March 2008 Recap

Our March ride called “Skills Safety Training” was a great success. It was a great opportunity to brush up on our riding skills and safety knowledge. Vinnie Greva, our official training officer brought his many years of experience to the course and showed many of us just how rusty we really are.

First Vinnie had us doing slow stops and then going, without touching the ground.

Next we had to maneuver in and out through safety cones. Not hard you might say, well try doing it real slow, balanced with out putting your foot down. With the cruisers it’s not easy. We had some real skilled riders that handled this part real easy, and for others not so easy, including myself.

Through out the day we took breaks to here some of the safety tips that Vinnie has learned through out his career. Some of the best advice for me was how to survive an accident. How to hold on to the bike while you’re sliding on the ground, how to use your bike to protect you during that slide and when to let go. I know this sound harsh but its reality and we all need this information for our own protection.

We had chairs and some refreshments for our breaks. Sitting around and hearing everyone’s stories on the subject of safety riding, skills and of course mishaps, was just as fun.

We had a few more courses to run like ninety degree cornering, high speed stops and of course the figure eight, but is got real windy and started to rain so we called it quits for the day.

We’ll all get together another day to finish up. I think we all can say thanks to Vinnie and that we needed this.

See you all at Calico.