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Training to Ride Like a Cop Was Way Harder Than I Expected. on Two Wheels Billionaire Romance
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00:02Motor cops ride these big bikes that look like two-wheeled SUVs. They throw them around through
00:07tight corners, carving up cones and waves both riders can't even fathom. Full lock left, full
00:13lock right, dragging hard parts without ever dabbing a foot. It looks like a circus trick,
00:18but look a little closer and you'll realize that these cops are executing fundamental motorcycle
00:23techniques with perfection. Counter sit, counter steer, counter weight. These are skills that once
00:29perfected will make you a safer, more confident rider. The catch? Mastering them isn't easy.
00:35Most officers train for 200 hours before they're even admitted to motor school. So the question is,
00:41if you take an average rider like me and put them through that same training but at a compressed
00:46rate of just two days, how hard can it be to ride like a cop? Let's go to school and
00:50find out.
00:57Turns out this school operates out of a parking lot in Huntington Beach. Laid out across an Amazon
01:02parking lot is a full cone course built and used by the Huntington Beach Police Department. This is
01:08where motor officers come to train and sharpen their own slow speed riding skills. And the cool
01:12part is it's also open to the public for anyone looking to practice and improve their own riding.
01:17My teacher for the next two days is Bill Turner, a retired motor officer with more than two decades
01:22of experience riding for the Redondo Beach Police Department. Bill spent nearly 33 years with the
01:27RBPD after starting as a police cadet back in 1990, with 22 of those years spent in the traffic division
01:33as a motor officer. He's also a certified motorcycle instructor and was part of the overall winning team
01:39of the 2021 Southern California Police Motor Skills Competition. Basically, Bill knows his way around
01:45a cone course. And now he's got the difficult task of trying to teach me how to ride like a
01:49motor cop
01:50in just two days. I rode in here on Honda's standard NT1100 DCT but this training called for the real
01:57police spec version. This is the 2026 Honda NT1100 police. It starts its life as a standard NT1100 but
02:05gets converted with all the equipment needed for law enforcement duty. Unlike the DCT model I rode in on,
02:11this one uses a full manual transmission along with police lighting, crash bars, slimmer side cases,
02:17radio equipment, and even a rifle rack. And if you're wondering where you can buy one, you can't.
02:23These are special ordered bikes built specifically for law enforcement departments which means my first
02:28objective today is pretty simple. Try not to drop it. All right Bill, I see a lot of cones, a
02:34lot of patterns,
02:35a little bit nervous. What's the first step to getting me proficient as a motor officer?
02:41It's all fundamentals. Okay. We're going to start at the the basic fundamentals and progress from there
02:46to where we can get you through the advanced cone patterns hopefully by the end of the day today.
02:53Okay. We'll start literally at the the very basics. We'll probably start just practicing turns and the
02:58fundamentals of turning. Okay. And then we'll take that and just make it smaller. Okay. We'll move to
03:05probably a box. We'll make that box smaller once we can do turns and figure eights within that box.
03:10And then we will get to some of the more advanced patterns. The cones are going to be very deceiving
03:16for you. Yeah. It'll make the pattern look small even though physically it'll be the same size as the
03:22turns you just made. Okay. Without the cones around you. Number one rule, motorcycles are fun.
03:29Yeah. So you got to have fun. Okay. Don't get frustrated. Don't forget that. Look at it as
03:33I'm just progressively getting better. Okay. And then truly the number one rule uh is head and eyes.
03:39Motorcycle will go wherever your head and eyes go. Okay. If you feel like you are not going to make
03:45it
03:45through a pattern uh head and eyes power to the rear wheel. Okay. And it's better to drive out of
03:51a
03:51pattern tend to fall down. Okay. Because if you fall down you're getting hurt you don't get to go
03:56through the pattern again. Yeah. Okay. Gotta learn to walk before you can run so. Absolutely. Knowing we
04:03were starting with the basics made this whole thing feel a lot less intimidating. At this point I was
04:08mostly curious to see how badly I was going to struggle. The first drill was a simple figure eight
04:12around two cones. The idea was to start wide and easy and tighten things up as I got more comfortable
04:17with
04:17the bike and started to figure out the technique. All right Evan uh we're going to do basic figure
04:22eights just around the cones. Start as wide as you have to and then we will just bring it in
04:28and make
04:28it smaller and smaller. Again basic fundamentals. Head and eyes. Motorcycle is going to go where the head
04:33and eyes go. Uh once the bike starts to lean a little bit more keep your body upright. Okay. Uh
04:40with the
04:41the road surface counterbalance on the bike. Everything should be uh clutch and throttle to
04:48for the power. Especially as small and as close as the cones are together. So let's just start with
04:55the the absolute basics. Uh circles are figure eights around the cone and I'll coach you through of if you
05:02need any uh advice as you're going. Okay. Yeah. All right. I'll jump into it. It's got to start somewhere.
