Suggestions for a "confidence builder" course? | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Suggestions for a "confidence builder" course?

油井緋色;2527893 said:
Wtf!

What's wrong with being Power Ranger? They look awesome!


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Go Red Ranger.
 
d54.jpg

Go Red Ranger.

Well that's why you don't let yourself go..........<_< clearly we have different mental images in mind lol
 
Another vote for Racer 5. Small bike, good instructors and a different controlled environment may be enough to get her over the hump.
 
Pretty much everyone can benefit with some kind of specialized rider training but is the issue here maybe she isn't ready or comfortable going on group rides? I'm sure it's a tough position to be in worrying that she is holding up the group with all eyes on her type of thing all the while focusing on her on riding and becoming more comfortable on the bike.

Does she ever go out on her own or is it always with either just you or you and a group? Maybe the first thing to try is to encourage her to take some rides solo and that way she can take her time and develop some comfort without the distraction of other riders close by.
 
I would like to suggest a more unusual idea: dance lessons. You can both join, have some fun and exercise. It's all about leading and following a partner, guided by rhythm. Husband or bike, it doesn't matter. Relaxed, precise movements are what it's all about.
 
Good suggestions above. Just keep in mind, riding is always for everyone. I have seen a number of wives that took up the sport to be with their husbands and they didn't have the right personality. They were competent, but in pressure situations, they were making the wrong decisions (mainly defaulting to brakes in every situation). By all means take the training and see if that puts her in the right frame of mind, but if it doesn't pan out, there is no shame in returning to passenger (or sidecar) life if that makes her more comfortable. The most important thing is her safety.
 
Very similar situation with my wife. We've spent lots of time in the parking lot doing tight, slow speed stuff and she's gotten quite good at that, but she's still very conservative setting her speed into corners on the road, especially if visibility is restricted at all.

She took the Sharp Intermediate course this season and had a positive impression of it, but it sounds like most of the exercises were things that we were already practicing. I think the ARC 2 course would probably offer more of the higher speed exercises.

The Intermediate course is designed for the new(er) or returning rider. ARC 1 & ARC 2 are for the experienced riders and require a minimum of 5000 km of riding experience. The ARC courses focus on street speeds and specifically corner techniques.
 
Maybe look at a casual, half day session, on your own bike, in your own gear to brush up on basics and get some confidence back that a motorcycle can do way more than you ask.
"Surviving the Streets" is even less ominous than it sounds. Actually I was expecting to be challenged more and wondering why it wasn't more rigid, but in the end, it was what I needed and a lot of fun. I was riding for 12 years by then and needed to remind myself I can brake harder, lean more, accelerate out of curves, etc. and the sound of a peg scraping wasn't the end of the world. They de-mystify "Apex" and get you using a good sight line and corner entrance and exit for safety and what if's, not for speed. In another drill, you're goosing it on take off and hammering on the brakes, head checks and hard take off to simulate a traffic condition. What ever your idea of hard acceleration and braking is will do. There's no "grade" to achieve.

It's run from mid afternoon to past dinner time at Cayuga (Toronto Motorsports Park) which is a dead flat track the instructors want you to think of as just a street with more corners than you experience on average and no cars or stop signs. Follow the leader in small groups, taking turns at the front of the pack. No expectations of speed (it's not even discussed and the speedo is taped over). Just try to do a little better than you were doing before you arrived.

There is a period of trying out the feeling of getting your butt over the side of the seat, but basically it's another experience learned that you can get comfy and move around on a motorcycle of any size (we had Indian and Goldwing land barges down to 250's) without courting disaster, rather than as an advanced technique for building up speed. In other words, another skill to call on if needed in the real world.

Search 'Surviving the Streets' or contact Platinum Powersports of Clinton, ON
 
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Probably the best option. Learning proper body position, throttle and brake control and how to pick the right lines are the skills that will not only make her safer but will also allow her to experience what a bike can do and provide the confidence needed, and these skills are 100 percent transferable to street riding.

Not to put any other type of course down, but there is so much you can learn and experience in a parking lot.



Not sure why you have dismissed track, i would suspect her riding a cbr125 with a Racer 5 course would do her the world of good.

She will learn more being taught by someone else, nothing against you or your abilities but that's just the way it is.
 
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Thx all for the responses. To followup on some of the suggestions:

- Track is 110% not an option as mentioned. We are not in our youth anymore and neither of us are up for the rigors of track physically either, not is there any chance in hell I would ever get her into a racing suit. She has proper gear - full face, proper MC jacket, gloves, etc (including, yes, chaps, spare us the style critiques, but it's better than riding in jeans) but all the gear in the world doesn't change that reality that when you reach a certain age a spill hurts more, things break easier, and overall things takes longer to recover from. We are at that age, so any sort of racing thing is out from multiple angles. ;)

- Giving up group riding isn't going to happen. We belong to a riding organization which has a huge social aspect as part of it, and that aspect as well as the riding have been most enjoyable. Besides, the issue is often less pronounced when we are riding with a group anyways, as mentioned - it tends to be at it's worst when it's just the two of us for that matter, but yes, it seems to crop up randomly.

- I did't just start out with her riding in big groups. We spent a good portion of last season riding just the 2 of us, or with maybe 1 or 2 other close friends from our organization who understood her limitations as a beginner and rode within them to reduce any pressure to ride beyond her abilities. We had one moderately sized group ride last year over 3 days and it went well, but it was a stepping stone. The latter half of this season was the first time I felt comfortable with her going on a large group ride and for the most part she did excellent.

- The "slide your butt off the seat" type of suggestions are not without merit if we were talking about negotiating a 80KPH rated corner at 130, but remember, she's riding a 650 cruiser, not a sport bike, and we are rarely riding more than 10 over. She's not interested in riding in any "sporty" fashion whatsoever. The corners she sometimes struggles with are not corners which would require anything more than confidence to negotiate faster even in a chair riding position, nothing else.

- She isn't interested in being a passenger again, she legitimately enjoys riding her own bike and I'm confident enough in her abilities at this point to not feel the need to try to steer her away from riding. Reality is if that happened she'd probably lose the willingness to participate in riding anymore and it would crimp my riding time as well as a result since It'd be one of those things that I'd be doing alone again, instead of enjoying as a couple. And yes, I do enjoy riding with her - we have had some great adventures.

- Style of bike isn't probably negotiable. We are the cruiser sort. She's also not overly tall and flat footing any bigger of a bike is going to be an issue - she can't even flat-foot my VTX for that matter and it has a very deep saddle type seat on it. I'd also like to keep her on a light/nimble bike for at least another full season to gain more experience . She likes the cruiser style and I can't see her having any interest in something other than a cruiser honestly, and again, she has tons of lean left on her Vstar - it's not that the bike isn't capable, it's that she just doesn't have the confidence to use it.

I am still contemplating but I do like some of the non-track course options that have been presented.
 

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