The Guys VS the Girls

I recently had a chance to teach my Ride Like a Pro course to 12 lady riders. Two days prior, I had a class of 12 men riders. Generally, my classes consist of a mixture of both sexes, however, the majority are always men. This fact is simply because men buy a lot more motorcycles than women, however, female riders are the biggest growing segment in motorcycling.

Having both of these classes so close together confirmed what I already knew. There is no difference in the skill level of either trained or untrained riders.
Both the ladies and the men’s class had similar heavyweight motorcycles and their years of riding experience was close. With experience level being very similar, again, I was able to confirm that riding for years or a lot of miles does NOT make a person a skilled rider.
One of the exercises in at my course has the rider performing a quick left to right and right to left transition. This exercise simulates what a rider must do to avoid a vehicle that violates the rider’s right of way. Only two riders were able to make these quick transitions within the allotted space. Both of those riders, one male and one female, have my Ride Like a Pro video and have practiced the techniques and exercises on the video several times before coming to my class.
All the other riders needed eight or ten tries before being able to make the transitions or swerves within the allotted space. Out on the street, you get only one shot at it.  If you can’t make that swerve out on the road, you’re going to crash. It’s that simple. At my class, you get to practice this maneuver 50 to 60 times. That means once you master it, you get 40 to 50 more tries to perfect the transition.  By the end of my four intense hour class, all of the riders improved their skills by at least 100%; some riders improved by even more.
The men and the women improved at the same rate. Proving that size and strength means nothing when it comes to riding a motorcycle. It’s technique that counts and there’s only three techniques that you have to master. Riding straight on down the road and making a big, wide, U-turn every once in a while will not help you avoid a crash. Training of the proper techniques will make you a better, safer, and more confident rider. Male or female, it doesn’t matter, you CAN learn to Ride Like a Pro.
During these classes that I hold, I get the same question asked by riders; I’m often asked how I can put up with the excessive heat from the motor on my Harleys while doing these low speed maneuvers. Well, for the past five model years, I’ve used the Techlusion TFI on my Harleys, the Techlusion from DoBeck Performance. It’s a simple plug and play device that plugs into the Harley fuel injectors. The device richens the mixture and allows the motor to run much cooler, even in the Florida summer heat. In addition, it’s adjustable should you modify your motorcycle. Having a dyno done is not necessary, I plugged mine in within 30 minutes, there’s nothing to it. You can find one for any motorcycle at www.dobeckperformance.com

Copyright 2014 Jerry “Motorman” Palladino
www.ridelikeapro.com