05:08I'm nervous.
05:18Oh yeah. Head and eyes. Eyes need to be up. I'm not committing enough huh. Eyes need to be way
05:24up.
05:25You should be looking at me all the way up here. Oh that high okay. Yep.
05:31Oh my this is really challenging. Head and eyes all the way up. You can see the cones in your
05:37peripheral vision. Okay. So keep your head and eyes up. The moment you look down on the ground
05:42you'll go down. Yeah. The right heart. I'm bad at right handers. As I circled the figure eight more
05:48and more I began to loosen up and feel more relaxed. There you go. Way to get your head and
05:53eye. Nope.
05:54Gotta keep them around. Yeah. By keeping my eyes up to locate the cone markers felt unnatural. Cocking my head
06:00around to the extreme felt exaggerated at first. There you go. Much better. But once I began to find a
06:06flow it felt natural to turn my head and eyes locate the cone dip the bike and commit to applying
06:11throttle before chopping the gas and applying the brakes. Looking through the turn is key to success.
06:16The head and eyes go first and the bike and body will follow. Now I'm starting to find a flow.
06:21The reason it's important to learn these motor officer techniques is because the training isn't
06:26just about dodging cones in a parking lot. It's about mastering the motorcycle in the most challenging
06:30conditions controlling your riding destiny in the face of any challenge you might face on the road
06:36as an officer. Shifts can be 12 hours a day and most of that time is spent in the saddle.
06:41Motor officers can easily cover 30,000 miles a year on the job with the bike burning three to four
06:46sets
06:46of tires getting five to six oil changes and two sets of front brake pads and three sets at the
06:52rear.
06:52Burning 750 to 1,000 gallons of fuel comes with the territory. This isn't just a fun cruise on your
06:58motorcycle. The job description is riding towards danger all day every day. A lot of cops will tell
07:04you this is the coolest job in the department but also one of the most challenging which is why the
07:08training is so intense. And right when I thought I'm starting to get the hang of this Bill tightened
07:13up the cone pattern increasing the difficulty and my first major mistake happened. There you go.
07:21Officer down. I stepped on the rear brake. Yeah just a little uh need a little more power. Okay.
07:33First of all out of the way yeah wow it is it's like what do you think went wrong uh
07:40eyes looking
07:41where I was I was the eyes and the power I think the power yeah yeah you had your head
07:46and eyes coming
07:47around but unfortunately your power dipped down so much and I was kind of looking the other direction
07:51so I couldn't see if it was clutch or throttle it sounded like throttle just because I kind of had
07:56my back before I turned um yeah it's that power that's syncing up because there's like the commitment
08:02of I'm looking where I want to go but then I'm hesitating to and then you feel the bike dip
08:07that's
08:08when we should be applying a power okay we have to have power otherwise there's no momentum right yeah
08:12mm-hmm yeah okay well you got the first one out of the way yeah okay yeah let's jump back
08:18into it
08:18I think I and I stepped on the rear brake I think I'm gonna be a little more cautious again
08:23if uh if
08:24you have to we should be hitting that rear brake kind of trail brake into it then let it off
08:29and then
08:29power going around your head and eyes at first you were kind of looking down a little bit then you
08:35brought them up your head is coming around good let's keep it coming around but keep your eyes up
08:42yeah and I don't know if you got scared because I moved the cone in no I think I mean
08:46I don't think
08:46so I think I just I was just getting sloppier and sloppier so fundamentals we want to do the same
08:53thing every time okay after tipping the bike over I started paying a lot more attention to the techniques
08:58Bill was talking about keeping my head up looking where I wanted to go staying smooth on the controls
09:03and carrying enough throttle to keep the bike stable at slow speeds the more I focused on the
09:08fundamentals the more the drill started to make sense instead of fighting the bike through the
09:12turns I started to trust what Bill was telling me and let the motorcycle work underneath me the tighter
09:18cone spacing still made the figure eight more challenging but after a few more attempts I finally
09:23started finding a rhythm and running the drill cleanly at that point I was feeling a lot more confident
09:28and ready to move on to the next drill all right it's time to make it harder okay the next
09:36drill was
09:36built on the same idea as the first one except now I was working inside a tight four cone box
09:41and just
