Gilroy, CA MSF Course... Experiences?

[Bubble Gum Jr.]

I have mine planned this week. I was wondering if anyone has taken their's there or known anyone who has had experiences them. I'm just curious as to what to expect.

[khad]

I did mine in Texas and as far as I've heard, they're all basically the same.

It's all pretty easy and can be fun. A mesh jacket will get hot since you aren't riding very fast or very long (lots of stops, corners, etc) so just wear a light long sleeve shirt.

Don't get nervous about the exam or riding evaluation as it is all very easy and they give you plenty of practice right before you do it.

It's all no sweat, nothing to worry about.

[Bubble Gum Jr.]

Yeah that's one thing I'm kind of concerned about. Northern Calfornia has been very hot the past two weeks, we hit around 95-100 consistently. Gilroy hits about 105-110. I'm wondering if the course will require that we wear full gear because it will be ridiculous in that type of heat.

[sharpmagna]

Must smell like roasted garlic up there then huh?

Yeah as far as I can tell the format is pretty much the same. My coworker is an MSF Instructor in Maryland and when I took the class in VA it was exactly as how he described it.

Even if it's hot, you are required to have long pants, long sleeves(doesn't have to be a jacket), gloves, shoes that go above the ankle and a helmet.

Bring lots of gatorade to keep you hydrated.

[motogirl]

Oh man, talk about hot!!! We went to Laguna Seca last weekend, so I have an idea of how hot Gilroy will be for your class. But yes indeed, you will surely be expected to gear up. So, as it's been suggested, wear a thin long-sleeved shirt and bring lots of hydration. You will be given lots of breaks, so you may even want to bring a towel for your sweaty head and a couple of shirts to change into if you want.

Good luck. You'll learn a ton.

[Bubble Gum Jr.]

I finished the 1st day of on-bike training and it was alot of fun. I learned alot building up confidence and it helped me get more comfortable with the bike. I had some difficulty getting used to the cruiser style bike, getting my foot under the shifter to shift. Overall it was a good experience, the guys teaching it were very patient and gave alot of good advice from their observations.

The heat actually wasn't that bad, I took a morning session and it was fairly cool. The week before it was 115 in the shade and four people dropped out cause of heat exhaustion. They had the garlic festival going on so it was very busy traffic wise as we left, also we could smell the garlic all the way from San Jose, 25 miles away.

[Bubble Gum Jr.]

I passed the course, woohoo!

I messed up on the figure eights, I made first one fine but in the end of the second one I lost my balance because I was going too slow and had to put my foot down. The rest of the exam I think I did fairly well. The instructor said I had to work on keeping my head up cause I have a tendency to lower my head when I'm hard braking and sometimes at the end of curves. I also have small hands and it makes it hard to reach the brake all the way so there were times where I only had 3 fingers on the brake.

But overall it was a great experience, I learned alot of stuff and practiced many maneuvers that I'd use in everyday situations. I wish I had taken the class before I bought my bike.

Just learning a simple procedure like using the clutch and throttle to walk with the bike. Helped so much in understanding the clutch pressure points and controlling the throttle using the clutch.

Even my friend who has been riding for a while, learned some stuff from the course. The first day felt like a waste of time for him but on the second day he learned alot of everyday maneuvers; like emergency stopping, swerving, going over obstacles, doing slow speed maneuvers and uturns.