Today I went on a motorcycle ride with a local biker group. It was the first time I’ve ridden in a group in the US, and the first time I’d be going any faster than 50 mph. This is a big deal for me because I’m a beginner with bikes, especially in the US where the speeds are typically 50+ and there are way more cars that don’t see bikes per se.

But it turned out to be an awesome ride, mostly because of the group, and in particular two fine gentlemen who volunteered to “lag”, i.e., ride behind the slowpoke, i.e., me. Both of them had good experience riding, and more importantly, good experience helping beginners.

Oh, and btw, some tech helped too. All of us being on the same communication mesh via bluetooth headsets that just worked (TM) was immensely useful. I’m usually a fan of DIY jugaad tech, but it’s indeed awesome when your paid thing works without a hitch.

On the way out, I was taught how to ride at highway speeds by my first friend..err teacher..in the what I can only describe as the best motorcyele class I’ve not paid for. Highlights:

• I really didnt know how to corner before, despite watching tons of videos. He first told me to stop using the brake, and use engine braking when I want to slow down. It’s different when you know there’s someone behind you doing the same thing vs when you’re on your own. It still took me quite a few turns before I was able to do it with some confidence. This was by far the biggest lesson I learned today.
• Next, he really fixed where I was looking, and despite seeing it in numerous YT videos, I only internalized it today. I have been looking at literally 10 yards in front of me the whole time, which means I worry about every road defect and potential car/bunny that could jump out. He kept drilling “exit, exit, exit” in my ear, and followed up with “now what do you see in the horizon” until i actually looked at the horizon despite there being an S curve before me.
• The one time I was going down a real steep slope (Stevens pass for those who know) and freaked out, he did something amazing: he gave only positive commands. Instead of saying “dont hit the brakes” he said “look to your left”. This is so powerful because when you’re fixated on how steep the road in front of you is like I was, your instinct says get off the road and stop before you veer off the road or into the next lane. By telling me to look left, he was trying to get me back onto my lane. If instead he’d said “dont look at your right”, guess what I’d have done? And, as every biker knows, where you look, that’s where you go.
• On the straight stretches, he’d goad me to “punch it”. And he did it in stages, giving feedback all along because I was too busy looking forward to look down at the speedometer anyway. I went from 52(personal top speed before today) to 60, 65 and 70 at one point. That last one was for a few seconds, but I wouldnt have done it by myself. Soon I was taking turns at speeds that before today I’d take only as a series of short straight runs with a ton of braking.
• He knew when to back off, too. That time I veered off the road? That happened when I was trying to do countersteering as he suggested. But when he saw that it was a lesson too much, he said “ok, that’s for another day”.
• He still had a tiny bit of fun, too. The best hairpin bend that he likes to speed on - he just went ahead and let me catch up.

On the way back, I had my other friend, err..teacher, and his style was to just hang back and be a buddy along for the ride, while dropping knowledge and fixing things. Highlights:

• He said “dont worry about what’s behind you, just keep going ahead”. I’m famously worried about the line of cars behind me and constantly pull over to let them go (happened once on the way out today too). This helped remind me that I’m a user of the road too. Sure, I should step aside if the signs literally says “slow moving traffic give way”, but otherwise, I was fine.
• By now i was trying the “no brakes, use throttle to turn” method, but he reminded me of the outside-inside-outside way of negotiating curves. I’d watched many videos about this of course, but again, instant feedback while you’re in the environment with constant encouragement (“you did great back there”) - priceless!
• “Sometimes I go slow because I dont feel like going fast”: This is a zen thing that I do while driving a car, but am still not there with a motorcycle. But him saying it underlined the fact that he had the full ability to go fast, and sometimes chose not to. That was freeing for me, because sometimes I feel the pressure to speed up; and knowing that once I’m a competent rider at speed, I could do the zen thing too made me feel OK.
• At one point we were in a 25 minute slow down (typical for US 2). We had a discussion about whether we should use the shoulder, and about how it’s not really legal. Thats when he said: “break the rules if your life’s in question”. so for example, if it started raining, it’d be ok to use the shoulder to either get to shelter or reach home faster. That made total sense, because both of us agreed that we’d rather not ride in rain.
• During that same slow down, google maps suggested a turn which ended up being a loop, and now we were on the wrong side of the road trying to merge into the clogged side. Of course the lights did not turn green for a long time since our bikes didnt trip the weight sensor. After waiting long enough, he first tried to get the light to change by pressing the pedestrian cross button. When that didnt work, he just ventured into traffic with his bike, let me pass and joined in himself. Nice fix! I did redeem myself a little bit for those wrong directions by turning at another road that got us off the blocked road and onto a nice twisty one.
• As we got close to home, my low fuel light came on. And even though I know that it’d go for at least another 20 miles, I was a bit worried. He just said “you’ll be fine, dont worry”. And it was good coming from soneone else.

Thanks to both my friends/teachers for today. I hope they’ll continue to ride with me!

And now I’d like to extrapolate a bit from the world of bikes.

As a learner, there’re a few takeaways:

• Find a group that likes the thing you’re trying to learn and be an honest participant (I hope I was and will continue to be)
• Seek and take specific direction to improve specific areas that you’re trying to learn.
• Both instructors and buddies are important.

As a teacher, there’s a different set of takeaways:

• Give specific instruction immediately and when the learner is trying to learn
• Give positive commands. Say “Do X” instead of “Dont do Y”
• Push the learner. They likely have self-imposed artificial limits
• …but back off when they’re really past their “learnability zone for the day”
• …and have some fun of your own too.
• Also, speaking from experience is welcome by beginners, especially since it gives an insight into where they might be at some future point.

I suspect I shall be using the events of today in my work and regular life a bit in the future! And hopefully those fine gentlmen will still ride with me :)