they read the instructions I sort of understood but figured I’d watch the demonstration and then I would understand. Well, on this particular exercise we were downhill a bit (the range slopes) and the part of the course in question was just over the crest of the slope, where I couldn’t see where the riders who tested ahead of me were going. So I took off on my ride figuring it would become clear but when I got there it was not clear at all. I was assessed 15 points for not completing that exercise, and to pass we were allowed no more than 12.
Come Day 4 when it was time for those of us who failed the first time to try again–our last chance, no more retakes–I insisted on walking the course with one of the instructors, asking questions every step of the way. I demanded that I had to know exactly what was expected of me. Then I got on the bike and rode the exercise well and passed the test. All three of us passed.
That entitled me to four more days of what they promised us will be even tougher demands. By this time next week I’ll either be certified or I will have failed the course. Either way, I’m going to be extremely, extremely relieved.
Recent from National Motorcycle Examiner
More weird stuff in the biker’s path
Biker Quote for Today
Scars are a way to prove to us that the past was real.
Every year on the third Monday in June motorcyclists everywhere–yes, that means you–are urged to ride their motorcycle to work to demonstrate to the cagers out there how many of us there are, and that they really should pay attention to the fact that we might be when they’re getting ready to change lanes or turn or whatever. And then the other objective is to let the politicians know how many of us there are, in case they start getting silly ideas that we’re such a small minority that they can walk all over us and feel no repercussions.
CDOT called on 
They’ll be there on Saturday and Sunday. Sign up starts at 8 a.m. and rides start at 9 a.m. and end at 5 p.m. It’s first come, first served they say. Generally the earlier you get there the better chance you’ll have of getting some rides in without having to kill a lot of time in between.