An Introduction

Shenandoah Mountain 2010

The Rider’s Workshop offers one or two-day on-road Appalachian tours designed for beginner/intermediate to advanced riders who want to develop expert road riding skills and greater riding confidence. It’s an unique and shared experience and is dedicated to those who genuinely love and respect riding, and aspire to riding well. It is East Coast mountain motorcycling and camaraderie at its best with like-minded students of the road all wanting to learn and improve.

Over one or two days and plenty of miles, using two-way radios and roadside “chalk talk,” riding coach and Workshop founder, Jim Ford guides you through this mountainous region and discusses the Art of Riding Smooth. Riding smooth leads to safety and fun at any speed. Riding smooth leads to expertise. When you develop smoothness in a mountainous environment, your riding confidence amps up and your ability to handle the motorcycle with newfound expertise will give you great satisfaction. For any motorcyclist, it’s all about being smooth, especially in curves. The Rider’s Workshop is a study of hills and curves.

Your “classroom” is miles of Appalachian Invisible Roads.

Except for locals on tractors, in pickup trucks, or Amish buggies, The Invisible Roads are virtually unknown to outsiders, yet offer challenging riding conditions, great beauty, and wild, natural surprises. These remote rural roads run along tilled farmland and pastures, remote ridgelines, and stretch along shaded creeks of clear splashing water. Best of all, there is no traffic!

Finally, and most importantly, The Rider’s Workshops is dedicated to safe motorcycling. Like Zen— expertise and the Art of Riding Smooth is a state of mind.

Dear Jim,
Just a note to thank you again for such a wonderful tour.  You shared not only your “invisible roads” but also your insight and expertise regarding how to ride those roads with precision and grace.  I feel my riding skills have been enhanced, to improve not only my safety, but also my enjoyment of the road.  You offered a reminder of previously learned skills, which had been lost somewhere over the past 15 years of riding, as well as  new perspectives on shifting and lane positioning.  The ride home was a major shift in technique and attention.  Each curve was a “study in precision,” and each road had “it’s own energy.”
Bottom line, we had a great time and we learned, which were our objectives.
Thank you, and may you have many years of sharing your knowledge.
Ginger Kandle,  New Hampshire
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