The New Rider Chronicles: Riding Practice
Did you know that only about 20% of new riders carry on with motorcycling? That means nearly 80% of people who learn to ride give up on the sport before ever purchasing a second motorcycle. When I first heard this stat, I was shocked. Afterall, if motorcycling is so fun, why would anyone quit?
In my quest to become a more experienced rider, I jumped at the opportunity to sit down with the founders of Yamaha Champions Riding School (YCRS) and hear from some of the best riding instructors in the industry. They explained that the number one reason they see new riders quit is because of a lack of riding confidence. Many new motorcyclists are quick to hit the road without proper practice and put themselves in real world situations well before they are ready. Lacking proper technique and experience, these riders often get into close-call situations that cause them to give up on motorcycling completely.
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As a brand new rider, I experienced this lack of confidence first hand. In the time it took me to find appropriate gear and purchase a motorcycle, I forgot nearly everything I’d learned in my basic rider course. Because I hadn’t been practicing my riding drills, when I finally got back on a motorcycle, riding felt foreign to me. I needed to re-learn all the muscle memory I lost in the past few weeks.
Apparently, it’s more common than you’d think to get rusty without continued practice. Data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the State Motorcycle Safety Association shows that riders who take new rider training are no safer after one year than riders who never got their motorcycle safety endorsement. Meaning that safety courses actually have an expiration date, and if you fail to build on your skills after that initial year, your chances of getting into an incident become no different than someone who never took a class at all.
That’s why YCRS was such a unique thing to experience. Their whole mission is to combat this motorcycling confidence problem through continued education and by teaching proper techniques to develop safer riders, who have more fun riding. With programs for every skill level from beginner to advanced, you can get highly personalized training both on-bike and online, wherever you are in your riding journey. Not your average parking lot training, you’ll get to experience motorcycling in a real-world setting at real-world speeds, helping you develop and refine your street riding skills.
After learning more about motorcycle safety through YCRS, I didn’t want to become another statistic of a new rider who gave up on riding due to poor technique. Motorcycling is a vulnerable sport and I wasn’t going to take any chances out on the road. I was determined to practice riding drills every chance I got, even if that meant driving around my cul-de-sac for weeks before hitting the streets.
One drill at a time, I repeated the basics until it felt natural to shift, stop and turn. A few weeks went by before I was comfortable taking small trips around my neighborhood, but when I finally did, I was confident I could handle anything unexpected that came my way. Did I feel like an idiot riding in circles out front of my neighbor’s house to start? I sure did, but I needed practice to build muscle memory and condition myself to ride responsibly.
While it’s impossible to predict everything that might happen on a ride, practicing the right techniques can save your life. Just like anything else in life, becoming a confident and responsible motorcyclist takes commitment. Of course, I still have a lot to learn, and I’m still practicing to this day!
Practice Tip 1: Develop your riding ritual.
One of the most impactful things I learned through the YCRS curriculum is the importance of being a technical rider and not an emotional rider. Motorcycling requires you to be mentally present at all times, which means there’s no time to dwell on past mistakes. A riding ritual can be anything from a physical action like tapping your helmet, to a mantra as simple as “I am confident.” By creating a ritual or mantra, you’ll be able to bring your focus to the present moment, and allow yourself to mentally restart your ride when you need to.
Practice Tip 2: Start with the basics.
Before you go popping wheelies or stoppies, familiarize yourself with the motorcycling basics. Practice shifting, quick stops and tight U-turns until you feel comfortable and confident in your ability. Over time, riding will become second nature, where you won’t have to consciously think of when to downshift or when to brake. With the basics nailed down, you can focus on building more advanced skills like rev matching or starting on a steep hill.
Practice Tip 3: Learn in a safe space.
This probably goes without saying, but before you hit the road be sure to practice the basics in a safe area to limit your chances of an accident. If you don’t have access to a big driveway or quiet neighborhood, consider practicing in an empty parking lot or during off-peak traffic hours on a low-traffic road.
Practice Tip 4: Never stop practicing.
Practice makes you better, so keep practicing to be the best motorcyclist you can be! A motorcycle license alone doesn’t guarantee smooth sailing on the road, so continue to build on your skills until you feel confident in your ability to keep yourself safe on the road. If you get to a point where you feel like you’re not being challenged enough, you can always look up new practice drills on YouTube or take an experienced rider course through Yamaha Champ School to learn from world-class instructors first-hand.
Keep practicing and learn Basic Bike Maintenance in the next part of our New Rider Chronicles.
Shop for your next new or pre-owned motorcycle from dealers and private sellers nationwide at CycleTrader.com.
Destinee Cyr
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