- 9 hours ago
Training to Ride Like a Cop Was Way Harder Than I Expected. on Two Wheels Billionaire Romance
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:02Motor cops ride these big bikes that look like two-wheeled SUVs. They throw them around through
00:07tight corners, carving up cones in ways most 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
00:51find 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
01:45around a cone course. And now he's got the difficult task of trying to teach me how to ride like
01:49a
01:49motor cop in just two days. I rode in here on Honda's standard NT1100 DCT, but this training called for
01:56the
01:56real police spec version. This is the 2026 Honda NT1100 police. It starts its life as a standard NT1100,
02:05but gets 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? It's all
02:41fundamentals. Okay. We're going to start at the basic fundamentals and progress from there to where
02:47we can get you through the advanced cone patterns hopefully by the end of the day today. Okay. We'll
02:53start literally at the very basics. We'll probably start just practicing turns and the fundamentals
02:59of turning. Okay. And then we'll take that and just make it smaller. Okay. We'll move to probably
03:05a box. We'll make that box smaller once we can do turns and figure eights within that box. And then
03:11we
03:11will get to some of the more advanced patterns. The cones are going to be very deceiving for you.
03:17Yeah. It'll make the pattern look small, even though physically it'll be the same size as the turns you
03:23just made. Okay. Without the cones around you. Number one rule, motorcycles are fun. Yep. So you
03:29got to have fun. Okay. Don't get frustrated. Don't forget that. Look at it as I'm just progressively
03:34getting better. Okay. And then truly the number one rule is head and eyes. Motorcycle will go wherever
03:41your head and eyes go. Okay. If you feel like you are not going to make it through a pattern,
03:46head and
03:47eyes, power to the rear wheel. Okay. And it's better to drive out of a pattern than to fall down.
03:54Okay.
03:54Because if you fall down, you're getting hurt. You don't get to go through the pattern again. Yeah.
03:57Okay. Got to learn to walk before you can run. So. Absolutely. Knowing we were starting with the
04:03basics made this whole thing feel a lot less intimidating. At this point, I was mostly curious
04:08to see how badly I was going to struggle. The first drill was a simple figure eight around two cones.
04:13The idea was to start wide and easy and tighten things up as I got more comfortable with the
04:17bike and started to figure out the technique. All right, Evan, 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
04:33head and eyes go. Once the bike starts to lean a little bit more, keep your body upright with the
04:41road
04:41surface counterbalance on the bike. Everything should be clutch and throttle for the power,
04:49especially as small and as close as the cones are together. So let's just start with the absolute
04:56basics. Circles are figure eights around the cone and I'll coach you through if you need any advice as
05:04you're going. Okay. Yeah. All right. I'll have to jump into it. It's got to start somewhere. I'm nervous.
05:19Oh yeah. Head and eyes. Eyes need to be up. I'm not committing enough, huh?
05:24Eyes need to be way up. You should be looking at me all the way up here. Oh that high?
05:28Okay. 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.
05:53Nope. Got to keep them around. Yeah.
05:56But keeping my eyes up to locate the cone markers felt unnatural. Cocking my head around to the
06:01extreme felt exaggerated at first. There you go. Much better. But once I began to find a flow,
06:06it felt natural to turn my head and eyes, locate the cone, dip the bike, and commit to applying throttle
06:11before chopping the gas and applying the brakes. Looking through the turn is key to success. The head
06:16and eyes go first and the bike and body will follow. Now I'm starting to find a flow. The reason
06:22it's
06:22important to learn these motor officer techniques is because the training isn't just about dodging
06:27cones in a parking lot. It's about mastering the motorcycle in the most challenging conditions,
06:31controlling your riding destiny in the face of any challenge you might face on the road as an
06:36officer. Shifts can be 12 hours a day and most of that time is spent in the saddle. Motor officers
06:41can
06:42easily cover 30,000 miles a year on the job with the bike burning three to four sets of tires,
06:47getting five to six oil changes, and two sets of front brake pads and three sets at the rear.
