As I had never ridden a bike on the street, the New Rider Course was the obvious choice for me and my friend Cat, who also works in the industry. Both of us wanted to get firsthand experience in the sport that consumes our work lives. Another classmate, Carol, had just purchased a used Harley and wanted to learn how to ride. Brothers Steve and Dan were looking to build their riding skills. Chris registered to get a 15 percent discount on his motorcycle insurance, and veteran motorcyclists Keith and Jason signed up to obtain M classification Illinois motorcycle licenses.
The Rider's Edge Academy of Motorcycling is two evenings of classroom instruction followed by two full days of riding. The trainers took us through the curriculum in the MSF Basic RiderCourse Handbook and a handful of road-course exercises. Rider's Edge differs from the MSF course mostly in its emphasis on the Harley-Davidson brand.
The riding portion of the class, for instance, takes place on 492cc Buell Blasts, and more than one student mentioned the more powerful bike as a factor in choosing Rider's Edge over the MSF course, which offers 250cc trainers. The New Rider Course also allows you to take the state motorcycle license test at the dealership-on the same range with the same bikes. When you factor in the professionalism of the instructors and all the comfort and conveniences, the $325 price tag seems like a good deal.
Our husband-and-wife instructor team were both Rider's Edge and MSF certified (as are all Rider's Edge instructors), and they placed the emphasis both in the classroom and on the range on skill development within a framework of safety. Classroom instruction included learning acronyms such as the proper pre-startup procedure, TCLOCS (Tires and wheels, Controls, Lights and electrics, Oil and other fluids, Chassis and Stands), as well as MSF's SEE (See, Evaluate and Execute) strategy for planning and implementing a course of action while riding. We also learned about risk awareness and protective gear.
On the range the course curriculum was divided into 16 lessons, covering skills from simple cornering to swerving techniques to my nemesis: the figure-eight U-turn. Each lesson had a strategy, a purpose and, most importantly, a real-world application. After every run-through students were given one-on-one feedback, with a group debriefing period at the end of each session.
All of that prepared us for the riding exams on Sunday afternoon. In the classroom we took the 50-question MSF written exam, a multiple-choice test that assessed our knowledge of MSF Basic RiderCourse material. On the range we were tested on basic skills, including cornering, U-turns, swerves, quick stops and 135-degree turns. The Rider's Edge road test is supposed to be similar but more challenging than the state test, and I felt pretty prepared-even if I wasn't too confident in tight, first-gear U-turns. The moment of truth would come the next day when we took our motorcycle license tests.
When the first three students bogged on their first attempt I started to worry. Testers are only allowed 10 points worth of mistakes, such as stalls (one point), riding out of bounds and the like. If you drop a bike you're done. My "ride the clutch" strategy paid off, and I passed with five points off for going out of bounds once. I was thrilled. I may have taken the long way around, but after more than a decade in this industry I can now legitimately call myself a motorcyclist. Some would argue that I need to get it out of third gear before I can make that claim, but the switch has been flipped and I don't see it being turned off anytime soon.