Just this weekend I got my first bike - a Honda XL750 Transalp. Winter is coming where I live, so when I saw a blue sky, dry roads and temperatures just over 0, I thought I could have a little ride. But that wasn’t the stupid, even though I forgot the keys after being completely suited up with thin jogging gloves and winter gloves.
There wasn’t any stupid during the ride, although I forgot the keys again after putting on the two pairs of gloves after a little break. Or that I kept hitting the hazard lights by accident, or the high beams.
The stupid was when I got back and rolled into the driveway. I wanted to slowly roll in and park in front of the wall of the garage. Had the clutch pulled and apparently twisted my wrist to get my thumb on the kill switch. The motor revved up so loud it scared the whole family out the house and onto the porch, where they witnessed me rolling towards the wall, bumping into it because I was so startled I didn’t remember to apply the brake and me falling very, very slowly and gently (almost with a certain grace, I hope) to the side.
As far as I could see, there’s only a few scratches on the bar end and the peg. Whew! But, I was told I bumped hard enough that the rear wheel lifted into the air! Hope that the fork and frame are ok!
Was a real downer after the nice ride, but I guess it’s true what I heard, that all riders fall at least once!
I think MSF is a solely US thing, but there are for sure alternatives here in Europe. At least in my country to get a license you need to complete a certain number of hours with a certificied instructor, and they do teach different skills like body position, emergency braking, slow and high speed maneuvering, as well as eventually taking you out on the roads and practicing in a real commuting scenario.
One thing thats different (not sure if its not a law or its not enforced) is that each instructor will have different equipment. For example when I started lessons before covid cut them short right before my exam my then instructor would take me to a parking lot he had a deal with to use in the evening, and just had cones for exercises. My now instructor after I restarted post covid has a friend who has an events venue with a massive parking lot, cones, and even bluetooth communication devices for the helmets. So now we can communicate while im doing exercises and also while out on the roads… The amount of times I hear him in my ears yelling (in a joking way) “TRAFFIGATOOOOR” before I sheepishy switch it off is too damn high 😂