What rider training is available?
After eighteen-ish years of riding, I can honestly say: I wouldn't be the rider I am today without the training that I've been grateful to find in the sport. Starting with (and refreshing, every few years) the Basic Rider Course through the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, progressing through MSF's other rider training programs and then graduating to track day riding with instruction, and now ultimately starting my journey into riding schools, the training I have done (and continue to seek out) has made me a happier, more relaxed, more avid -- and safer -- rider, on the street and on the track.
Finding basic training for motorcycle safety is relatively easy: in most states, your choice is either the MSF BRC, or, the Total Control Beginner Riding Clinic. I live in an MSF state, so that's the basic training I received when starting to ride -- and, that I've refreshed, on occasion, after breaks in saddle time. If it were up to me, every single driver (including those who never plan to ride a motorcycle) would be required to complete a Basic Rider Course or Beginner Riding Clinic to obtain a drivers' license: the motorcycle awareness you learn, even if you never sit in a bike saddle after the training, is invaluable.
But in my personal opinion, basic rider training is not enough to help riders become proficient and safe in normal riding conditions. I'm a strong advocate for advanced rider training, based on my own experience. I spent my first few years post-BRC riding 200+ miles a week -- and was fearful, a good chunk of that time. I had enough skill to operate the basic functions of a bike, but not enough skill or experience (even with relatively a lot of miles put on each week) to avoid instinctive survival reactions that put me at risk.
Once you've done your basic and/or advanced (street rider) training with MSF or TCB Motorcyclist Training Courses, the next step for most of us is typically to start riding with a track day organization that offers training and instruction. I'll dive way deeper into my own experience getting into track days (and why it took so long -- I rode for about 14 years before I ever set a wheel on a track) in other posts, but for now I'll just say: if you're riding at freeway speeds on the street, you'll benefit from attending a track day with instruction, full stop.
And if you're not yet riding at freeway speeds on the street, you may still benefit from attending a track day with instruction, with some caveats around the organization you choose to ride with, so we're here to help with that homework.
In a future post, I'll share more about rider schools and training for more advanced riders. For now, though -- as a coach, and a rider, the needs of newer and us not-new-but-still-slower or ahem, more "relaxed" riders tend to be tougher to find a match for.
To help with that: I'm building a directory of motorcycle training organizations with details about their capabilities for instructing both types of new track day riders, since I haven't seen this information compiled anywhere else yet. This will be a slow build, as I'm able to get responses from different organizations by region, so please shoot me a note if you ride or work with a track day org that's not yet listed and I'll add the organization's details to the directory.
What has your experience been with motorcycle-related training? I'd love to hear from you in the comments, below! What are your training-related questions?
