Certified or Certifiable?

Yes. :-D. I passed the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) course over the weekend! I'm now, in the words of the Rider Coach, Chad Hargis, "Certified to do 12 - 18 MPH in a parking lot, safely!" I took my course from Learn to Ride, naturally at learntoride.org. The course is hosted by Nashville State Community College on White Bridge road just about every weekend. The Lady I spoke to over the phone said they were getting swamped with folks wanting to learn to ride now. I'm thinking its both the spring weather, and the ungodly high gas prices. (NOTE: If we didn't have such a stupid impudent congress some folks in the oil industry would be doing time for highway robbery!!!) I'd also like to mention Jeevan Rose, the other rider coach for our range.

By all means take the Course if you are thinking about getting a bike and licensed. Its a good course, and both Jeevan and Chad were very helpful in encouraging good riding habits. No, you're not going to become an expert at riding, but you'll have a good foundation for how to handle a bike. It was interesting to watch the range when half the folks were in one line, watched by Jeevan, and the other in another line watched by Chad. Jeevan would stop just about everybody, and coach them a little, and Chad wouldn't stop you unless you just weren't getting it. Not sure why they both stopped me on an occasion or two, :-\. I had to pick a different bike the second day from the one I was riding the first. The first day I was on an older Honda Nighthawk 250, the second a Suzuki 200 Dual purpose. The Clutch, Gears, Brakes, and height were all different. The Speedo would only go to 15 and would stay there until I stopped so I had no real idea how fast I was going. (I was going WAAAAAYYYY too fast on my first run at the braking eval, and went to using the engine idle as a guage). I eventually got to where I could compensate, but when you are being evaluated its no time to be figuring out a new clutch, crappy speedo, odd shifter, and a bike that is taller! So, my tip is pick a bike, and stay with it the second day. Oh, the Nighthawk had a problem with Neutral, and the green light wouldn't come on. This caused the engine not to start at times. I did notice that a time or two the day before but I'd keep trying and it would come on.

Also, the bike is in the garage. I have a bad picture of it sitting in the garage. You can't really tell much about it, and it doesn't have the side or top cases because we're waiting on the right mounts from Suzuki. I wanted to get out on it this evening and practice a little with it, but it started raining. I'm not necessarily a fair weather rider, however, the last thing I want to do while trying to get used to the bike is fight the weather too! Well, I'll be going by the License place tomorrow, and I'll call Progressive to see if I can move up the insurance effective date by a day or two. I'd like to ride it for real next week.

This weekend is Old Timer's Day in Dickson, TN. Its a big deal around these parts. I'd love to be able to ride my bike downtown, I'd be able to get around easier.

Well, God bless you and yours.