Full transcript
0:02all right all right everybody I wanted
0:04to make this video to kind of talk about
0:07my experience with the
0:11um msf Rider safety course
0:14um
0:17I did an online uh
0:20sort of e-learning
0:23um
0:24section you know it was about five or
0:26six hours but you could take as long as
0:27you want to do it
0:29and then it was supposed to be two days
0:32of writing
0:35uh Writing Practice
0:37to um you know to then when you take the
0:41second day you take the rider Court you
0:44were the writer evaluation you know and
0:46if you pass that then you can get the
0:48motorcycle endorsement for your license
0:53I had to drop out of my
0:57uh I had to drop out of my msf safety
0:59class
1:01and I did that
1:04in the name of safety and before I
1:08before I tell you the rest of this of
1:10the story here
1:12you know
1:14you know your limit what I want to tell
1:17you is you know your limits and you know
1:20what you can and can't do
1:23so it is
1:25you know it is uh
1:27you know it's on you
1:30to make sure that you are staying safe
1:32no matter what you're doing
1:35that being said
1:37I went down to the training area this
1:39morning
1:41and uh you know filled out some
1:43paperwork did a couple of little last
1:45minute checks and tests and stuff and
1:48then uh I was you know myself and all
1:51the students went to the area where our
1:53two-wheel motorcycles were sitting
1:55waiting for us
1:56and uh they had put our names on them so
1:59I thought that was kind of fun so I went
2:00to the bike with my name on it and you
2:02know it's a it's a standard
2:04Harley-Davidson Street 500.
2:07so
2:11um you know they the first exercise or
2:13the first
2:15um
2:16less the first I think it was it's
2:18either I forget what they call it first
2:19exercise or first lesson to the first
2:22thing is familiarizing yourself with all
2:25the parts and controls so you know
2:26where's your clutch where's your front
2:28brake where's your throttle where's your
2:30shifter where's your rear brake you know
2:32just you know the the instructor would
2:34call out
2:36you know okay everybody touch your
2:37everybody touch your clutch so let them
2:40put your left hand on the left you know
2:42left handlebar squeeze your clutch you
2:44know everybody touch your throttle okay
2:46so then you put your Palm on your
2:48throttle and rotate it a little bit so
2:50you know just kind of a you know go find
2:53this and do this and whatever
2:55but then things got a little
2:58sobering
3:00when I say that it I mean what I mean by
3:03sobering it was like
3:05whoa
3:06they had us Mount the bikes so you know
3:09they say to put you know put your your
3:12uh the forks are going to be turned to
3:14the left so you're going to take your
3:15right hand squeeze your front brake
3:17handle and then
3:19swing your leg over the bike sit down on
3:21the bike turn this turn the The
3:24Handlebar straight and then kick up the
3:27uh kick up the kickstand with your left
3:30foot
3:31once we were doing that we were now
3:33balancing the bikes on our own
3:35that
3:37freaked me out I'll be honest
3:43one of the other things they said to do
3:45was while we had both feet on the ground
3:49um and we had our hands on the
3:50handlebars to sway from side to side to
3:53feel the weight of the motorcycle
3:56I was not prepared to feel how heavy the
4:01bike is like seriously
4:03it was shocking to me I was like holy
4:07this is heavy
4:09and it made me start you know because my
4:13anxiety started to
4:15have
4:17its way with me and it was like if you
4:19if you fall down this heavy ass bike is
4:22going to be pinned against your leg and
4:23your blah blah you know that's the way
4:25my mind works it's something happens and
4:27I just start thinking about the worst
4:29case scenario
4:31you know I've gotten better over the
4:33years but you know
4:34anxiety sucks but anyway
4:37so
4:40um so I was like okay well you know I
4:41kind of got the feel for it I felt the
4:43weight of the bike like okay no problem
4:46so then this is where stuff started to
4:48go downhill
4:49the instructor said okay put your left
4:51foot up on the peg so that means I had
4:54to use I was using only my right foot to
4:58balance the bike I put my left foot up
5:00on the peg as soon as I did that I felt
5:03the bike start to tip and I was like oh
5:05hell no so I put my foot back down on
5:06the ground steadied it okay tried it
5:09again started the tip nope took me you
5:11know three or four tries and then you
5:13know finally I was able to balance it
5:15but I still felt uneasy I still felt you
5:19know like I could tip over at any moment
5:20and I was like squeezing the brake and
5:22the clutch thinking that was going to
5:23save my life even though the engine was
5:25off and I wasn't doing anything
5:27um so they you know then they were
5:29saying okay well you know operate the
