Last week I signed up for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Basic Rider Course thru the Motorcycle Training Institute. The class isn’t currently required to get a motorcycle endorsement in Florida but successful completion of the class, written test, and riding evaluation allows one to skip the DMV exam and eval.
After the first classroom session I wasn’t terribly impressed, our instructor’s teaching style just wasn’t doing it for me and I was concerned that the course may have been a waste of time and money, but the ~10 hours of riding exercises yesterday and today more than made up for it. The MSF has defined 15 or so different course layouts that start with basic confidence building and move on to develop specific skills / techniques and to apply them in combination. For added fun we got a little rain today while doing emergency stops in the middle of a turn…
Obviously riding around a parking lot at fairly low speeds on relatively light and low-powered bikes isn’t going to be the same as taking my 1,298cc ~600lbs monster out into the real world. I think it’ll take a few weeks of leisurely ride around my neighborhood before I’m ready to get on any roads with significant traffic, much less the highway, but I’m feeling much more confident that I haven’t gotten in over my head. I just need to practice, practice, practice, and try not to be stupid.
I have a Tuesday morning appointment with the DMV to get my license updated. If all goes well I should be ready for my first ride on my very own bike by the weekend 
