Want To Be A Riding Instructor?
You, too, can be a rider trainer, and now it won’t cost you a bundle for the training.
It used to be, if you wanted to take the training class to become a motorcycle riding instructor it cost you $450. I know this because I took that course several years ago. And then I ended up never teaching a single class, so good-bye $450.
Things have changed. I recently received my December issue of Spokesman, the newsletter of ABATE of Colorado, and there was this section in the state coordinator’s message:
ABATE is looking for Rider Ed instructors. We will provide the training.
Whoa! I want to look into this!
So I talked to Bruce Downs the other day, the aforementioned state coordinator. And yes, it turns out that there is at least one good thing that has come out of having the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) taking on the contract to administer the Colorado Motorcycle Operator Safety Training (MOST) program: The rider training instructor program is free. Don’t ask me how that works out, because I don’t know.
So this is a great chance if you have ever wanted to be a rider trainer. I asked Bruce for more information. Here’s the gist of it.
It’s not clear to me but you probably can’t just call the MSF and say, “Hey, I want training.” I believe you have to go through a training organization. Some group like, oh, I don’t know, umm . . . ABATE!
And then once they have enough prospective trainers lined up they will ask the MSF for a training program. Bruce says this is likely to be in May or June because the MSF has made changes to its training curriculum and as of July 1 all training will need to conform to the new program. It’s the Beginning Rider Course Updated, or BRCU. That U is the new part. So there’s no reason to train on the old program and then turn around and have to get retrained on the new.
The pay is actually not bad. You earn $70 for each student and there are generally six students in each class. So that’s $420 for two days work. And you can work as much or as little as you want, although you have to lead two classes a year to keep your certification current.
If you’re interested the person to contact is Deb Craig at ABATE at abategeneral@abateofcolo.org., or call 303-789-3264. She’ll send you an application and you’ll be on the list.
Biker Quote for Today
Accidents hurt — safety doesn’t.