5:31shift lever which you know for you know
5:34I'm assuming most of you watching this
5:35probably know a thing or two about
5:36motorcycles but if you don't your left
5:38foot's down here and just this little
5:40thing where you put your foot under to
5:41shift up or shift down so you know
5:44you're I'm wearing steel toe work boots
5:46and I have to
5:48without looking at it I have to move my
5:51foot like this to shift
5:53while not looking down I couldn't help
5:55look but look down so and one of the
5:57instructors came up to me and saw him
5:58struggling and he said don't look down
6:00because that's where you're going to go
6:01and I just I said that's why I feel like
6:04I'm going you know he's like he's like
6:07you know he's like he was saying you'll
6:09move your foot back a little bit and
6:10just focus on the feel of it and you
6:12know then I finally started to get it
6:13and I felt a little better but then
6:17the then it just got really bad because
6:20they the instructor said okay put your
6:22left foot down on the ground put your
6:24right foot up on the peg
6:26soon as I did that felt the bike start
6:28to tip again
6:29I could not for the life of me get that
6:33balanced all you know leaning on my left
6:36foot
6:36and one of the instructors came up to me
6:39very very professional very discreet and
6:41he said you know do you have any balance
6:43issues and I I looked at him Square in
6:46the face I said apparently I do
6:48so he said why don't you hop off the
6:50bike and let's chat for a second I said
6:51okay so I turned the turn the uh the
6:56handle you know turn the bars to the
6:58left put the kickstand down got off the
7:00bike went off to the side to speak to
7:01this uh speak to the instructor and he
7:04said how are you feeling right now I
7:05said honestly I'm overwhelmed you know I
7:08said I you know I said this was a very
7:10and I even said I said this was a very
7:11sobering experience and like
7:13I didn't know just how heavy it was
7:16going to be and how much I had to do all
7:19in the moment and
7:20I looked at him I said look I don't
7:22think I can do this I said I'm going to
7:24tap out because
7:26it would be unsafe for me to continue
7:28right now and the first thing the guy
7:31does to me he looks at me and he puts
7:33his hand out and I gave him a shake and
7:35he kind of like he did the whole thing
7:36where like you know you cover your hands
7:38like as like a sign of endearment or
7:41something and he was like honestly
7:42that's very good self-assessment I said
7:44you know I just kind of nodded and he
7:46said the fact that you knew
7:49this was happening
7:54um you know the fact that you could see
7:55this and the fact that you you knew to
7:57sort of step back and say hey look this
8:01something's not right he said that takes
8:03a lot to say that and he said you know
8:06you know then he told me he's like you
8:07know it'll be you know you're a nice guy
8:09to be but you know it's a bummer to see
8:11you go but you know if you want to try
8:13it again in the future we're here for
8:14you if there's any other questions you
8:15have we're here for you I just thought
8:17that was incredible everybody was was
8:20super you know super supportive and
8:22super nice and you know um the main
8:25instructor had come over to talk to us
8:26and I just kind with when I had said I'm
8:28going to tap out and uh you know I shook
8:31both their hands and I just said you
8:33know thank you so much for everything
8:34and you know I hope to uh hope to see
8:36you in the future
8:37and with that I
8:40walked in my car and I drove away
8:42now
8:43my initial thought was yeah I'm bummed
8:45you know it I
8:48I'm I didn't get to go to ride a
8:50motorcycle but I learned a lot about
8:52myself and that is extremely valuable
8:56information
8:57you know I learned that I have balance
8:59issues that I need to work out you know
9:02um I did a little bit of research
9:03apparently a a number of the mental
9:06health medications that I'm on
9:08contribute to balance issues but I know
9:10I had some physical issues as well you
9:12know maybe I need to get in a little bit
9:14better shape to be able to handle the
9:16bike as well so you know it kind of gave
9:18me some motivation to
9:20work on myself in that regard
9:23but
9:25the biggest thing that I was kind of
9:27bummed out about was I
9:30initially I thought
9:33damn it now I'm not going to be able to
9:35get a bike and I can't ride and I can't
9:37do all this and I can't do that can't do
9:39that I can't do that
9:41but one of the things I realized about
9:42like the motorcycle culture in the
9:44community is it's very inclusive and
9:47like
9:48even on YouTube videos that I was we're
9:51watching tutorial YouTube videos they're
9:53like you know ride within your means you
9:55know you know being out on two wheels is
9:58great it's wonderful blah blah blah so
