Spent Sunday visiting with my friend Sean, teaching him how to ride his motorcycle. Photo is him sitting on it and getting ready to start learning how to ride. I had to sneak a shot from this angle because I know he was nervous and I didn't want him focused on me taking pictures; I wanted him focused on not dropping his bike.
We started from the beginning - he didn't have much experience on a bike before we took it to the parking lot. And by 'much' I mean 'any'. But that's okay - everyone starts from the beginning, and he had a good attitude about it.
Riding a motorcycle is not easy, but it's easier than you think.
Once he got used to the idea that he could do it (an important step in the process) he was doing circles in the lot without issue. Which is funny, because I didn't tell him how to turn the bike. I just said, 'make the turn' and pointed him the direction I wanted him to go. Moderate-speed turns on a bike are one of the easiest things about riding. Technically you use countersteer to turn (you push the handlebar in the direction you want to turn, so push left, go left; push right, go right), but by the time you get done explaining it people have a glazed look in their eye and they're worse off because they start thinking about it, tense up. Tense is bad, and Sean had enough to fret over with the shifting and braking and clutch and gas.
He did superbly, and he's got his permit, so he's going to practice in his suburban neighborhood for a while until he takes the MSF safety course and gets his full license. But now he can practice on his own. Awesome.
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