Rider Reviews of The Rider's Workshop
Rod Kilduff
Lieutenant Colonel
US Army (Retired)
Smooth Riding
I have just completed a very enjoyable though intense weekend at the Rider’s Workshop. I spent an evening and two days on the road just to get from my home in Arkansas to Thurmont, MD, where I met with instructor Jim Ford and the four other participants.
The emphasis of the course is “Smooth Riding.” Every facet of the training aims toward that single goal. It’s not about speed, speed is de-emphasized, it’s about smoothness, it’s about precise control. Making your motorcycle “dance” through the curves of the back roads and doing it safely, and making it fun.
I attended Jim’s seminar at the BMW National Rally in Wisconsin and everything he said seemed to make sense and fit within my riding style and goals. Jim brings up a close similarity between riding a motorcycle and flying and he is correct. I have a little bit of experience with that. I have been a helicopter pilot since I was 19. At 20, I was flying combat missions in Viet Nam.These days I fly a Medical Evacuation Helicopter. You cannot fly a helicopter in formation in and out of a tight Landing Zone with a heavy load of troops, or fly a patient out of country road in the Ozarks at night with trees and wires all around, or land on a roof pad at a hospital and not be smooth. We call it Control Touch or Pilot Technique.
I have been striving for that kind of control in my riding. I have always been just a little uncomfortable riding the really curvy back roads. I knew the motorcycle could handle it and I knew it could be done. There was just something wrong with my Pilot Technique. I kept trying to get better at it, but something was just not “clicking.” When it’s right you know it, and I knew it wasn’t right. I would be tired and tense at the end of the ride. There was still something wrong...