09:42like before once I started getting comfortable Bill would make the pattern smaller and even more
09:46challenging again we're working on fundamentals that's the most important part of this this drill
09:53fundamentals to get us to the next step where we can advance to a smaller cone pattern anywhere
09:58within just stay within the square and either a circle or figure eight up to you okay yeah I actually
10:05I'll start with circles so I can just get the idea of how just how much I can keep the
10:11lean going
10:12absolutely it feels like I at one point I felt like I was I would have the bars turned so
10:18much I got on
10:19the power and it felt almost like I'm just experimenting like there's things that I well
10:24that's why we're starting small yeah is because you want to actually feel the bars lock you do okay
10:29because when we get to the advanced stuff all your turns are going to be locked to lock yeah wow
10:34otherwise you won't make it through you're going to have to lock the bike out and hit the steering
10:38stop uh otherwise it will be so small you won't make it all right so get used to that feeling
10:44get it
10:44used to okay all right let's do more of that feeling
10:47i feel like a dog chasing his tail
10:56oh man i'm getting dizzy do a larger circle within like uh circles are fine but let's do a larger
11:04circle
11:04within the box okay and again circles or figure eights but let's do a larger circle rather than just
11:11one small okay the tightness of the four cone box created less room for error as we started advancing
11:17from one drill to the other the technicalities started compounding requiring more attention focus
11:22and precision head and eyes up head and eyes up i'm yeah look where you want to go
11:34i'm worse at the right turns all right we'll do a figure eight now we want to use as much
11:40of the
11:41real estate within the cone pattern as possible okay and the reason is because when we get to the
11:46advanced tighter turns we have to use all the real estate so if we're now making a figure eight we
11:54want
11:54to come and make the figure eight out here to set us up correctly to make figure eight on the
12:01other
12:02end because if you short yourself and you're turning here when we get to a tighter more advanced pattern
12:09you will not have enough room on the other side i see so while we're just practicing fundamentals and
12:14turns we're also practicing kind of spacing spacing and using all the real estate within this box
12:21because when we move to the smaller one we have to use all the real estate yeah okay once i
12:27understood
12:27what bill was talking about i started focusing on using all the available space inside the cone pattern
12:32every time i rush to turn or cut in early i leave myself no room for the next one and
12:37that became a
12:38much bigger problem once the cone pattern started getting tighter and more technical slowly i was
12:43starting to get more comfortable keeping my eyes up and linking turns together and once i understood how
12:48use the available space inside the box the entire drill started flowing a lot more naturally very
12:54good very good
13:04oh i'm pumped up the next drill was called the offset 90s and unlike earlier exercises this was an actual
13:13section from the full cone course the goal was to ride through the gates make tight u-turns then
13:18immediately line yourself up for the next section without running wide or clipping any cones these
13:23gates are wider than the uh figure eights and circles that we fundamentally started with it's the same
13:30principles uh you're gonna go through the first gate make that left turn set yourself up by coming out a
13:37little bit wide for the second gate and it's going to be basically a tear drop that is why we
13:42started
13:42with circles and figure eights everything we're doing here if you can do the figure eights you can make
13:47any turn through any of these patterns head and eyes clutch throttle okay push with your feet to make
13:52your turns okay and keep your you keep your body centered to counterbalance the the bike leaning okay
14:00all right i think you're gonna do great there we go give yourself plenty of room there you go
14:15head and eyes up look at your next cones
14:20control your speed with a clutch and throttle and just like that with bill's advice and affirmations
14:26i jumped into my first attempt at the offset 90s but couldn't manage passing through the
14:31first gate without knocking down a cone maybe bill spoke too quickly okay how did that feel it felt good
14:38i think yeah i mean i could tell i was still making some mistakes and like just you just need
14:44to run
14:45through it a couple of times to get it down again head and eyes keep them where they are if
14:49you need to
14:50make that speed adjustment in the middle it looked like you were kind of gaining speed um make that
