The Motorcycle Safety Foundation - Experienced Rider Course
by James H. Lui

A group of twelve of us met at a local hotel conference room to begin 
the day's eight-hour session:  four Harley's, including a full-dress 
ElectraGlide , three sportbikes (FZR, KX-11, FJ), an ACE, a Nighthawk 
750, a Ducati 900,  an ST1100, and my Virago.  Our instructor had shown 
up early, and started the day off with our one and only accident by 
dropping his loaded Aspencade in the parking lot, mostly due to a very 
uneven surface which tended to slant every which way but evenly.

I'd say the most significant difference between this session and the 
basic Rider Safety & Skills course was the makeup or profile of the 
people present - the RSS attendees generally fall into three categories:  
1) those who are there by personal interest to learn how to do things 
right (first timers or first accident casualties), 2) those who are 
attending because they are under 21 and have to (California DMV 
required), and 3) people who are there because someone else is 
influencing them.  The ERC attendees come specifically from category No. 
1.  Our instructor pointed out that many friends and spouses, for one 
reason or another, are given, provided or sharing a bike to ride, but on 
the basic condition that they "have to attend the RSS before riding" 
with no other obvious motivation.  Motorcycling is an activity which 
cannot afford passive responsibility.  A motorcyclist who shows lack of 
judgment or responsibility doesn't just wreck a bike, or damage 
something else - the motorcyclist often pays for such negligence with a 
life - usually their own.

We, as motorcyclists, have a different role in surviving on the road 
among other vehicles.  Many auto traffic courses stress the concept of 
"defensive" driving skills - learning how to react to other drivers and 
conditions.  Motorcyclists cannot afford to wait for another driver to 
act negligently or some condition to become precedent while passively 
driving down the road.  We are "active" drivers by necessity of 
survival.  In traffic, "offensive" driving techniques become the 
standard by which we avoid becoming another statistic in the Hurt 
Report.  We actively search for potential and developing hazards which 
may not affect us directly, but because of the impact on other drivers 
can end up affecting our path of travel.  We address the risks of travel 
by motorcycle by actively pursuing driving techniques and behaviors 
which deliberately mitigate the impact of such risks.  The ERC is 
designed to heighten the awareness of the motorcyclist to perception of 
such risks and then deal with them with effective physical reactions.

The ERC participants this day had experience ranging from a few years to 
over three decades of riding.  One other rider had also taken the RSS 
(as his entry to motorcycling) and was using this class as an 
enhancement to his prior training.  Instead of the more formalized 
lecture-style instruction of the RSS, this course was much more centered 
around topical open discussions.  We were handed another instruction 
manual, this time a 40-page advanced version of the one received in the 
RSS, but we immediately put the manuals away for reading on our own.  
The content of the ERC manual stresses how to deal with hazards by 
learning how to avoid them entirely.  The instructor stressed that in 
the majority of accidents, once a motorcyclist is involved in the middle 
of a hazardous panic situation, since there is very little protection 
other than protective clothing, the measures which are available are 
only efforts to reduce the damage which will inevitably occur.  The best 
riding strategy is to stay acutely aware of potential hazards and give 
them a wide berth every time.

We proceeded to cover an investigation of the "why cars pull out right 
in front of me" syndrome - and no, machine-gunning the horn button every 
day is not an answer.  We learned how to see things that really didn't 
look like hazards, but in fact could be downright dangerous. There was 
also an exhaustive technical discussion of how traction and riding 
physics are directly related to different riding techniques and skills 
and how to maximize their potential.

The practical skills portion of the ERC presumes you are already 
familiar with how your bike handles in basic maneuvering (there's a 
screening-type skills test thrown in, just in case).  You then proceed 
to learn how to properly handle evasive and emergency stopping 
situations - pushing you beyond what most riders would voluntarily try 
with their own machines.  By familiarizing you with what it feels like 
to perform an evasive swerve or control a rear-wheel skid properly as 
well as other life-saving skills, you are being conditioned against 
panic reactions when you encounter the situation when you'll need to act 
with control and knowledge - a real emergency.

When someone describes to you what you're about to do with your machine 
for an exercise - a momentary panic begins to set in.  But it's an 
easier breath to take once you've seen 1,000 lbs. of fully-dressed 
Aspencade dancing through the same zig-zag peg-scraping maneuvers at the 
practiced hand of our instructor.  While our ElectraGlide driver, a 
local TV weather newscaster, at first viewed each of the exercises with 
some trepidation ("This thing's gotta do that?!"), afterwards he noted 
that performing heavy-duty swerves and skids "...was the most fun he'd 
had in years... on two wheels."

Aside from the wealth of written and mental knowledge you'll obtain, 
it's the "physical" education that really pays for itself in the ERC.  
Having someone who not only can tell you what to do, but how to do it 
correctly, is where the MSF earns its keep in the motorcycle safety 
training arena.  1-800-CCRIDER.