Seven Things I Wish Someone Had Told Me When I Started Riding

 

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Doug, David and the OCC 1 class in Europe

Doug (my younger son) & I recently completed our 2 week motorcycle trip to Europe. My other son, Nick, could not join us as he was away in Peru. We had a fantastic time & I am delighted to tell you that we had no accidents, covering over 3,000 miles. 

We picked up the rental BMW bikes in Heidelberg, then headed up the Rhein & Mosel valleys. Crossed over in Northern France to visit the WW1 battlefield at Verdun before heading down into French Alps just outside Grenoble. This meant that we had a chance to get used to the bikes with increasing complexity of turns and different road surfaces. We then remained in the mountains, moving over to Chamonix to Switzerland & then across into Northern Italy. The final day was the Stelvio Pass with the unending hairpin curves - great way to finish the trip.

Both Doug & I remarked how pleased we were that we had taken the Level 1 class that gave us the skill & confidence to tackle the different roads, the ability to maneuver through the challenging sequences of bends. On some days it seemed that we must have completed over a 1000 turns as the roads just kept going & going. I was passed so often by faster riders who were more familiar with the roads, but in the back of my head was the familiar chant - "in like a lamb, out like a lion". That ensured that I never got myself into a situation where I felt out of control going through a bend. I can see how easy it would have been to get into trouble so easily.

The trip has certainly renewed my interest in motorcycling and I looking forward to joining you on one of the Overland courses to improve my skills.

Regards,

David

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MotoMark1's Maximum Control gets high scores from Iron Butt Magazine article

MotoMark1 gets high scores in the Summer 2014 Iron Butt Magazine article written by student Lisa Hecker.  Follow this link to read:  MotoMark1IronButt.