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 up
07:13the
07:13cone pattern, increasing the difficulty, and my first major mistake happened. There you go.
07:22Officer down! I stepped on the rear brake. Yeah, just a little, uh, need a little more power. Okay.
07:29I thought you were going to save him there, Bill. Now I'm looking the other way.
07:33First of all, out of the way. Yeah, wow. It is, it's like... What do you think went wrong?
07:40Uh, eyes, looking where I was, I was, the eyes and the power, I think. The power, yeah. Yeah. You
07:46had
07:46your head and eyes coming around but unfortunately your power dipped down so much and I was kind of
07:50looking the other direction so I couldn't see if it was clutch or throttle. It sounded like throttle
07:55just because I kind of had my back before I turned. Um, yeah, it's that power. That's syncing up because
08:01there's like the commitment of I'm looking where I want to go but then I'm hesitating to keep the power.
08:06If you feel the bike dip, that's when we should be applying to power. Okay. We have to have power
08:10otherwise there's no momentum, right? Yeah. Yeah, okay. Well, you got the first one out of the way.
08:16Yeah, okay. Yeah, let's jump back into it. Absolutely. I think I, and I stepped on the rear brake,
08:20I think I'm gonna be a little more cautious with that. Again, uh, if you have to, we should be
08:25hitting
08:26that rear brake, kind of trail brake into it, then let it off, and then power going around. Your head
08:31and eyes,
08:32at first, you were kind of looking down a little bit, then you brought them up. Your head is coming
08:37around good. Let's keep it coming around but keep your eyes up. Yeah. And I don't know if you got
08:43scared because I moved the cone in. No, I think, I think, I don't think so. I think I just,
08:47I was just
08:48getting sloppier and sloppier, so. Fundamentals. We want to do the same thing every time. Okay.
08:55After tipping the bike over, I started paying a lot more attention to the techniques Bill was
08:59talking about. Keeping my head up, looking where I wanted to go, staying smooth on the controls,
09:04and 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.
09:17The tighter cone spacing still made the figure eight more challenging, but after a few more attempts,
09:22I finally started finding a rhythm and running the drill cleanly. At that point, I was feeling
09:27a lot more confident and ready to move on to the next drill.
09:31All right, it's time to make it harder. Okay.
09:35The next drill was built on the same idea as the first one, except now I was working inside a
09:40tight
09:40four cone box. And just like before, once I started getting comfortable, Bill would make the pattern
09:45smaller and even more challenging. Again, we're working on fundamentals. That's the most important
09:51part of this drill. Fundamentals to get us to the next step where we can advance to a smaller cone
09:57pattern. Anywhere within, just stay within the square and either a circle or a figure eight. Up to you.
10:03Okay. Yeah. I actually, I'll start with circles so I can just get the idea of how, just how much
10:10I can
10:11keep the lean going. Absolutely.
10:13Because it feels like I, at one point I felt like I was, I had the bars turned so much.
10:18I got on the
10:19power and it felt almost like I'm just experimenting. Like there's things that I, well, that's why we're
10:25starting small is because you want to actually feel the bars lock. You do. Okay. Because when we get to
10:30the advanced stuff, all your turns are going to be locked to lock. Yeah. Wow. Otherwise you won't make it
10:35through. You're going to have to lock the bike out and hit the steering stop. Uh, otherwise it will be
10:40so
10:41small. You won't make it. All right. So get used to that feeling. Get it used to. Okay. All right.
10:46Let's do more of that feeling.
10:53I feel like a dog chasing his tail.
10:57Oh man, I'm getting dizzy. Do a larger circle within like, uh, circles are fine, but let's do a
11:03larger circle within the box. Okay. And again, circles or figure eights, but let's do a larger circle
11:10rather than just one small. Okay. The tightness of the four cone box created less room for error.
11:16As we started advancing from one drill to the other, the technicalities started compounding,
11:21requiring more attention, focus, and precision. Head and eyes up. Head and eyes up.
11:26Yeah. Look where you want to go.
11:34I'm worse at the right turns. All right. We'll do a figure eight now.
