Hola,
So I used to ride dirt bikes about 10 years ago and haven't touched a bike again until my BRC/MSF class this past weekend.
First day:
Yes yes it was super boring 5 hours of classwork and a 50 question test after. They showed videos, passed around gear, drew on the chalk board, and made us answer all the questions in the back of the BRC book. I dragged two of my friends to this course and we all passed the written test. They have never ridden any type of two wheels with a motor on it. I got 47/50, another got 47/50 and another got 50/50.
Second day:
One of my friends was about 3 minutes late and they did not let him in
(he has to go to other classes and be on stand by now)
The fun stuff. I picked the 250 Honda Nighthawk (awesome bike). They started off at a pretty slow pace, learning everything on the bike before even mounting the bike, switches and all. We spent awhile doing clutch control and going up and down the course (parking lot). Two people kept stalling the bikes and could never find neutral to start the bikes which held us up. After the first hour, the training went into overdrive. Move after move, turn after turn, pretty fast pace and most of us caught on.
While doing the quickstops - Two people fell. One was my friend (I couldn't stop laughing). He went strait then engaged both breaks, came to a stop, and tipped over! just LOLD. Another guy was doing a quickstop and while he was breaking his bike leaned over and it dropped. He broke the right turn signal and got to take it home as a souvenir (i wanted a souvenir
)
Third day:
More advanced stuffs. I got b'd at because I was going to fast on the straits. We had to take a turn, then go fast enough to use the breaks before the next turn. I think I prob went about 35 in the small area we had. Figure 8 was a killer, I put my foot down the first two attempts I tried but then I started doing everything they told me and it was a breeze. Getting closer to test time and everyone was super nervous. The instructor pulls my friend on the side and tells him: "I recommend you not take this test today". My friend was having fun up until that point
After that he was just super pissed and kept saying there supposed to train, and encourage you and not say some ish like that. I agreed that it was a messed up thing to say but I was watching him sometimes and I'm sure he would have failed the test.
Test Time:
Everyone was super nervous and we all lined up (except my friend because he was going to save his two test attempts when he gets more pratice). When it was my turn I was so nervous before I went I had to say in my head: "you've been doing this all day, nothings different". I Aced the figure 8, Aced the swerve. After completing the swerve and going into the turn, my engine died and the instructors were watching me
I forgot to turn back on my fuel when I started the bike. So I kept thinking in my head I'm going to fail. Then comes the quickstop portion, I had this perfect all day but when it came to my turn I was super nervous again. I passed the cones, downshifted and hit both breaks but I put my foot down way to early when the bike was still moving and almost fell. I thought now for sure I failed because I knew they were strict with the points.
Grades: 12 people in the class: Three failed, and one backed out(my friend).
One failed at the last possible second in one of the videos shown below. We are all done with the test and are just walking them to where the instructors wanted us to and he didn't put the kick stand down all the way
you can also see he cuts me off when we were parking and I hit both breaks like a pro like I learned from this class
I now see why this class is highly recommended for new riders. I've learned ALOT and my experience was awesome. (going to the DMV next week to get my license and my bike next month boooooya.)
I'm the fat dude wearing the bright Filipino windbreaker
Boring turn video:
http://youtu.be/68QPalgeOXI
Video of the end of the course and the dude drops his bike and fails (listen to what the instructor says right when he drops the bike)
http://youtu.be/WBtciXPI3hQ