As many of you know, motorcycle safety is a big deal in the U.S. military, and for good reason.
Recent reports show that more soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are being killed in motorcycle accidents than in combat, i.e., that overdone saying, "in harm's way," is not only in Iraq or Afghanistan, but, e.g., Fort Bragg, Mayport, Vandenberg, and TwentyNine Palms, etc.
Commanders have tried many ways to stop the bleeding. Many would ban motorcycles outright if they could. They and some well-meaning-but-ignorant others do all sorts of additional rules that vary from military installation to installation, thus burdening military and visiting motorcyclists with confusing, draconian, and often-senseless requirements. It's even worse when the commanders think of themselves as "riders," when most of these might own a motorcycle, shine chrome, and ride in costumed-convoys for a few miles, but ride? Not so much.
There is a bright spot in the mess, the MSF Military SportBike RiderCourse (MSRC), which actually attempts to reach the young (and some few older) military riders of sport bikes who are killing themselves right and left.
Well, I don't fit the targeted demographic, but I am now an official grad of this course.
First, here's some basic info about the course, which is loosely based (with permission and video intro, on Nick Ienatsch's (very fine) book, "Sport-Riding Techniques: How to Develop Real World Skills for Speed, Safety, and Confidence on the Street and Track
Here are some basics on the course:
https://safety.army.mil/Portals/povmoto ... _Sheet.pdf
So ... I went to NAS Atlanta/Dobbins AB on the NW side of Atlanta earlier this week.
I was somewhat dubious of a sport-bike rider course that did not "get on the street," but came away impressed. I would encourage all riders, even non-sportbike riders if space available, to attend if they can. I understand that MSF is fielding a "civilian" version, too.
As with other MSF (and other m/c) courses, the MSRC involves classroom time and on-two-wheels time. In our case, predicted -- and the weather folks got that one right; I got soaked on way home -- thunderstorms caused the instructors (oops, RiderCoach Trainers; the MSF is so touchy-feely these days!) to flip-flop the order, so we did the riding first. I found it a much more "real life" set of drills than the BRC or ERC provided, and, again, given the restricted venue of 120' x 220' with run-off, that is pretty remarkable.
I cannot say I learned anything startlingly new in the sense that I had not heard it before somewhere, but I can say that the course packaged and presented lots of information in a way that made it fit together well. And, as an example, will say that one technique I thought was impracticable on my Norge because of ergos -- keeping balls of feet on foot pegs when not covering controls -- will work. I had only tried that a few times on my own before, and had discounted the advantages it gives one, in conjunction with leaning forward and in on turns, in directional control. "Forced" to do it in the range exercises, I came to see its value as I had not before. That is but one example; there were others.
The quick-stop exercise was also pretty revealing. The Norge has ABS. While I don't want to tempt the fates, I will say that it is hard to screw up straight-line stops with ABS. May not be impossible, but it is almost that to lock up either wheel. Think it even impressed the instructors, which is not something my stops might have done without ABS.
Think normal rider count for this course is 12, but there were some "no shows," with the result being only 4 riders. With two RCT's, that meant a 1 to 2 ratio, which was great for us. Our "instructors" were Andrew "Smitty" Smith from Fort McPherson and Larry DeLong, a retired USN fellow from Mayport. Both were very capable, competent, and congenial, and I think everybody (including the RCT's, tho they see lots of these) had a good time.
The only negative I found with the course -- besides the probably unrealistic wish that it could have some road or track component -- was that the "wrong riders" were there. Granted, the Atlanta Army is not a major troop concentration with lots of teen and twenty-somethings on 187-mph out-of-the box liter bikes, tho one of the attendees came close to that description. I loathe "mandatory training," but not sure we'll ever get the needy target audience to attend in the absence of requiring the course. And the training will do more good, IMO, than all the varying (and stupid PPE and other harassing) rules at every post, camp, and station I mentioned at the outset.
Oh, pix? A few are here: http://www.tinyurl.com/MSBRC-May-2009. Hit "slideshow."
EDIT: Hmmmmmmm. Try this if the above url is a dead end (and you care!
