As Mark puts it, “Getting together with your buddies to go for a Sunday ride, get a bite to eat, or cruise to a rally is not the same as dedicated practice. It is saddle time, but it’s not the same as saying, ‘For the next 30 minutes I’m going to dedicate my time to practicing one skill, and refine it, and improve it, and build upon it.’ I look at motorcycling like any other athletic endeavor. Who are the best athletes? Usually the ones that practice the most.”

Unlike many riding schools that focus on going fast around corners, the Ride Like A Pro schools are modeled upon the training that law enforcement officers receive dedicated to the mastery of slow speed maneuvers on a big bike. Paz notes, “For a lot of experienced riders if they’ve moved up from something smaller like a Sportster or a Dyna to something larger and heavier like an Electra Glide or an Ultra, they may find it a little more difficult or unwieldy to do the things with it that they used to do before. So this school is designed to give them the skills, practice, and confidence to do those things that will make it handle more like a smaller bike.”

One totally legitimate concern that many folks have when considering practicing these drills on their own is fear of exceeding their limits, dropping their bike, and ringing up an expensive bill for repairs. That’s actually a great reason to take the class on one of the fully drop-ready Kawasaki KZ1000 police motorcycles stabled by Ride Like A Pro West Coast. According to Paz, “70-80% of students elect to use the training bikes we provide. If a rider is hesitant and concerned about damaging their ride, they’re not going to commit themselves to the exercises.” In fact one of the very first skillsets that Mark teaches in the class, is how to properly “lay ‘er down” and “pick ‘er up”. Each student takes a turn letting their bike fall from a stationary position, while turning their head in the direction of the get off, stepping perpendicularly away from the bike, and separating themselves from the falling machine. Once we were safely clear and vertically stable, we returned to the bike to hit the shutoff, and checked ourselves out for damage first, followed by an inspection of our toppled stallions. Next we all put our butts back against the seat, secured a grip, dug our heels deep into the ground, and walked our bikes back up, avoiding too much flex in knees to prevent injury. Sounds simple enough, and really it is, but when was the last time you actually practiced it? Understandably that’s not a drill a lot of folks want to do with their own pride and joy.

That having been said, some students do prefer to take the Ride Like A Pro class on their own bikes, and that’s totally OK with Paz. I asked him about a few of the most memorable stallions to attend his rodeo, and he had quite a list, “I had a guy show up with a foot clutch and a suicide shifter on his bike and I said, ‘you know this class is all about learning to ride in the friction zone’, and he said, ‘I know’, and you know what, he actually did really well. I’ve had guys show up with ape hangers, beach bars, even an Iron Butt guy who had put a car tire on the rear end of his bike. They struggled some, but they all took the class and made it through.”

Being a fairly sensible guy myself, I made the fairly sensible choice to push my limits on one of Mark’s fully prepped police bikes. While I didn’t end up tipping, the peace of mind of not having to worry about the consequences if I did played a major role in the degree to which I pushed my boundaries.

Before we started riding though, the class began with a briefing on hand signals, proper posture, and friction zone control. We then saddled up and got to work focusing on fundamental skills such as smooth control over our brakes, a slow race to acclimate to riding in the friction zone, and straight line cone weaves to hone steering inputs. The first of several brief pit stops ensued and after attending to our various biological needs, Mark continued his verbal tutorial covering principles of counter steer, and plotting optimal lines through corners to give you wiggle room in case of an emergency maneuver. Back on the practice pad, the drills grew gradually more challenging with exercises that each built upon the skills we had already practiced. Mark coached us through, consistently doling out all the little tips that can make the difference between a graceful maneuver and a not-so-graceful tip over, as we ran our bikes through tighter and tighter circles, figure eights, offset cone weaves, single-lane U-turns, and braking drills.

There are several nice bonuses that Ride Like A Pro West Coast offers their students. Mark gladly volunteers to stay after class with participants who would like to repeat some of the drills with their partner on the pillion, and anybody who takes Mark’s course can come back and take it again at no charge if they want to return within one year. If you’d prefer private one-on-one instruction, that can be arranged as well.

Out of our group of 6 pupils, we had some naturals, and some riders who needed more time and coaching to master the techniques. There were several slow speed drops, but just as we had rehearsed, they were back up and at it within minutes. Afterwards, every one of the students told me that they were very satisfied with the class and each felt that they had improved upon their skills. I would count myself in that tally as well. I’ve been a full-time professional moto-journalist for the past ten years, attending many other riding schools during that time, and my skillset definitely benefitted from the big bike/slow speed focus of the Ride Like A Pro experience. Considering the fact that $150 to take the class is orders of magnitude less expensive than bringing your chrome masterpiece back up to snuff after a slip & tip, I’d recommend it to riders of any level, even those of us who already consider ourselves “pros”. For more information on the Ride Like A Pro schools visit www.ridelikeaprowestcoast.com.