I Took the Ride-Like-A-Pro class

I took the Ride-Like-A-Pro class last Sunday in New Port Richey Florida. It was heavy duty - the MSF course on steroids times 10 and then squared.

There were four of us in the class - 2 Harley CVOs, 1 Harley Road King, and me on my Triumph Bonneville Speedmaster. I do not trailer my 2008 RSV from Wisconsin to Florida so I had to use my Triumph.

The 3 Harley guys dropped their bikes multiple times - one CVO guy dropped his bike maybe 15 times. It made me shudder to see these $40k bikes laying on the ground. I did not drop mine but my Triumph only weighs 550 pounds - If I had been riding my RSV there is no doubt I would have been on the ground with the rest of the riders. One of the Harley guys was taking the class for the 2nd time. He was probably the best rider taking the class and he still dropped his bike a couple of times.

The instructor was Jerry Palladino himself - the Motorman. Watching him ride 1000 pound motorcycles around the course like a toy was amazing. He would explain to us each exercise that we would be doing and then his wife would ride her Road King as the demonstration of what we had to do - his wife could ride circles around any one of us guys taking the class. She weighed maybe 120 pounds at the most and could handle her big Harley almost as well as Jerry. She told me when they got married Jerry told her to either "learn to ride a motorcycle or go home and learn to cook". She chose motorcycles over cooking. LOL.

The class made each one of us in the class realize just how much we did not know about riding a motorcycle. By the time we were done everyone could do a u-turn in 15-20 feet of road width and do figure-eights in 20 feet of road width continuosly. Almost every exercise had us scrapping the floorboards or footpegs.

The class was well worth the $150 it cost - and you can take the class over and over again for only $75 each after the first class. I will be taking it again.

Only $150? Wow! I thought the price would be much higher. It does sound intense and something I have considered. I'll practice maneuvers on his videos before I travel (also from Wisconsin) to Florida for his class. I've no timeline just yet.

Only $150? Wow! I thought the price would be much higher. It does sound intense and something I have considered. I'll practice maneuvers on his videos before I travel (also from Wisconsin) to Florida for his class. I've no timeline just yet.

Yes - the price is very reasonable. All classes are on Sunday mornings from 9:00Am to around 1:00PM - solid riding for about 5 hours. I am a snowbird (for 6 months a year) and did not realize they were only 40 miles from me here in Florida. We put on 12 miles riding around a parking lot.

ROCK ON CW!! and if ya aint got the money to learn from a Pro like CW did,, just find an open parking lot and practice practice practice .. and practicing with your scoot set up like you were headed out for a month of CTFW doesn't hurt either

He was at one of our SCRC rallies a couple years ago to give the class. My son and took it. $100.00 each. He was there for the four day rally and he was busy the whole time.