In August 2023, I had the pleasure of interviewing Greg Widmar on my podcast. You may know him by the pseudonym “Fast Eddie,” as he’s referred to himself on his MotoJitsu YouTube channel and his website, MotoJitsu.com. If you’re unfamiliar with Greg’s work, he’s an extraordinarily skilled motorcyclist and riding coach who has devoted himself to rider education in a variety of capacities and has published four books (available through his website or on Amazon.com) outlining his philosophy and a collection of practical drills riders can use between formal training events. Those drills are also contained in his app, which is more convenient to carry on your phone to an empty parking lot. I highly recommend all his offerings for any rider willing to invest time and effort in their own development.
While his teachings are well-considered and theoretically sound, Greg is first and foremost a pragmatist, and considers didactic learning a small minority of the skill acquisition process. The rest is neither verbal nor conceptual, but purely physical: practice, practice, practice! Obviously, Greg isn’t the only riding instructor who advises regular, repetitive exercise of the techniques involved in competently piloting a motorcycle, but he has really gone the extra mile (!) in putting out high-quality, extensively tested/proven, and systematically streamlined guidance for building skill every time we get in the saddle—at little or no cost.
After my conversation with Greg, I was inspired to beef up my own home practice regimen once again. What follows is not a particular set of drills, but rather a collection of habits, methods, and principles that seem especially relevant as I work more deliberately on my own evolution. These apply at any skill level, from complete neophyte to advanced expert, as even the most proficient riders I know—whose abilities far exceed my own—routinely employ such approaches. Some are explicitly referenced in the MotoJitsu library, and can be found elsewhere, too. Others are from my exposure to a wide range of in-person, written, and video-based riding instruction or my own observations of self and others. I can’t give all my sources due credit here, but I’ve included a book list below.
GET OUT OF YOUR MIND AND INTO YOUR BODY
While this essay contains abstractions, the primacy of concrete action remains. No idea—no matter how cleverly insightful it is—will save us from a crash or elevate our riding performance, confidence, or enjoyment. Only demonstrable physical skills, like eye-hand (and -foot and -body) coordination and reflexive muscle memory, which can only be cultivated through repetitive physical practice, will deliver the desired results. Good judgement is certainly also required, and this mental element must be rooted in accurate understanding. However, even the most excellent judgement may yield assessments that aren’t truly actionable in the absence of commensurate physical abilities. Also, many types of judgement must be based on a reliable sense of what’s truly possible in a given situation, which is in turn dependent upon having lots of concrete experience across many different circumstances. Finally, any skills we do develop deteriorate rapidly when unused for even brief periods of time. As someone who has been riding for half a century and has attended a dozen or so track days and riding schools—and then NOT engaged in consistent practice of the techniques learned in each—I can readily attest to the fact my skills drifted back to pre-training levels whenever my practice discipline waned. I may remember the concepts intellectually, but my body doesn’t recall how to execute the related actions, at least not very well.
HISTORY IS THE BEST PREDICTOR OF THE FUTURE
There’s just no getting around the necessity of regular practice, and yet how many riders commit the time and effort? The general population of motorcyclists is largely comprised of folks who’ve ridden for years without ever receiving any formal training or devoting even a little energy to proper practice. Keep in mind practice doesn’t make perfect; practice only makes permanent. Perfect practice is required to cultivate perfect technique, meaning we must know and do what’s actually correct, not “what comes naturally.” Much correct technique is neither automatic nor intuitive. During the first half of my riding career, before I received any rider education, I learned some things on my own the hard way. The sum total of my knowledge and abilities before getting formal training might make up 20% of what I’ve learned in the second half of my tenure as a motorcyclist with the benefit of instruction and practice, not to mention all the bad technique and misunderstandings I’ve had to unlearn. For better or for worse, whatever we’ve repeated the most times and the most recently is what we’re most likely to do going forward, especially in the split-second urgency of a potential crash scenario. Nobody suddenly exhibits life-saving skills they haven’t made automatic through prior repetition.
COMPETENCY IS ALWAYS A WORK IN PROGRESS
Motorcycling is an indisputably dangerous activity; we’re many, many times more likely to die riding than driving a car. Honing our skills helps offset the risks and improve our chances of survival, but that’s only one benefit of training. The vast majority of us have embraced this avocation because it’s so much fun. Riding well means being able to enjoy riding without feeling self-conscious or fearful, so the pleasure isn’t contaminated or diminished by anxiety. The MSF’s old motto, “The more you know, the better it gets.” is absolutely true. Mastery of challenging tasks is also gratifying in itself, instilling realistic pride and confidence in those who diligently earn these rewards; it also gives us something of great value we can pass along to others. As Greg doesn’t hesitate to say, people uninterested in developing their skills shouldn’t be riding motorcycles. Responsible, competent, and joyous riding requires a love of learning, a curious/open mind, and a tolerance for the humbling frustrations and wearying struggles involved in growth. Obviously, these aren’t just necessities in the domain of motorcycling, but apply to life in general. Strengthening these psychological “muscles” in the saddle adds to our resilience elsewhere, too.
