gregwil
05-23-2009, 10:05 PM
Me and one of my buddies took the ERC at Awesome Cycles today. In the rain. The instructors were Sam and Walter and they were great. We started out with 11 or 12 students, but because some bikes did not have license plates and inspection stickers, they had to leave. The last time I took an ERC course to get rid of a ticket was in Rosenburg I think. No one checked for inspection stickers there, but it makes sense to me. It started raining after about 2 exercises, and the instructor just gave us our cards and told us to wait out the rain and go home.
Today was different. When it started raining, I thopught we'd just get our paperwork and leave. But no. Walter got on his Yamaha and rode around like it was sunshine. I thought "what an idiot". Sam insisted that we do the same (I never rode in the rain before), so we all did and it was touchy at first. Walter found all the slick spots and warned us about them and he was right. They were slick until the oil and dirt washed off. But that's just like real Houston streets so it was like real life experiences. Lightening got bad, so we went into one of the motorcycle storage buildings and Sam talked to us about riding and stuff. When it got slack, Walter told us that we should make it a point to practice riding in the rain. What an idiot. Who would want to practice riding in the rain?
So we rode in the rain doing all the exercises and stuff and reading the books. After a few exercises in the rain (Did I mention that it was raining?), I began to see that Walter was right. He told us to pick the time and place to ride in the rain for practice as you might get caught in it someday. We got soaked and my boots were full of water. I emptied them twice. After class was finished at almost 5:45, Sam gave us our papers and bells. My first gremlin bell. Even though we were soaked, we wanted to ride some more, but class was over and the exercises were exciting on wet concrete. Did I mention that it was a downpour and the water was about an inch deep in places?
Those guys made us laugh at each other and ourselves, and we had a lot of fun. Only one dropped bike but it was not moving at the time. The guy just lost his balance and it went CLUNK. No harm and no damage. He wasn't even embarassed about it. Sam spoke with him a few minutes to calm him down and off he rode. Walter asked him what happened, they talked a while, and both ended up laughing about the whole thing. Those guys really made you feel comfortable.
Oh there was one lady in the class on a scooter among the Harleys, Ducks, Yammys, etc. She did a good job with the scooter. On the way back to south Houston, it started to rain. My buddy and I pulled over to a place under cover near a Starbucks, looked at each other, smiled, then just took off in the rain. 2 days ago that would not have happened. We were soaked anyway, so we rode on to Galveston and dried out on the way back home. Awesome Cycles, you are the greatest. And only us fellow idiots ride or practice riding in the rain. I'll take Walter's advice and practice some more and take Sam's advice and just ride slower and more carefully when it is raining. It was obvious that those two guys had ridden in the rain together and probably practiced as Walter mentioned. They were just that good and informative. Did I mention that it rained on us today? It did. Really. Did I mention that I don't care anymore? Well, I don't. What an AWESOME confidence builder. All I can say is THANKS.
Today was different. When it started raining, I thopught we'd just get our paperwork and leave. But no. Walter got on his Yamaha and rode around like it was sunshine. I thought "what an idiot". Sam insisted that we do the same (I never rode in the rain before), so we all did and it was touchy at first. Walter found all the slick spots and warned us about them and he was right. They were slick until the oil and dirt washed off. But that's just like real Houston streets so it was like real life experiences. Lightening got bad, so we went into one of the motorcycle storage buildings and Sam talked to us about riding and stuff. When it got slack, Walter told us that we should make it a point to practice riding in the rain. What an idiot. Who would want to practice riding in the rain?
So we rode in the rain doing all the exercises and stuff and reading the books. After a few exercises in the rain (Did I mention that it was raining?), I began to see that Walter was right. He told us to pick the time and place to ride in the rain for practice as you might get caught in it someday. We got soaked and my boots were full of water. I emptied them twice. After class was finished at almost 5:45, Sam gave us our papers and bells. My first gremlin bell. Even though we were soaked, we wanted to ride some more, but class was over and the exercises were exciting on wet concrete. Did I mention that it was a downpour and the water was about an inch deep in places?
Those guys made us laugh at each other and ourselves, and we had a lot of fun. Only one dropped bike but it was not moving at the time. The guy just lost his balance and it went CLUNK. No harm and no damage. He wasn't even embarassed about it. Sam spoke with him a few minutes to calm him down and off he rode. Walter asked him what happened, they talked a while, and both ended up laughing about the whole thing. Those guys really made you feel comfortable.
Oh there was one lady in the class on a scooter among the Harleys, Ducks, Yammys, etc. She did a good job with the scooter. On the way back to south Houston, it started to rain. My buddy and I pulled over to a place under cover near a Starbucks, looked at each other, smiled, then just took off in the rain. 2 days ago that would not have happened. We were soaked anyway, so we rode on to Galveston and dried out on the way back home. Awesome Cycles, you are the greatest. And only us fellow idiots ride or practice riding in the rain. I'll take Walter's advice and practice some more and take Sam's advice and just ride slower and more carefully when it is raining. It was obvious that those two guys had ridden in the rain together and probably practiced as Walter mentioned. They were just that good and informative. Did I mention that it rained on us today? It did. Really. Did I mention that I don't care anymore? Well, I don't. What an AWESOME confidence builder. All I can say is THANKS.