14:56speed adjustment in between your turns if you have to okay again we can just apply a little rear brake
15:02kind of trail brake into the corner but we want to be off so that we can get the motorcycle
15:06down and
15:07that rear brakes not working against us while we're doing it and you can adjust with minimal
15:11movements with the clutch and throttle in between each gate okay this is good like you could you just
15:17you can feel when you do it right and when you make a mistake it's like it's so noticeable and
15:21then just
15:22make that small adjustment for the next gate okay you did great though you did better than most people
15:28i've trained on their first day but you have obviously a ton of motorcycle experience most
15:32people i've trained don't have that yeah yeah i got a little head start a little head start yeah
15:36okay here we go head and eyes
15:40trying to spot the next gate before completing the current gate was an exercise and peripheral vision
15:44as with most of the drills i started stiff tight and not confident but with practice and repetition
15:50i continued to improve and build confidence adjust your speed and on my second attempt i made the
15:57same mistake like driving a long truck or pulling a trailer i needed to be much more aware of the
16:02track
16:02my rear tire was following when it comes to the offset 90s swing wide truck driver style that one didn't
16:09feel as smooth yeah you were kind of rpms were up speed was kind of wonky yeah i was thinking
16:15a lot about
16:16that rear brake just need to uh just smooth it out and honestly it'll smooth out once you do it
16:21a
16:21couple of times crack once you do it one or you know one or ten more times honestly it'll smooth
16:26itself out completely uh still cut cut that one short same thing just when you make your left turn
16:31come out a little bit wider just and then teardrop around okay you're doing good though not feeling
16:38smooth on the controls my inputs were too abrupt sacrificing balance and rhythm let's try that again
16:46trying to follow the path of a teardrop would ensure proper spacing and positioning easier said than
16:52done i started to find a flow and gain confidence in the offset 90s but i was flirting with a
16:59close
17:00line inside the cones i'm going to learn to ride like a cop i'm going to have to master spacing
17:05in each
17:05pattern the offset 90s ended up taking a lot more attempts than i expected at first i kept knocking
17:13down cones at the gates turning in too tight and struggling to stay smooth through transitions
17:18every run exposed something different too much rear brake inconsistent throttle control not using enough
17:24space or just not committing enough with my vision and body position and just to make things worse
17:30cones weren't the only things tipping over whoa
17:36timber slowly though things started cleaning up the cone stopped falling over and i was mostly just tapping
17:42them instead the bike started flowing more naturally through the pattern and by my ninth attempt
17:46i was finally able to put a clean run together without any mistakes
17:52head and eyes coming around there you go just think smooth
17:57head and head to the base one out of the two sides to the side of the mountain
18:15once i completed the course cleanly bill had me start running it in both directions and by that point i
18:20was finally starting to feel comfortable enough on the bike to stop thinking about every individual input
18:25and just ride the pattern naturally.
18:27It also meant I was ready to move on to the next challenge.
18:31We're gonna make a motor cop out of him, no problem.
18:34The next drill was called the intersection.
18:37And by this point, the patterns were starting to feel
18:39a lot less like individual exercises
18:41and a lot more like an actual flow course.
18:44Full U-turn, quick transition into a tight right-hand turn,
18:47then immediately back into another U-turn
18:49on the opposite side.
18:52Fundamentally, what do you need to do?
18:54Look at where I wanna go.
18:55Head it up, eyes up.
18:56Head and eyes up.
18:57What other adjustments are we making on the bike?
19:00Little less rear brake, counter sit,
19:04push the bike underneath.
19:05Counter balance the bike.
19:06So we're using our legs to hold the motorcycle.
19:09We wanna be gripping here, holding the motorcycle
19:11and we're pushing down with our feet on the pegs
19:14to move that, but we're keeping our body upright
19:17with the ground.
19:19And your adjustments, you can come in and trail brake
19:22just a little bit before your U-turn.
19:24Okay.
19:24And then let off and then power through.
19:27Last exercise, we dab the rear brake a little bit too much.
19:31You're just a little heavy on it,
19:33a little less on that rear brake.
19:35And that I think is gonna cause the RPMs to come down
19:37cause you won't be trying to fight yourself
19:39and overcompensate.