11:39We want to use as much of the real estate within the cone pattern as possible. Okay.
11:43And the reason is because when we get to the advanced tighter turns, we have to use all the real
11:50estate. So if we're now making a figure eight, we want to come and make the figure eight out here
11:58to set us up correctly to make the figure eight on the other end. Okay. Because if you short yourself
12:04and you're turning here, when we get to a tighter, more advanced pattern, you will not have enough
12:10room on the other side. I see. So while we're just practicing fundamentals and turns, we're also
12:15practicing spacing and using all the real estate within this box. Because when we move to the smaller
12:23one, we have to use all the real estate. Yeah. Okay. Once I understood what Bill was talking about,
12:28I started focusing on using all the available space inside the cone pattern. Every time I rushed
12:33to turn or cut in early, I leave myself no room for the next one. And that became a much
12:38bigger problem
12:39once the cone pattern started getting tighter and more technical. Slowly, I was starting to get more
12:43comfortable keeping my eyes up and linking turns together. And once I understood how to use the
12:48available space inside the box, the entire drill started flowing a lot more naturally.
12:54Very good. Very good.
13:04Whoo. I'm pumped up. The next drill was called the offset nineties. And unlike earlier exercises,
13:12this was an actual section from the full cone course. The goal was to ride through the gates,
13:16make tight U-turns and immediately line yourself up for the next section without running wide or
13:22clipping any cones. These gates are wider than the figure eights and circles that we
13:27fundamentally started with. It's the same principles. You're going to go through the first gate,
13:33make that left turn, set yourself up by coming out a little bit wide for the second gate. And it's
13:40going
13:40to be basically a teardrop. That is why we started with circles and figure eights. Everything we're doing here,
13:45if you can do the figure eights, you can make any turn through any of these patterns. Head and eyes,
13:50clutch throttle. Okay. Push with your feet to make your turns. Okay. And keep your,
13:54you keep your body centered to counterbalance the, the bike leaning. Okay. All right.
14:01I think you're going to do great. There we go.
14:10Give 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.
14:23And just like that with Bill's advice and affirmations, I jumped into my first attempt at the
14:28offset nineties, but couldn't manage passing through the first gate without knocking down a cone.
14:33Maybe Bill spoke too quickly. Okay. How did that feel? It felt good. I think, yeah. I mean,
14:40I could tell us still making some mistakes and like, just, you just need to run through it a couple
14:45of
14:45times to get it down. Uh, again, head and eyes, keep them where they are. If you need to make
14:50that speed
14:51adjustment in the middle, it looked like you were kind of gaining speed. Um, make that speed adjustment
14:57in between your turns. If you have to. Okay. Again, we can just apply a little rear brake kind of
15:02trail
15:03brake into the corner, but we want to be off so that we can get the motorcycle down and that
15:07rear brakes
15:08not working against us while we're doing it. And you can adjust with minimal movements with the clutch
15:12and throttle in between each gate. Okay. This is good. Like you could, you just, you can feel when you
15:18do it
15:18right and when you make a mistake, it's like, it's so noticeable. And then just make that small
15:23adjustment for the next gate. Okay. You did great though. You did better than most people I've
15:28trained on their first day, but you have obviously a ton of motorcycle experience. Most people I've
15:32trained don't have that. Yeah. Yeah. I got a little head start on them. Got 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 with 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,
15:56I made the same mistake. Like driving a long truck or pulling a trailer, I needed to be much more
16:01aware
16:01of the track my rear tire was following. When it comes to the offset 90s, swing wide, truck driver style.
16:08That one didn't feel as smooth. Yeah. You were kind of, RPMs were up. Speed was kind of wonky. Yeah.