]
http://www.picasaweb.google.com/BillKat ... eat=email# or http://www.picasaweb.google.com/lh/sred ... feat=email
Bill
Recent reports show that more soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines are being killed in motorcycle accidents than in combat, i.e., that overdone saying, "in harm's way," is not only in Iraq or Afghanistan, but, e.g., Fort Bragg, Mayport, Vandenberg, and TwentyNine Palms, etc.
Commanders have tried many ways to stop the bleeding. Many would ban motorcycles outright if they could. They and some well-meaning-but-ignorant others do all sorts of additional rules that vary from military installation to installation, thus burdening military and visiting motorcyclists with confusing, draconian, and often-senseless requirements. It's even worse when the commanders think of themselves as "riders," when most of these might own a motorcycle, shine chrome, and ride in costumed-convoys for a few miles, but ride? Not so much.
There is a bright spot in the mess, the MSF Military SportBike RiderCourse (MSRC), which actually attempts to reach the young (and some few older) military riders of sport bikes who are killing themselves right and left.
Well, I don't fit the targeted demographic, but I am now an official grad of this course.
First, here's some basic info about the course, which is loosely based (with permission and video intro, on Nick Ienatsch's (very fine) book, "Sport-Riding Techniques: How to Develop Real World Skills for Speed, Safety, and Confidence on the Street and Track
Here are some basics on the course:
https://safety.army.mil/Portals/povmoto ... _Sheet.pdf
So ... I went to NAS Atlanta/Dobbins AB on the NW side of Atlanta earlier this week.
I was somewhat dubious of a sport-bike rider course that did not "get on the street," but came away impressed. I would encourage all riders, even non-sportbike riders if space available, to attend if they can. I understand that MSF is fielding a "civilian" version, too.
As with other MSF (and other m/c) courses, the MSRC involves classroom time and on-two-wheels time. In our case, predicted -- and the weather folks got that one right; I got soaked on way home -- thunderstorms caused the instructors (oops, RiderCoach Trainers; the MSF is so touchy-feely these days!) to flip-flop the order, so we did the riding first. I found it a much more "real life" set of drills than the BRC or ERC provided, and, again, given the restricted venue of 120' x 220' with run-off, that is pretty remarkable.
I cannot say I learned anything startlingly new in the sense that I had not heard it before somewhere, but I can say that the course packaged and presented lots of information in a way that made it fit together well. And, as an example, will say that one technique I thought was impracticable on my Norge because of ergos -- keeping balls of feet on foot pegs when not covering controls -- will work. I had only tried that a few times on my own before, and had discounted the advantages it gives one, in conjunction with leaning forward and in on turns, in directional control. "Forced" to do it in the range exercises, I came to see its value as I had not before. That is but one example; there were others.
The quick-stop exercise was also pretty revealing. The Norge has ABS. While I don't want to tempt the fates, I will say that it is hard to screw up straight-line stops with ABS. May not be impossible, but it is almost that to lock up either wheel. Think it even impressed the instructors, which is not something my stops might have done without ABS.
Think normal rider count for this course is 12, but there were some "no shows," with the result being only 4 riders. With two RCT's, that meant a 1 to 2 ratio, which was great for us. Our "instructors" were Andrew "Smitty" Smith from Fort McPherson and Larry DeLong, a retired USN fellow from Mayport. Both were very capable, competent, and congenial, and I think everybody (including the RCT's, tho they see lots of these) had a good time.
The only negative I found with the course -- besides the probably unrealistic wish that it could have some road or track component -- was that the "wrong riders" were there. Granted, the Atlanta Army is not a major troop concentration with lots of teen and twenty-somethings on 187-mph out-of-the box liter bikes, tho one of the attendees came close to that description. I loathe "mandatory training," but not sure we'll ever get the needy target audience to attend in the absence of requiring the course. And the training will do more good, IMO, than all the varying (and stupid PPE and other harassing) rules at every post, camp, and station I mentioned at the outset.
Oh, pix? A few are here: http://www.tinyurl.com/MSBRC-May-2009. Hit "slideshow."
EDIT: Hmmmmmmm. Try this if the above url is a dead end (and you care!
] http://www.picasaweb.google.com/BillKat ... eat=email# or http://www.picasaweb.google.com/lh/sred ... feat=email
Bill