19:40The bike, we want it to be just pulling itself.
19:44Okay.
19:45All right?
19:46Okay.
19:46Start with just going down, making a U-turn, coming back,
19:50making a U-turn.
19:51And then when you're comfortable with that,
19:53you can even switch directions, start to make a figure eight.
19:56Okay.
19:56As soon as you get comfortable, switch directions
19:57and go the other way.
19:59Soon as we've got that down,
20:00we'll move on to actually making it into a cross.
20:04Okay.
20:04So where we're switching from that U-turn
20:06to now a quick right turn into a U-turn
20:08to a quick right turn.
20:09Yeah, that looks tough.
20:10Okay.
20:11Okay.
20:12It's not tough for you.
20:13Head and eyes.
20:14Head and eyes.
20:14Fundamentals.
20:15Okay.
20:20Just like the earlier drills,
20:22it took me a few attempts to loosen up,
20:23get comfortable and start instinctively applying
20:26the fundamentals we have been working on all day.
20:36We want to use up all this space,
20:38even though it's easy to turn.
20:39Okay.
20:40We want to use up all the space.
20:41Okay.
20:42The tight transitions required me throwing the bike
20:44from one side of the tire to the other
20:46before slipping the clutch and feeding the throttle.
20:49Out of all the drills before,
20:50this one was the most technical,
20:52requiring me to lean and counterweight the bike
20:54before slipping the clutch and applying power.
20:57As a rider with motocross experience,
20:59this sensation felt similar to dipping a bike
21:02into a rut and squirting out on the gas.
21:04Go all the way, all the way to the very end.
21:07And the only reason I'm saying go all the way
21:09to the very end is because shortly,
21:12we're going to end up making that right U-turn
21:15and then a quick left turn.
21:16Okay.
21:17So we don't want to be getting used to being here.
21:20So we're not going to make that turn.
21:22Yeah. Okay.
21:25Come out here.
21:26Cause now you're going to have time to make an adjustment
21:30to set up for this turn.
21:32Cause things will happen quickly when you go
21:34from a right turn to a U-turn, right turn,
21:36or a left turn to a U-turn.
21:38So even though it's very easy for you to make the turn here,
21:42just practice making it as far out as you can.
21:46Hit those edges.
21:47Hit the edges. Absolutely.
21:48Okay.
21:49The intersection drill had a rhythm to it,
21:51a quick transition from left to right,
21:53then immediately setting yourself up for the next turn.
21:55And with Bill constantly reminding me of the fundamentals,
21:58keeping my head and eyes up, using all the space,
22:02move on the controls, things started clicking pretty quickly.
22:05Head and eyes coming around.
22:06That sounds fantastic.
22:08You're right at that point where the bike's pulling.
22:11So you're right at that friction zone.
22:13Just like a rider hitting their marks on a racetrack,
22:16I was beginning to understand where the bike needed to be positioned before the next turn.
22:20And with every lap, consistency started to build confidence.
22:23The more I rode it, the lighter the bike started to feel and the more I trusted those quick transitions
22:27from one side to the other.
22:33The final drill of the day was a full course figure eight.
22:36On paper, it looked similar to the first drill we started with,
22:39but the added cones and tighter spacing made it feel a whole lot more intimidating.
22:43Instead of focusing on just two cones and open space,
22:46now I had to stay smooth and consistent while working in a much tighter and more confined pattern.
22:51This is no smaller than all of the turns we've been making.
22:57There's just cones all the way around the edge.
23:00So visually it looks more deceiving.
23:03This is where what really comes into play other than we've been talking about all the fundamentals of riding.
23:10This one really is use all of your real estate, but we want to be along the edge of this
23:16pattern.
23:17And again, we want to set ourself up for the next turn.
23:21So any speed adjustment can easily be made in between these two turns.
23:25Okay.
23:26It's a smooth transition.
23:27We adjust whatever speed we need, but we can't short ourselves.
23:31If we try to turn here, we are not going to make it out that exit.
23:35Yep.
23:37Use up all the real estate.
23:39You've heard that term several times today, use up all your real estate.
23:42You have plenty of room. Why not use it?
23:44Make it easy on yourself and come outside and go as far as you can.
23:49Okay.
23:49Around here.
23:50Okay.
23:50Same size as everything else we've been doing.