16:15I was thinking a lot about that rear brake. Just need to, uh, just smooth it out. And honestly,
16:19it'll smooth out once you do it a couple of times. Once you do it one or, you know, one
16:23or 10 more
16:24times, honestly, it'll smooth itself out completely. Still cut, cut that one short. Same thing. Just when
16:31you make your left turn, come out a little bit wider and then teardrop around. Okay. You're doing good
16:37though. Not feeling smooth on the controls. My inputs were too abrupt, sacrificing balance and
16:42rhythm. Let's try that again. Trying to follow the path of a teardrop would ensure proper spacing
16:49and positioning. Easier said than done. I started to find a flow and gain confidence in the offset 90s,
16:58but I was flirting with a close line inside the cones. If I'm going to learn to ride like a
17:03cop,
17:03I'm going to have to master spacing in each pattern. The offset 90s ended up taking a lot more
17:10attempts than I expected. At first, I kept knocking down cones at the gates, turning in too tight and
17:16struggling to stay smooth through transitions. Every run exposed something different. Too much rear brake,
17:22inconsistent throttle control, not using enough space, or just not committing enough with my vision
17:27and body position. And just to make things worse, cones weren't the only things tipping over. Whoa!
17:35Timber! Slowly though, things started cleaning up. The cones stopped falling over and I was mostly just
17:41tapping them instead. The bike started flowing more naturally through the pattern, and by my ninth
17:46attempt, I was finally able to put a clean run together without any mistakes. Head and eyes coming
17:53around. There you go. Just think smooth.
18:14Once I completed the course cleanly, Bill had me start running it in both directions. And by that point,
18:20I was finally starting to feel comfortable enough on the bike to stop thinking about every individual
18:25input and just ride the pattern naturally. It also meant I was ready to move on to the next challenge.
18:31We're going to make a motor cop out of him, no problem. The next drill was called the intersection.
18:37And by this point, the patterns were starting to feel a lot less like individual exercises and a lot
18:42more like an actual flow course. Full U-turn, quick transition into a tight right-hand turn,
18:47and immediately back into another U-turn on the opposite side.
18:51Timber! Fundamentally, what do you need to do?
18:54Look at where I want to go. Head it up, eyes up.
18:56Timber! Head and eyes up. What other adjustments are we making on the bike?
18:59Um, a little less rear brake. Um, counter sit, push the bike underneath.
19:05Counter balance the bike. So we're using our legs to hold the motorcycle. We want to be gripping here,
19:10holding the motorcycle, and we're pushing down with our feet on the pegs to move that. But we're keeping our
19:16body upright with the, with the ground. Okay. And your adjustments, you can come in and trail brake
19:22just a little bit before your U-turn. Okay. And then let off and then power through. Last exercise,
19:29we dab the rear brake a little bit too much. You're just a little heavy on it, a little less
19:33on that
19:34rear brake. And that I think is going to cause the RPMs to come down because you won't be trying
19:38to
19:38fight yourself and overcompensate. Okay. The bike, we want it to be just pulling itself.
19:44Okay. All right. Okay. Start with just going down,
19:48making a U-turn, coming back, making a U-turn. And then when you're comfortable with that,
19:53you can even switch directions, start to make a figure eight. Okay. As soon as you get comfortable,
19:57switch directions and go the other way. Soon as we've got that down, we'll move on to actually
20:02making it into a cross. Okay. So where we're switching from that U-turn to now a quick right turn,
20:07into a U-turn to a quick right turn. Yeah. That looks tough. Okay. Okay.
20:12It's not tough for you. No. Head and eyes. Head and eyes. Fundamentals. Okay.
20:20Just like the earlier drills, it took me a few attempts to loosen up,
20:24get comfortable and start instinctively applying the fundamentals we have been working on all day.
20:36We want to use up all this space, even though it's easy to turn. Okay. We want to use up
20:41all the space.
20:41Okay. The tight transitions required me throwing the bike from one side of the tire to the other
20:46before slipping the clutch and feeding the throttle. Out of all the drills before, this one was the most
20:51technical requiring me to lean and counterweight the bike before slipping the clutch and applying power.