EVERY RIDE IS A PRACTICE SESSION
Whether we’re riding to a destination or just out for some fresh air, anytime we’re on two wheels is a learning opportunity. This can mean establishing a warmup routine for both tires and rider wherein each outing begins with some repetitive hard acceleration and hard braking to get heat into the rubber and maximize its grip, and to maintain calibration of our sensitivity and control at the brake lever and pedal. We shouldn’t be startled by the sensations of our ABS kicking in when we’re in the midst of a panic stop; we need such things to be boringly familiar so our limited attention can stay focused on the immediate situation’s hazards and demands. We might also loosen up with some figure-eights, weaves, and tight circles in a parking lot or empty stretch of road, and pick something as an intentional theme for the ride. This could be shifting as smoothly as possible, trying a different approach to body positioning or line selection, or paying close attention to how the bike responds to counter-steering of different types (gentle vs. forceful, gradual vs. sudden) at different speeds. Some might feel this would make riding into a chore, but I’d say it makes riding more interesting and engaging. Piloting a motorcycling is not a passive affair; the more attention we direct toward subtle sensations coming through and from the bike and our own nuanced control inputs, the better we’ll be aware of and understand the complex interplay between our minds, bodies, and machines.
The Ride Inside with Mark Barnes is brought to you by the MOA Foundation. You can join the BMW Motorcycle Owners of America quickly and easily to better take advantage of the Paul B Grant and Clark Luster programs mentioned in this episode.
FREQUENCY VERSUS DURATION
Whether we’re talking about weightlifting, running, playing a musical instrument, doing yoga, or riding a motorcycle, it’s generally more beneficial to do shorter training sessions more often than to do longer sessions once in a while. Because physical conditioning and skills decay rapidly, long gaps between practice periods can be tantamount to starting over each time, hobbling overall progress. Also, the repetition involved in practice can become tedious, exhausting, or frustrating pretty quickly, and our attention spans may not match our level of determination. The window of our optimal learning state may be fully open for as little as 15-20 minutes. Beyond that, we may grow too bored, tired, annoyed, or mentally fried to gain much from pressing on. In fact, we may become much more prone to making careless or impulsive errors, dropping our bikes, hurting ourselves, and accumulating reasons to never practice again. Better to stop at the point of diminishing returns and go enjoy a ride. Rhythm is often a very helpful thing in the learning process. We’re most likely to stick with our gym routine if we go at the same times each week, and this holds true for riding practice. We might make a commitment to visit our practice space for a half-hour every Wednesday evening or set up a group practice session every second Saturday of the month, followed by a group ride. A practice buddy may be as helpful as a workout buddy in providing accountability, camaraderie, and feedback. Sleep is also a key component of learning consolidation. I’ve many times found that a skill I couldn’t quite do properly one day is suddenly within reach the next day, simply because I “slept on it.” (This is a good reason to attend two-day riding schools instead of one-day versions.)
READING MATERIALS AND VIEWING OPTIONS
As emphasized already, knowledge isn’t nearly enough; real skill development requires putting ideas into action. Nevertheless, knowledge is definitely essential. Here are some books (in no particular order) I’ve found useful, not only in developing greater conceptual understanding, but also in cultivating strategies for practice.
“A Twist of the Wrist” (vol. I & II) and “The Soft Science of Road Racing Motorcycles” by Keith Code
“Proficient Motorcycling” and “More Proficient Motorcycling” by David Hough
“The Upper Half of the Motorcycle” by Bernt Spiegel
“Total Control” by Lee Parks
“Pro Motocross & Off-Road Motorcycle Riding Techniques” by Donnie Bales and Gary Semic
“Smooth Riding” by Reg Pridmore and Geoff Drake
“The Art of Riding Smooth” by Jim Ford
“Stayin’ Safe” by Lawrence Grodsky
“How to Ride Off-Road Motorcycles” by Gary LaPlante
“Sport Riding Techniques” by Nick Ienatsch
“Cornering Confidence” by Jon DelVecchio
Note: That last book can be accompanied by an online course Jon DelVecchio offers free to MOA members. Also, Nick Ienatsch went on to create Yamaha Champions Riding School, which offers several online courses. Some riders balk at training that highlights racetrack competition skills, and there’s a valid argument that the artificial environment and unique concerns of racing (on- or off-road) render such training incomplete or inappropriate for other situations. On the other hand, many of those skills translate perfectly well to more mundane riding, and most of the vehicle dynamics remain the same across settings.
There are many other rider education resources available online. These vary widely in quality and style. You’ll have to explore the options to find instruction that suits your needs and tastes. In addition to MotoJitsu, two YouTube channels I can recommend are “Ride Like a Pro” by retired moto officer Jerry Palladino and “MotoControl” by a Russian ex-pat whose name I can’t locate; what he has to say—and even more importantly, show—is well worth the occasional difficulty posed by his thick accent.
In Part Two, I’ll cover some more aspects of the skill-building process. Until then, try incorporating what I’ve already discussed into your riding routine. I’m convinced you’ll be a safer, smoother, faster, wiser, happier rider in return.
Mark Barnes is a clinical psychologist and motojournalist. To read more of his writings, check out his book Why We Ride: A Psychologist Explains the Motorcyclist’s Mind and the Love Affair Between Rider, Bike and Road, currently available in paperback through Amazon and other retailers.