23:54It just visually looks different because of the number of cones.
23:57Yeah.
23:57And then you can either stay in and keep doing figure eights to practice
24:01or technically this is the exit out of it.
24:04Okay.
24:05Stay wide.
24:10The full course figure eight drill forced me to use up
24:13all of the available space in the pattern in order to complete the section.
24:17This required all the fundamentals and techniques of the previous drill,
24:21but now demanded full lock steering.
24:24Throwing the bike from one side of the lock to the other was the skill
24:27I feared the most.
24:29Right.
24:29We're pushing.
24:30I struggled out when I struggled with head and eyes come around.
24:33If your head and eyes don't come around, it's much harder.
24:36That's why fundamentally we always start with the basics.
24:39Head and eyes here.
24:40Your head and eyes have to come around.
24:42Okay.
24:43And then again, more legs and legs and feet.
24:45Yeah.
24:46So we should be pushing.
24:47Yeah.
24:47You look like you were sitting a little more upright and just turning
24:50versus trying to push down on the bike.
24:51Yeah.
24:52Oh, once you do it once or twice, you get the feel.
24:54Okay.
25:03Yeah.
25:04Much better.
25:05Your head came around.
25:07You should be looking all the way over there.
25:09Okay.
25:17Hey, that was great.
25:18You made a micro adjustment with your speed over here.
25:21Okay.
25:24Much smoother.
25:25Just like all the drills before, I started off timid and rigid.
25:29Hesitation led to mistakes, which robbed the rhythm I'd built from the previous drills.
25:33But with practice came improvement.
25:37Oh, no, you still got it.
25:40You have plenty of room.
25:51You made a small adjustment coming with your clutch over here to adjust your speed and hesitated
25:56through one of your turns.
25:58Yeah.
25:58We're a little more upright, but then you made that adjustment and dip the bike.
26:01Yeah, the right-hander because I struggled more with the right where I was...
26:05Yeah.
26:06Push with your feet.
26:06Get the bike down.
26:07Yeah.
26:08Mm-hmm.
26:12Woo!
26:25Oh, I'm hesitating.
26:27I have that hesitation came back.
26:30I tried to stay committed to the head to keep it up, but again, we're just counterbalancing
26:35the bike.
26:36Mm-hmm.
26:36That's all we're doing.
26:37Counterbalancing the motorcycle.
26:39Okay.
26:41A little less rear brake, just barely feather it.
26:45Your turns are good, like you're lock to lock and you're lean.
26:48Lock to lock and lean is good, a little less, just a little less, not much.
26:54After a handful of mistakes and a lot of hesitation, things finally started to click.
26:58The biggest breakthrough came once I backed off the rear brake and started trusting the
27:02bike through the turns.
27:04Yeah, head and eyes around, that looks great.
27:07I can tell you're getting comfortable because you're accelerating in between each figure
27:11eight.
27:11Oh, yeah?
27:12Like right now, you're accelerating.
27:14Yeah.
27:15I'm just not even, I'm way less on the rear brake.
27:19That was really hurting me, fighting the rear brake so much.
27:23With my head and eyes up, smoother throttle control, and less input fighting the bike,
27:27the entire figure eight started flowing a lot more naturally.
27:30By the end of the day, I was riding the pattern cleaner, smoother, and with a lot more confidence
27:35than when we first started, which was good because day two was all about putting these
27:39drills together on the full course.
27:43It's day two here at the training facility, and yesterday started off rough.
27:47I struggled a lot in the beginning, I dropped the bike a few times, but by the end of the
27:51day, I started to get a handle on these skills and drills.
27:54My confidence was up, so for today, we're going to do a lead follow with Bill.
27:58He's going to take me through the entire course, see how everything connects, and then we're
28:03going to do a head-to-head time trial against Bill to see how my time stacks up against his.
28:07Before we jumped into the full course, Bill walked me through the entire layout to show
28:11me how all the cone patterns connected together.
28:14And once he started to explain where the bike needed to be positioned for each section, the
28:18whole thing started looking a lot less random and a lot more calculated.
28:22Every turn was really just setting up for the next one.
28:25But before trying to piece the entire course together, I figured it was probably a good
28:29idea to warm back up and revisit some of the drills from the day before.
28:39Reciting to myself all the techniques I learned the day before as I practiced the five fundamental
28:44drills, I tried to get loose and find a rhythm.
