Last weekend I went through the Basic Rider Course (BRC). It was the last course of the year, and the earliest I could get into when I signed up this past July. Seems that everyone must have been getting motorcycles this summer!

The course was on Friday night for 4 hours, then 6 hours each on Saturday and Sunday. It’s meant to teach the basics of motorcycle riding, even for those who have never even ridden a bike before. That was pretty evident the first day when most of it was how to sit on the bike, walking the bike back and forth, back and forth (without it even being on!), then walking the bike with it turned on…you get the idea. Very basic. And very boring.

But by Sunday morning we were doing some relatively fun things, and I actually started learning a few tips and tricks - which I was very happy to get something out of the class. Granted the class through the state only cost me $25 and the reason I took it was simply to get my endorsement, but I was still happy to learn some things.

At the end of the day Sunday the last thing we did was actually take the riding test. This consisted of several things, the worst of which was “the box”. “That damn box”, as it came to be known by all 6 of us in the class, was a relatively tight rectangle (I would guess it was 25×10 feet) in which you had to complete 2 u-turns, essentially riding in one end, performing a figure 8, then riding out the other end. In practice I could only keep it in the lines maybe 1 out of every 3 tries. But once the test came, lo and behold, I performed everything perfectly - including the damn box! Whew! I actually ended up with a perfect score on my riding test, along with one other rider. And then my 50-question written exam I got just one wrong.

Not too shabby for a newbie rider!

Now with my Basic Rider Course completion certificate in hand I wandered over to the BMV at lunch and left $23 poorer but with a brand spanking new license that now shows my “MC Novice” endorsement. As I understand it (since the BMV folks didn’t bother to tell me what that actually meant with the novice part), having the endorsement means that I am in my first year of having a motorcycle endorsement and that three of the four restrictions that apply while operating with the temporary permit no longer apply. I can now legally carry a passenger, ride at night, and ride on interstate roads. However, although the state of Ohio is a no-helmet state, I am still required to wear a helmet for the first year. After one year, I can replace my license so that it drops the MC Novice endorsement and shows just MC. I don’t see either of those things as any big deal since I plan to ALWAYS wear a helmet. I’ve already had my helmet hit too many times to count by big @$$ bugs and some pretty significant pebbles. I’d prefer to keep my face intact and scar free, thank you very much.

With the course now over, the temperature dropped dramatically the very next day. Thank goodness it stayed relatively dry and bearable outside for the weekend!

Now that I put 1600 miles on my Buell this summer as a newbie rider, she’s parked snugly in the garage with a battery tender hooked up, keeping her ready for any potential Indian summer days that come through! And I’m looking forward to the warm summer days next year already!

For the time being though, she’s looking pretty good just sitting in the garage!

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Posted: October 30th, 2008 at 7:11 pm.
Filed under: Motorcycling.
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