Part 1 of this column included information for new riders.
As for experienced riders wanting to earn the motorcycle endorsement, many states have other options. There are many motorcyclists who have riding experience on dirt bikes and quads, and even street bikes, who already know how the controls operate, and may already have advanced riding skills, who just want to get their endorsement to ride in the streets legally. Some states offer intermediate or experienced rider's courses. In most cases, these courses require less time, and they skip the elementary learn-to-ride exercises. They focus on advanced riding skills, advanced traffic-management skills, and preparing for the endorsement test. In most programs, passing this course and test qualifies the rider for the motorcycle endorsement. Again, in my experience of teaching these upper-level courses, every student I've ever met said that they learned something new by taking the course.
Most state-run and privately operated rider-training programs are conducted in parking lots with top-speeds of about 25 to 30 mph. They teach many advanced-riding techniques that will be applicable on the highways and at freeway speeds. For riders who want to train at highway speeds, and above, there are many track-day programs all over the country.
Although track-day programs are mostly focused on racing, and sport bikes, many track-day programs invite and welcome all types of street-riders and bikes, including touring bikes, cruisers and even scooters! Anyone who rides on the open roads can benefit from practicing taking turns at ever increasing speeds and testing the leaning capabilities of their tires and bikes. Most track-day programs have coaches and instructors who are experienced racers.
Portland International Raceway says that if you feel the need for speed, bring your motorcycle out for a motorcycle track day. Several groups offer you the chance to learn about the right way to go fast safely on your two-wheeled rocket ship.
Sportbike Track Time says that track days are the most exciting and fun way to ride your motorcycle. A closed circuit course (racetrack) is the only place you can ride your sportbike and experience the true power and beauty of your machine without worrying about speed limits, traffic, or speeding tickets! Their events are open to riders of all skill levels and event formats are designed to give each rider maximum on-track time.
MotoCorsa has a program intended for beginning street riders looking to improve their road riding skills at a fun and quick pace on a fun course, including classroom instruction and coaching from the staff instructors throughout the day.
Pacific Super Sport Riders invites you to improve your riding skills with quality track time and instruction from some of the best riders in the Pacific Northwest! Three rider groups, lots of laps and optional, friendly instruction to offer all the help and guidance you want.
You can even learn from the very best by taking a class from Superbike and MotoGP racers Keith Code, and Kevin Schwantz, and Colin Edwards.
One discipline of the motorcycle world that's becoming more popular each year is adventure-touring. Regardless of how much motocross, road-racing, or street-riding experience you might have, riding a large-calibre enduro, loaded with a week's worth of food, fuel, and camping gear is probably a new experience for most of us. Rawhyde Adventures , Baja and Dakar racer Jimmy Lewis, and others offer Adventure Rider Training and there's more world-wide.
With so many educational opportunities out there, from so many experts, it's pretty difficult for any of us to say to ourselves that we already know everything we need to know about riding. Now that we know this, it's easier to understand how much we don't know, and how to go about learning more about what we don't know.