28:47The next challenge would be my biggest yet.
28:50All right, I warmed up, did a couple more drills.
28:53What's next?
28:54We're going to do a follow leader through the speed course.
28:57This is going to put together every individual cone pattern that you've successfully completed.
29:04We're not going to rush through it at any type of high speed.
29:07This is going to be just to get the pattern of the course itself and linking all the different
29:14cone patterns together.
29:16Eventually, once we've done that a couple of times, we'll work into a little more, we'll
29:22work a little more speed into it.
29:23Okay.
29:24All right.
29:24You just need to follow me, sir.
29:26Okay.
29:26Let's do it.
29:27Gavin, you ready?
29:28Yep.
29:28Ready.
29:30Bill took off quicker than I expected.
29:32I thought he said we were starting off slow.
29:34I can't imagine what fast looks like to him.
29:37Trying to catch up, I cut the first corner short and nearly tipped over.
29:40Not off to a great start.
29:42I needed to stay relaxed, breathe, and study Bill's lines.
29:45It was all about spacing and positioning.
29:48Maximize every possible inch.
29:50If not, you are bound to fail.
29:52The cone course is more mentally strenuous than physically.
30:10If not, I'm going to take a look at the other side of the line.
30:19Standing on the sideline, the course looked like complete chaos.
30:23With cones everywhere, trying to figure out the layout and remember where to go felt impossible.
30:27But once I was on course, everything started to click.
30:37Just like any race track, it's a series of obstacles to navigate and naturally, some will
30:42do it faster than others.
30:43My goal today is to complete the course without knocking over a cone and avoid another fall.
31:02All right.
31:03Good job.
31:04Yeah, I knocked some cones over.
31:06Even I got one.
31:07I put my foot down a couple of times too.
31:09But yeah, wow.
31:10Yeah, I saw a little bit of a struggle in the far one before we started to get back there.
31:16Yeah, that's right.
31:17Like just cut, you probably cut your turn too short because it looked like you were on
31:22the far end of the turn.
31:24So right after the fire hose, start that left turn before that right turn.
31:28Yeah, I think I started it all wrong from the beginning and then it caught up to me.
31:32Okay.
31:33I cut it early, early, early and then it was just, yeah.
31:35I was just watching the tail.
31:37I caught the tail end of it and I'm like, ooh, he's really far out.
31:40Yeah, yeah.
31:40Coming into it, I was like, I'm not making this.
31:42Yeah.
31:42I could tell.
31:42And it's probably a little different following me, like having someone directly in front
31:47of you.
31:48Because that's the first time that we've had you directly in front of, or directly behind
31:52me.
31:53And yeah, I struggled with the slalom right here.
31:56I missed half of them.
31:58I hit one.
31:59The slow cone weave is difficult.
32:00Believe it or not, it's very difficult.
32:02Upright, slow, and lock to lock.
32:05Yeah.
32:06We're not leaning the bike and counterbalancing at all.
32:08It's all upright, lock to lock.
32:10Okay, yeah.
32:11But you did great.
32:11Appreciate it, yeah.
32:12You did great.
32:13That was fun.
32:14We ended up running the full course a few more times and after each attempt, Bill would
32:18stop and break down what I was doing right and where I was still struggling.
32:21By the third lead follow run, Bill had me right in front so he could watch how I approached
32:26each section of the course on my own.
32:28And while I was definitely still making mistakes here and there, the entire layout was finally
32:33starting to connect together in my head instead of feeling like a bunch of separate cone patterns.
32:37Which meant there was only one thing left to do.
32:39Put down a timed run and see how I stacked up against Bill.
32:43Bill was up first and watching him ride the full course really put into perspective how
32:47much scale this actually takes.
32:57Everything looked smooth, controlled, and effortless.
33:00He wasn't just riding through the patterns, he was linking every section together with speed
33:04and precision in a way that made the entire course flow.
33:15And the craziest part was how calm it looked from the outside.
33:18Because from the seat of the bike, I knew just how much focus and control it actually took
33:22to ride the course cleanly.
33:31Watching Bill ride the course, you could tell he wasn't just reacting to the cone patterns
33:35anymore.
33:36He knew exactly where the bike needed to be before he even got there.
33:56When Bill crossed the line, his time was 2 minutes and 30 seconds.