10:00I'm thinking well
10:03I can't do that you know or maybe I
10:05can't do that right now
10:07but I was talking to my brother who was
10:09a former motorcycle rider and he said
10:11you know and then I was as I was talking
10:14to him I said I said uh
10:16I wonder if there's a trike class
10:19because they've got three wheeled
10:20motorcycles now Trikes and he he's like
10:23you know I don't think there is but I
10:24said you know what
10:26if that if those are available
10:29that's going to be my go-to because I
10:32don't think I'm going to cure balance
10:33issues overnight or in a month six
10:36months a year whatever you know because
10:38I'm always going to be on medication
10:40dude you know because my mental health
10:42is important so you know I'm always
10:44going to be on medication for that and I
10:46think the balance thing is going to be a
10:48problem no matter what
10:50so I'm going to go after a trike and I'm
10:53going to do the trike thing
10:54and let me and what I want to tell you
10:56the reason I wanted to make this video
10:58is you are the best gauge
11:03of how you feel when you're taken when
11:05if you're doing the motorcycle test and
11:08you're the riding
11:09if you don't feel up to it if you don't
11:11feel comfortable
11:13stop
11:14no one will yell at you you know no one
11:18will you know no one will make fun of
11:20you if they do their but
11:23at from everyone that I've seen people
11:26are as imp as supportive and wonderful
11:28as possible
11:30so if something doesn't feel right to
11:33you
11:34you know they they said in the in the
11:36beginning of the writing class you know
11:37they said if you have a problem
11:39stop where you are or pull out of the
11:41lane of traffic and like raise your hand
11:42and a coach will come up to assist you
11:48don't feel ashamed to admit if this is
11:51not your thing or if it's not working
11:53for you because that that was really the
11:55reason I took the class because I've
11:57seen so many motorcycles on on the road
12:00you know you see them in movies you know
12:02Arnold Schwarzenegger Terminator 2 you
12:05know spin cocking the shotgun while dry
12:08while riding a motorcycle like how cool
12:10is that wouldn't you love to do that you
12:12know and and as after I turned 40 I I
12:15started thinking that I really want to
12:17start trying things I've never done
12:18before so that I can really enjoy life
12:21and live life you know and motorcycles
12:23was something that you know it was it
12:25was on the list you know like shoot a
12:27gun was was on my list also you know
12:29when I moved to Texas I was like well I
12:30can cross that one off here because you
12:32know Texas is one of the one of the best
12:34gun states uh in in the country but
12:37anyway
12:37not to get too off topic um so I I
12:40dropped out of the class and I emailed
12:43the guy that from the local Harley
12:45dealership that runs the class and I
12:47said you know I told him the situation
12:48and I said if there's a trike class I
12:51would love to be to go do that and his
12:53response to me he goes there is a trite
12:55class
12:56I'll call you next week with information
12:58I was like this is fantastic if it means
13:01I have to do another online e-learning
13:03thing I will do it no problem you know
13:06even if it's going to be a lot of the
13:07same info I will do it because I feel
13:10confident that you know and every every
13:13video that I've seen reinforces this
13:15confidence I have but like
13:17it takes the balance out of out of it
13:20and it means I can sit there with my
13:23hands on the bars my feet on the things
13:25you know I know where the controls are
13:28and I can just ride and I don't have to
13:30freak out about balancing and all that
13:32stuff all of the other dangers and and
13:34you know uh all of the other
13:37situational awareness and everything
13:39like that from the training of riding a
13:42two-wheel bike is that's all still there
13:44but I don't have to worry about balance
13:48and I think that would take a lot of
13:50stress off my plate and I think it'll
13:52help me really enjoy it so you know
13:55that's that's that's what I'm gonna do
13:59and you know maybe I'll make a video
14:02series about it
14:04but
14:05I'm not giving up on motorcycling
14:07I'm gonna do it in some way
14:09some way shape or form you know
14:13maybe for now it'll be on three wheels
14:15maybe someday I'll get the two wheels
14:16but you know what
14:18three wheels was cool with me
14:21so if you want admitted to the end of
14:23this video thank you for thank you for
14:25listening and thank you for watching and
14:26uh you know my my channel is I can't I
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14:51you subscribe thank you for that and
14:53either way I will see you guys on
14:54another video where I talk about or do
14:56something
14:58else