20:57As a rider with motocross experience, this sensation felt similar to dipping a bike into a rut and
21:03squirting out on the gas. Go all the way, all the way to the very end. And the only reason
21:08I'm saying
21:08go all the way to the very end is because shortly we're going to end up making that right U
21:14-turn and
21:15then a quick left turn. Okay. So we don't want to be getting used to being here. So we're not
21:21going
21:21to make that turn. Yeah. Okay. Come out here because now you're going to have time to make an adjustment
21:30to set up for this turn. Got you. Because things will happen quickly when you go from a right turn
21:35to a U-turn, right turn or a left turn to a U-turn. So even though it's very easy
21:39for you to make the turn
21:41here, just practice making it as far out as you can. Hit those edges. Hit the edges. Absolutely. Okay.
21:48The intersection drill had a rhythm to it. A quick transition from left to right, then immediately
21:53setting yourself up for the next turn. And with Bill constantly reminding me of the fundamentals,
21:58keeping my head and eyes up, using all the space and staying smooth on the controls,
22:03things started clicking pretty quickly. Head and eyes coming around, that sounds fantastic.
22:07You're right at that point where the bike's pulling. So you're right at that friction zone.
22:13Okay. Just like a rider hitting their marks on a racetrack, I was beginning to understand where the
22:17bike needed to be positioned before the next turn. And with every lap, consistency started to build
22:22confidence. The more I rode it, the lighter the bike started to feel and the more I trusted those quick
22:27transitions from one side to the other. Okay, very good. Very good. The final drill of the day was a
22:34full
22:35course figure eight. On paper, it looked similar to the first drill we started with, but the added
22:40cones and tighter spacing made it feel a whole lot more intimidating. Instead of focusing on just two
22:45cones and open space, now I had to stay smooth and consistent while working in a much tighter
22:49and more confined pattern. This is no smaller than all of the turns we've been making. There's just cones
22:59all the way around the edge. So visually it looks more deceiving. This is where what really comes into
23:06play other than we've been talking about all the fundamentals of riding. This one really is use
23:13all of your real estate. But we want to be along the edge of this pattern. And again, we want
23:18to set
23:19ourself up for the next turn. So any speed adjustment can easily be made in between these two turns. Okay.
23:26It's a smooth transition. We adjust whatever speed we need, but we can't short ourselves. If we try to
23:32turn here, we are not going to make it out that exit. Yep. Use up all the real estate. You've
23:39heard
23:39that term several times today. Use up all your real estate. You have plenty of room. Why not use it?
23:44Make it easy on yourself and come outside and go as far as you can. Okay. Around here. Okay. Same
23:51size
23:52as everything else we've been doing. It just visually looks different because of the number of cones.
23:57Yeah. And then you can either stay in and keep doing figure eights to practice
24:01or technically this is the exit out of it. Okay. Stay wide.
24:10The full course figure eight drill forced me to use up all of the available space in the pattern in
24:15order to complete this section. This required all the fundamentals and techniques of the previous drill,
24:21but now demanded full lock steering. Throwing the bike from one side of the lock to the other was the
24:27skill I feared the most. Right? We're pushing with our feet. That one I struggled with. Head and eyes
24:32come around. If your head and eyes don't come around, it's much harder. That's why fundamentally
24:37we always start with the basics. Head and eyes. Here, your head and eyes have to come around. Okay.
24:43And then again, more legs and feet. Yeah, I felt stiff. We should be pushing. Yeah, you look like you
24:48were sitting a little more upright and just turning versus trying to push down on the bike. Yeah.
24:51But once you do it once or twice, you get the feel. Okay.
25:03Yeah. Much better. Your head came around.
25:07You should be looking all the way over there. Okay.
25:17Hey, that was great. You made a micro adjustment with your speed over here.
25:21Okay. Much smoother.
25:25Just like all the drills before, I started off timid and rigid. Hesitation led to mistakes,
25:31which robbed the rhythm I'd built from the previous drills. But with practice came improvement.
25:37Oh, no, you still got it. You have plenty of room.
25:51You made a small adjustment coming with your clutch over here to adjust your speed and
25:56hesitated through one of your turns. Yeah.
25:58We're a little more upright, but then you made that adjustment and dipped the bike.
26:01Yeah. Yeah. The right-hander because I struggled more with the right where I was...
