BMW MOA Foundation and Two Wheel Flight Lite
(Photos by Amy Drabek and David Grant)
As a BMW MOA Director, I was asked to step up and help the Foundation with their 2011 Challenge. As the Foundation's mission is to promote programs for maintenance, safe motorcycle operation and educational programs, supporting this worthy cause was an easy choice. A few bucks to the Foundation got me a sticker, pin, a raffle prize number, and a shirt (of which I must explain to the significant other why I have another t-shirt with a motorcycle on it). But I thought that there is more I could do to help with the core mission, as my wife Jennifer and I do more than instruct the standard MSF courses, but also are Total Control instructors and have developed two proprietary riding courses. One of these courses would be a nice fit with the Foundation's goals and could be used as a fundraising event. The idea was presented to the President of the Foundation, Don Braasch, who agreed to the idea with welcoming enthusiasm. And this is how on the 6th of November in Oklahoma City, the BMW MOA Foundation Fundraiser event of the Two Wheel Flight Lite came to be.
The time between when I made the offer to Don and November 6th, Jennifer and I brainstormed a way to make the day a low-stress, high-fun, day while providing the best instruction available. These requirements drove us to an answer of a shortened version of our Two Wheel Flight course, a "Lite" version. Two Wheel Flight is a course which delves into many areas of rider training not discussed nor made available in other courses, but described in depth in the many riding skills books available. We focus on the areas in single-motorcycle mishaps to make the material relevant and use current adult-learning strategies to make the material stick in the riders head. The big difference between the full and Lite is eight hours and dedicated centers-based instruction and four hours with a "free-flow" pace. Both versions are held on a closed course, and finding these has become increasingly scarce.
Luckily, Oklahoma County Sheriff has a training facility that they make available for groups to use on a space-available basis for non-profit events. The facility allows for a mix of different road configurations from single-lane to multi-lane roadways. This works perfect for either version of Two Wheel Flight as we can get specific training in a slow speed section, then transfer the same skills to larger, higher-speed area on the same track. The riders who've attended the previous Two Wheel Flight courses all rode away with more information then they expected. And they got to ride around at speeds higher then legal without the worries of the red-blue lights behind them!
Learn more about the BMW MOA Foundation at www.bmwmoaf.org!
The training facility was ready to accept the 21 riders who had pre-registered for the Two Wheel Flight Lite, but due to outside circumstances, only 18 could attend. The rider who traveled the farthest was from Nixa, Missouri and the youngest was from Norman, Oklahoma. The oldest bike was a K75 and the newest a K1600; smallest a CBR250 and largest, the K1600. A nice mix of bikes and riders filled the ranks between these extremes of size and experience. Overall, it was what one could expect to see at any roadside stop that bikers hang out at. Each rider received the sponsors Markel Insurance lightweight backpack bags and RevZilla gift cards after sign-in. They also got Foundation Challenge shirts and stickers to go with the bags. Most felt they had gotten all they paid for without turning a wheel on the track! But turning a wheel or two on the track for the best instruction possible is why they came, and Jennifer and I would do our best to deliver.
The 18 riders started out in Two Wheel Flight Lite with a short motorcycle technical inspection, and then we group riders by skill and size motorcycle. Each group has a specific rule to keep separated on the track to work on the skills emphasized for that on-track session, and that speed means nothing. As instructors, we break down two corners; one for lane thirds and apexing the other for strategies to link multi corners together. A key component of the training is the active self-reflection by the rider of what they just did on the track, in a particular corner. To accomplish this task, we pull individual riders off and discuss with them what they did, and nail down a few key words to write on painter's tape that we apply to their helmets. After roughly 45 minutes of riding, we bring everyone in for a break and discuss what they did on the track. This discussion is based on riders describing the session using the key words written on the tape we placed on their helmet. Yes, it can be self-humbling at times to admit to others their personal riding skills are not quite what they initially thought, but very rewarding to share what one did to correct the deficiency. And as always, the riders learn more from their fellow students then from the instructors, and this will hold true for when we transition to the 2nd stage of the Two Wheel Flight Lite.
Two hours into the session, we re-configure the track, and send the groups out again, now with areas dedicated for passing. We bring them in after 20 minutes we bring them in and discuss how the lessons from the previous session were applied at higher speed and a new configuration. We add a short demonstration of trail braking being applied and how to accomplish it by mechanical movements of the hands and feet along with how the motorcycle should feel by a calibrated gluteus maximus. For this last session, the riders are literally "flying" in smooth, controlled arcs with measured and confident cornering skills. As expected, the riders realize that when they go faster, they have to think faster and look farther ahead, otherwise a K bike might have to act like a GS.
As a closing, the riders are brought together for one last time and we discuss the day from when they took that first turn to the final turn. All would do a humorous, self-depreciating comment, and finish with a true item of what they learned and how it was applied. Because of the mix of riders and different skills, we leave them with three questions only they can ask, and answer, to continue this learning process after they leave the facility: What is my Attitude? What are my Skills? What is my Knowledge? And to make it simple, they may want to ask themselves before each corner they are about to take on the road.
The Two Wheel Flight Lite, BMW MOA Foundation fundraising event may have helped bolster the coffers of the Foundation, but to the 18 riders who attended, the BMW MOA Foundation really upheld it's mission of support to educational and personal growth programs related to safe and enjoyable motorcycle use.
David Grant is a current BMW MOA Director, has written for BMW Owners News, Ride Oklahoma and US Air Force's "Torch" safety magazine, member of the Central Oklahoma BMW Road Rider's chartered club, member of the GS Giants, Total Control Advanced Riding Clinic Instructor, Two Wheel Flight track training inventor and lead instructor, assisted in writing and producing the USAF Motorcycle Program Coordinator's course, former WMRRA Expert-level club roadracer, initial researcher/developer of the interim Air Mobility Command Sportbike Program, and MSF Instructor since 2001. He is currently developing the RR Giant program for the 2012 International Rally in Sedalia.
