Not so Basic Alameda Sheriff Motorcycle Training

A little background, I have never had any formal training before. I have been riding for 30 years and regularly practice emergency and slow moving skills but don't do parking lot practice. I decided to take the class because I have noticed that my riding was not as smooth as I would like and I had gotten as good as I was going to get solo.

The class is put on by the Alameda County Sheriff office 1 Day Motorcycle EVOC training, then 1 day civilian motorcycle class. They have three levels of difficulty. Unless you are very strong at slow speed turns in both directions I do not suggest going for the intermediate class.

The instructors were as Old School as you could ask for. They obviously love to ride and are focused on making you a better and safer rider.

The packet of information they provide is very valuable, they do not review it in the class much but point out what is in there for you to review later.

The structure of the class is some lecture and then lots of riding. The rental bikes are crappy but easy to ride (I did not feel bad about dropping mine, I was the only person to drop a bike in the class).

The exercises were basic, right and left U turns, and threshold breaking. Some turns on a slight slope. None of the material was new to me, and was very close to the content in the "Ride Like a Pro" DVD.

Directions were given clearly and they would show us exactly what to do. Then we would attempt the exercise and receive feedback. Feedback from the instructors was immediate and clear.

The progression of exercises makes good sense and build upon each other getting more difficult as the day progressed.

The odd part for me was how hard it was to break some of my bad habits. The reason I dropped the bike (twice) was covering my front break during low speed right hand turns. My bike is forgiving enough that I can get away with crappy riding like that. They told me to stop covering the break many times, and I still found myself doing it both in the class Saturday and over the past couple days riding.

The other problems I have are not keeping my eyes up and not turning my head soon enough on turns.

While we all showed significant improvement the thing that really struck me was the people who were retaking the class. They obviously had not practiced and it showed. As the instructors pointed out several times, these are perishable skills.

I am planning to take the intermediate and advanced courses over the next few months. I will also be doing parking lot practice, although I have not figured out how often. I highly recommend this class to any rider who wants to be better and safer on two wheels.

Tydive said:

While we all showed significant improvement the thing that really struck me was the people who were retaking the class. They obviously had not practiced and it showed. As the instructors pointed out several times, these are perishable skills.

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Heh, guilty of that one. Probably going to take it again this summer.

huh, that sounds awesome. i should check this out.

i remember watching cops with their huge cruisers cutting better maneuvers than most guys, myself included, can pull of on a sport.

Actually in some ways it's easier to do it on those cruisers then on supersport. At the end of the day I was pulling U-turns and maneuvers I still can't do on my bike. Part of it was not caring if I drop the bike, but bigger part was more upright position, and no clipons. Anyway it is a great course, I highly recommend it.

Tydive said:

The other problems I have are not keeping my eyes up and not turning my head soon enough on turns.

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Good for you for being receptive to learning.

Here's an easy way to train yourself to get better visual skills - think about it and practice in your car. You probably drive a 4 wheel vehicle way more than you ride a bike, right?

It's always been odd to me that many people taking moto training seriously, yet never ever think about how they drive. I see the vast majority of road and even race track drivers have poor visual skills - not looking far enough ahead, not looking through turns, following too closely so they can't see anything but the bumper of the vehicle in front, etc.

It is truly the main reason why people drive so slowly and traffic builds, I believe. Poor visual skills - nothing more.

slydrite,
Thanks. I ride more than I cage but, have the same problem there too. I even do wide view exercises when watching TV etc... It's getting better, just takes constant vigilance and practice. My riding skills really suffered when I had to take a few years off, so I'm crawling my way back to being skilled.

Nice write-up, thanks!

slydrite said:

You probably drive a 4 wheel vehicle way more than you ride a bike, right?

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That's crazy talk

Wow, nice write-up and really cool idea. I didn't know they offered a class to civilians. It looks like they offer a basic car course too.

Ha, I read the dual sport, LEO only description and one of the pre-reqs is 200 rounds of ammo. Sounds like some Hollywood style training to me. Jump a DR650 and fire two rounds at the fleeing Cadillac!

in my class (back in 2008) everyone dropped their rental bikes I dropped mine during the slalom practice where you try to slap the floorboards on the ground as you lean the bike waaay over. I was impressed at how flickable those old police Kawis were. No wonder they were the police bike of choice back then.

Great class. I took it last summer and was satisfied in being able to perform some of the tasks proficiently. (u-turn on the incline comes to mind).

that being said, i haven't practiced any of those drills since and so I consider myself back at square 1. IMO, for the class to have lasting significance, one needs to continue to practice and reinforce the skills they teach on one's own.

Great review.

I practice the stuff I learned and can't say enough about how great the class is for the cost and even just the handout, and am dismayed how often it is canceled because there aren't enough people signed up.

Looks interesting, will probably look into it once I'm out of school (and after I can afford a few trackdays - those are higher on my priority list at the moment, I can and do practice some slow stuff on my own).

maxandgrinch said:

Great review.

I practice the stuff I learned and can't say enough about how great the class is for the cost and even just the handout, and am dismayed how often it is canceled because there aren't enough people signed up.

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Agreed, they just need better marketing/promotion. It's like Barfers shouldn't be finding out about this for the 1st time 3 years after I took my class and raved about it, along with everyone else whose taken the class before and after me.

As for practice, I live in a cul-de-sac and before starting on a ride or sometime after I come back I'll do a bunch of circles and figure 8's in both directions at the end of the court.

ACSO Motor Training

The great thing about this class is that you are receiving excellent instruction from top notch riders. The fundamentals taught in this "low speed" environment also apply at high speeds as well. If you've taken the class, you probably heard the same three things all day: set up, head and eyes, and clutch/throttle. You still need to position your bike properly on the road/track and look through the turn. Granted, you aren't going to slip the clutch at 100 mph going into turn one at T Hill, but you still have to put power to the back wheel by hitting the throttle. Performing these exercises at parking lot speeds forces the rider to execute these fundamentals , but in a safe and controlled environment. If you ride on the street, this instruction is invaluable.

nice write up i'm planning to take this course sometime in the summer

Thx for the good write up! Has anyone taken this class as well as lee parks total control and Keith codes CSS, and if so, do you have a view on the relative merits, differences, and whether or not it is worthwhile to do them in combination?
Thx

I signed up for the June session...

Thanks for the nice words.

I read through the packet this week and it supports the lecture. I am very interested in how many of you actually read it. I had to put it in a 3 ring binder to see the pages.

I am waiting on a reply from them about something I found in there before I post it up.