Karen’s Korner

It is time to sign up to take the Experienced Rider’s Course (ERC) or the Trike Course (TRC). Many riders are reluctant to take these courses because they feel as though they are already excellent riders with many years of experience. No one can really argue with this and this is why the courses are for the “experienced” rider. The intent of the courses is to allow you to practice and to perfect skills not encountered in every day riding situations such as emergency braking, braking in a curve or swerving. You probably have these skills, but when is the last time you practiced it? Practicing creates muscle memory and muscle memory is what allows us to react without “thinking”, which is what we want to be able to do in an emergency situation. Have you ever done something and then wondered, “Why did I do that? I knew better than that.” It was because the memory was not current; it was not part of your active memory. Practice puts these skills in the forefront of our active memory, not tucked away in some corner of our long-term memory. Every spring we have tasks that we do to prepare our Wings for the upcoming riding season, think of the ERC and TRC courses as one task we do for ourselves and co-riders to prepare for the riding season.

I have the registration forms available for you. There are two dates in September, ERC 9/18 and TRC 9/19.

For fun, check out this website of the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, http://www.msf-usa.org/riderperception/ . It has tests on road signs and collision traps. See how well you can do.