26:05Yeah.
26:06Push with your feet. Get the bike down.
26:07Yeah. Mm-hmm.
26:12Whoo.
26:25Oh. I'm hesitating. That hesitation came back.
26:30Tried to stay committed. To the head.
26:33To keep it up. But again, we're just counterbalancing the bike.
26:36Mm-hmm. That's all we're doing.
26:37Okay. Counterbalancing the motorcycle.
26:39Okay.
26:41Little less rear brake. Just barely feather it.
26:45Your turns are good. Like you're lock to lock and you're lean.
26:49Lock to lock and lean is good. A little less...
26:51I'm just...
26:51Just 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 bike
27:02through 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 eight.
27:12Oh, yeah.
27:12Like right now you're accelerating.
27:14Yeah. I'm just not even... I'm way less on the rear brake. That was really hurting me.
27:21Fighting the rear brake so much.
27:23With my head and eyes up, smoother throttle control, and less input fighting the bike,
27:28the entire figure eight started flowing a lot more naturally.
27:31By the end of the day, I was riding the pattern cleaner,
27:33smoother, and with a lot more confidence than when we first started.
27:36Which was good because day two was all about putting these drills 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,
27:50but by the end of the day, 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.
27:59He's going to take me through the entire course, see how everything connects,
28:02and then we're going to do a head-to-head time trial against Bill to see how my time stacks
28:06up against his.
28:07Before we jumped into the full course, Bill walked me through the entire layout
28:11to show me how all the cone patterns connected together.
28:13And once he started to explain where the bike needed to be positioned for each section,
28:18the whole 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 idea
28:29to 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 drills,
28:45I tried to get loose and find a rhythm. The next challenge would be my biggest yet.
28:50All right, I warmed up, did a couple more drills. What'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
29:13and linking all the different cone patterns together.
29:16Eventually, once we've done that a couple of times, we'll work a little more speed into it.
29:23Okay.
29:24All right, you just need to follow me, sir.
29:26Okay, let's do it.
29:27Gavin, you ready?
29:28Yep, ready.
29:30Bill took off quicker than I expected. I 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. I needed to stay relaxed, breathe and study Bill's lines.
29:45It was all about spacing and positioning. Maximize every possible inch.
29:50If not, you are bound to fail.
29:52The cone course is more mentally strenuous than physically.
30:19The cone course looked like complete chaos.
30:22with cones everywhere trying to figure out the layout and remember where to go
30:26felt impossible but once I was on course everything started to click
30:37just like any racetrack it's a series of obstacles to navigate and naturally some
30:42will do it faster than others my goal today is to complete the course without
30:46knocking over a cone and avoid another fall
31:02all right good job oh yeah I knocked some cones over even I got one I put my foot
31:08down a couple times too but yeah wow yeah I saw a little bit of a little bit of a
31:13struggle in the far one before we started yeah just cut you probably cut your turn
31:20too short because it looked like you were on the far end of it yeah so right
31:24after the fire hose start that left turn before that right turn yeah I think I
31:28started it all wrong from the beginning and that caught up to me okay I cut it
31:33early early early and then it was just yeah
31:35I was just watching the tail I caught the tail end of it and I'm like oh he's
31:39really fun yeah yeah coming into it I was like I'm not making this yeah I could tell
31:42and it's probably a little different following me like having someone
31:46directly in front of you yeah because that's the first time that we've had
31:50you directly in front of or directly behind me mm-hmm so and yeah I struggled
31:54with the the the slalom right here I missed half of them the slow cone weave is
31:59difficult yeah that was like it's very difficult upright slow and lock to lock
32:05yeah we're not leaning the bike and counterbalancing at all it's all upright
32:09lock to lock okay yeah but you did great appreciate it yeah you did great that was
32:13fun we ended up running the full course a few more times and after each attempt
32:18Bill would stop and break down what I was doing right and where I was still
32:21struggling by the third lead follow run Bill had me right in front so he could
32:25watch how I approached each section of the course on my own and while I was
32:29definitely 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
