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First night of the course went really well. All classroom work so far, but very a very fun group of people. Had a nice little intro to the course by a state patrol officer who also rides and took the class from the same folks two years ago.

My wife is feeling a little overwhelmed, but I think she will do fine. I am just really excited and hope I can keep all those hand signals straight!

lol handsignals - I was worried about that too..."what if I go when they say stop - they'll kick me out!"

meh. Don't worry, handsignals will be the least of your worries when tomorrow comes around

Get some rest, encourage your wife, and yall hit it tomorrow. Good luck!

When I took it, someone would get yelled at about every hour for not seeing or not understanding a hand signal. Never a big deal - everyone would just laugh.

Just be careful of, and toward, all the other riders on the range. Even the riders with a good amount of pre-BRC experience can get a little unsure of themselves when doing those excercises under the critical eye of the instructors.

Good luck - I'm sure you and your wife will rock it.

Ever hear of Phil O'Hagan, hotdog? The guy was legendary at the Bronx school (MSS) for yelling at people. He had it down to an art form.

I'm in the middle of the training course here in Winnipeg, and they haven't been using too many hand signals on the lot. They just set up the cones, explain what we'll be doing, then send us off. Then they'll walk around and give us little bits of coaching as we ride past them, or sometimes just tell us to come off to the side for a minute. Then they'll just kind of wave us in when it's time to move on. Sounds like we have it pretty easy

I should take the MSF again. It was fun, and scary. I doubt I will be scared this time, but Ill bet it will be fun.

Randy wrote:I should take the MSF again. It was fun, and scary. I doubt I will be scared this time, but Ill bet it will be fun.

You could take the Experienced Rider Course. Its designed to "tune up" your skills. Much the same sort of stuff as the BRC, but it is one day only, and you can't lose your "M."

The other cool thing is that the ERC is done on YOUR bike.

P

We finished the course, and we both passed! I had a devil of a time in the box. I succeeded one time in all my attempts, and it was the one just before the riding test. Arrrgg! Oh well, did not do bad enough to not pass.

I was assigned a dual sport (Hyosung Kasai). The friction zone was almost non existent! The bike had really high miles and was not in the best of shape. It worked fine though, but without the friction zone, maneuvers like the box were next to impossible.

We got pretty lucky with weather. It sprinkled some on Saturday, but we had sunshine today. Made for a great final day. The instructors did not yell, but did scold a lot!

Tomorrow I head down to my in-laws to work on my '75 Fiat spider and pickup a VStar Classic 650 my father-in-law is giving me. He has varicose veins really bad in one leg, and cannot sit on the bike for very long. I hope to ride the bike over to the local school (really small town with a k-12 school building). I want to go over all the exercises from the course on this bike.

Anyway, glad we did the class, and of the twelve students, only one did not pass. She was ok with it, and will try again another time.

Thanks for all the kind words!

Congratulations on passing the MSF! It truly is a milestone and one you should be proud of.

I just completed the MSF this weekend. Have to say that we probably had some of the best instructor around.

No yelling (not once), lots of joking around .... when appropriate...... lots of coaching ...... and they definitely had lots of patience. I was fortunate in that I got to take it with a great group of other students .. who were also very encouraging. All but 2 of us had previously ridden ... Me and another woman had never drove much less even ridden on a motorcycle. Unfortunately .... she dropped out mid morning of the 1st day on the range. I was determined to stick it out an learn all I could. If I didn't pass .... so be it ... I was there to learn and figured ... I could always take it again.

Everything was explained well, demo'd well and they were VERY encouraging. Since I had never ridden before ... I did not no if some of the issues I was having was me ... or the possibly the bike (unable to get it into neutral when running at a stop .... apparently not me ... an issue with Nighthawk 250's) I was able to find neutral easy enough without the engine running .. or when moving).

They were real helpful in giving tips when your bio-mechanics don't exactly work the way they should -- I have a pinched nerve in my neck and can't fully turn my head to the right).

Enjoy your new found hobby!!!!!