33:59And according to him, it wasn't even one of his smoother attempts.
34:02Which honestly made me even more nervous about my own run.
34:06At this point, if I could somehow get into the 2 minute range, I'd be pretty stoked.
34:11Alright, here we go, you know what to do, you learn the drills, put it together, but smooth
34:20is fast.
34:21Focus on hitting your marks, that's all you can do, hit your marks, the speed will come.
34:27Don't worry about Bill's time, worry about your technique, your skills.
34:32Okay, smooth is fast.
34:34Finish first, first you gotta finish.
34:39Attempting to get a fast start, I bring the revs up and drop the clutch.
34:42Coming into the first turn, I get hard on the brakes without triggering the ABS.
34:47The first obstacle is the intersection, a pattern that helped me find my flow earlier in the
34:52day.
35:03Exiting the intersection is a set of tight, narrow corners that require less speed than
35:07precision.
35:08Next is a section of hairpin corners that are essentially a string of teardrop turns.
35:12This pattern requires eyes up and commitment.
35:25This is the section I've been worried about most.
35:27I'm focused on using every bit of available space and not cutting the turns short.
35:30There's not much room for air here, but I make it through clean.
35:39Being mindful not to clip a saddlebag in the next set of turns, I exit cleanly onto the
35:43straightaway and grab second gear.
35:45A quick downshift and hard application to the brakes, I whip the bike around and get back
35:49on the gas.
36:01A quick dip and dive through the chicane and I'm free without any issues.
36:04For a moment I blink on where the course goes next and start heading left, but catch myself
36:09just in time to turn right toward the full course figure 8.
36:12A quick dip and dive in.
36:34Entering the offset 90s, I remind myself not to get greedy on corner entry and clip the
36:38inside cone.
36:40Feathering the rear brake, slipping the clutch, and keeping the RPM steady, I haven't made
36:44a big mistake, yet.
36:57Rounding the final corner, I head toward the finish, but between the checkers and me is
37:01the slow cone weave.
37:03Wanting to rush to the finish line, I remain calm.
37:05Surely I haven't worked this hard to throw it all the way on the final straight.
37:09Staying slow and steady, I clear the final cone and goose it to the finish.
37:19I think I hit a cone, huh?
37:21No?
37:22Okay.
37:23That was fun.
37:24My arms are all punked up, dude.
37:26I don't know if I could do another lap.
37:27What was the time?
37:28233.
37:29And he might have rubbed the cone, but didn't knock any over.
37:32I had a penalty of 230.
37:34233.
37:35I guess.
37:36233.
37:3779.
37:38We'll make a motor cop out of him.
37:40Yeah.
37:41We just got to get him a haircut and a mustache.
37:44Yeah.
37:44Back at the buzzer.
37:45That was an excellent run.
37:47It looked great.
37:47Yeah, it really did.
37:49It was fun.
37:49Yeah.
37:50It's so much fun.
37:50This is just a blast.
37:52Technique-wise, you look solid.
37:55Okay.
37:56Yeah.
37:56It's really, really good.
37:57You've earned the Honda Motor Officer Challenge coin.
38:00Oh, look at that.
38:03Take this out.
38:04Here.
38:05Or you might not be able to.
38:05Okay.
38:06Look at it.
38:08I got my USA one.
38:10Team America.
38:12Honda Motor Union.
38:13Let's go.
38:15So, how hard is it to ride like a motor cop?
38:18Honestly, harder than it looks.
38:20A lot harder.
38:21I came into this thinking it was all about learning how to weave through cones and throw
38:25a big motorcycle around at slow speeds.
38:27But after two days out here, I realized it has a lot less to do with cones and a lot
38:31more
38:31to do with fundamentals.
38:32Look where you want to go, trusting the bikes, staying smooth on the controls, and being
38:37consistent every single time.
38:39And sure, getting within a few seconds of Bill's time felt pretty good.
38:42But that was really never the point.
38:44The point wasn't beating an experienced motor officer.
38:47It was learning something new and becoming a better rider than I was two days ago.
38:51We spent a lot of time as riders chasing horsepower, faster lap times, and the next upgrade for our bikes.
38:57But sometimes the biggest improvement you can make isn't the motorcycle underneath you.
39:01It's the rider sitting on top of it.
39:03You
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