32:36separate cone patterns which meant there was only one thing left to do put down a
32:40timed run and see how I stacked up against Bill Bill was up first and
32:45watching him ride the full course really put into perspective how much scale this
32:48actually takes
32:57everything looks smooth controlled and effortless he wasn't just riding
33:01through the patterns he was linking every section together with speed and
33:04precision in a way that made the entire course to flow
33:07and the craziest part was how calm it looked from the outside because from the
33:18seat of the bike I knew just how much focus to control it actually took to ride
33:23the course cleanly
33:32watching Bill ride the course you could tell he wasn't just reacting to the cone
33:35patterns anymore he knew exactly where the bike needed to be before he even got
33:54up there
33:56When Bill crossed the line his time was 2 minutes and 30 seconds and according to
34:00him it wasn't even one of his smoother attempts which honestly made me even more
34:04nervous about my own run at this point if I could somehow get into the 2 minute range
34:09I'd be pretty stoked
34:11alright here we go you know what to do you learn the drills put it together but
34:20smooth as fast focus on hitting your marks that's all you can do hit your marks the
34:25speed will come don't worry about Bill's time worry about your technique your
34:31skills okay smooth as fast finish first first you gotta finish attempting to get a
34:40fast start I bring the revs up and drop the clutch coming into the first turn I get
34:44hard on the brakes without triggering the ABS the first obstacle is the
34:48intersection a pattern that helped me find my flow earlier in the day
35:03exiting the intersection is a set of tight narrow corners that require less speed
35:07than precision next is a section of hairpin corners that are essentially a
35:11string of teardrop turns this pattern requires eyes up and commitment
35:24this is the section I've been worried about most I'm focused on using every
35:28bit of available space and not cutting the turn short there's not much room for
35:32air 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
35:43the straightaway and grab second gear a quick downshift and hard application to
35:47the brakes I whip the bike around and get back on the gas
36:01a quick dip and dive through the chicane and I'm free without any issues for a
36:05moment I blank on where the course goes next and start heading left but catch
36:09myself just in time to turn right toward the full course figure eight
36:34entering the offset 90s I remind myself not to get greedy on corner entry and clip the
36:38inside cone feathering the rear brake slipping the clutch and keeping the
36:42rpm steady I haven't made a big mistake yet
36:57rounding the final corner I head toward the finish but between the checkers and
37:01me is the slow cone weave wanting to rush to the finish line I remain calm surely I
37:06haven't worked this hard to throw it all the way on the final straight staying
37:10slow and steady I clear the final cone and goose it to the finish
37:19I think I hit a cone huh no okay I was fun my arms are all pumped up dude I
37:26don't know if I
37:26could do another lap what was the time 233 with and he might have rubbed the cone but
37:31didn't knock any over I had a penalty of 230 but 233 I guess right yes 233 79 we'll
37:38make a coat motor cop out of him yeah we just got to get him a haircut and
37:43mustache yeah yeah that was an excellent run it looked great yeah it really did
37:48that's fun yeah it's so much fun like this is a blast and technique wise you look
37:54solid your one for that okay yeah really really good you've earned the Honda Motor
37:59Officer Challenge coin oh look at that take this out here you might not be okay I know
38:06it's on look it I got my USA one 13 America Honda Motor Union let's go so how hard is
38:16it to ride
38:17like a motor cop honestly harder than it looks a lot harder I came into this thinking it was all
38:23about
38:23learning how to weave through cones and throw a 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 to do with fundamentals look where you want to go trusting the bike staying
38:35smooth on the controls and being consistent every single time and sure
38:39getting within a few seconds of Bill's time felt pretty good but that was really
38:43never the point the point wasn't beating an experienced motor officer it was
38:47learning something new and becoming a better rider than I was two days ago we
38:51spent a lot of time as riders chasing horsepower faster lap times and the next
38:55upgrade for our bikes but sometimes the biggest improvement you can make isn't
39:00the motorcycle underneath you it's the rider sitting on top of it
39:03you
39:04you
Comments