Class photos.

Somehow what little blogging time I had this week went into organizing photos. I had backed up a bunch of photos on an external hard drive. The same hard drive that suddenly developed an I/O port issue which makes access slower than a bike with two flat tires. Guess I will have to start building redundancy into my backups.

Anyway, since I have a lot of my pics somewhat in order, I thought why not share some? This post is mostly pictures with just a few thoughts thrown in. Hope you enjoy. I'm spending my weekend on the bike doing some quality control functions for our training program. May you all get to ride, as well.

Bluekat should recognize the rider in the photo below. The instructor is my buddy Laurie.





The rider in the photo above is Susan, aka The Empress. That's my nickname for her. I use it with the deepest affection. There's a story behind it but I won't share it here. Susan works in the training program office. She's intelligent and very capable. I recently had the great honor of being her instructor. Check out that awesome head turn!

Actually, I've now been privileged to have four of the office girls in my classes. I don't want to picture how badly things would run without them. This group takes great care of the instructors and students. Since they control the schedules they can chose which class to enroll in. I take it as a great compliment when they choose one of my classes.

There are all kinds of riders coming to classes. The guy below is a young racer wannabe. It can be a trick to keep these guys engaged in the learning process. In this young man's case, all went well.



Then there are those who rode years ago but quit for decades. Now they are coming back. A training class is a wise move.



It's always interesting to see the concentration in the students' faces.



A gratuitous photo of Elvira in working mode.





More instructor bikes.



It's always my goal to make learning fun for the students despite their being a little stressed and tired. You can see the student smiling under his helmet as he's coming into staging.





Even the pros come for training. What does that say about the rest of us? If you ever get caught by a motor cop after a chase you can thank me and all my fellow trainers!



Jeff is not only fast but you would never outrun or outlast him. After all, he finished second in last year's Iron Butt Rally.



Add nerves of steel to stand so casually while pumped up cops go whizzing by within inches of him!



Training on an airport taxiway can lead to some unusual companions. This jet landed on the runway next to us then taxi'd to the airport facilities. Successfully swerving into a jet engine blast is worth extra credit!



Big helicopter? No problem. Just make sure your faceshield is down when it lands next to you.





Before setting off we should all take a moment to get our heads into the ride.



Some choppers are handy to have close by when training at very high speeds. Like this medical unit. Fortunately, we had no need for it.





The number of female students in our classes is on the rise. That's a great trend.

How long has it been since you've seen a Yamaha Venture Royale on the road? This guy handles his very competently on the track. Skillful riding starts with the rider. A fact that is too often overlooked, in my humble ( ok, maybe not so humble ) opinion.



Finally, here's an "artistic" photo to wrap this post up.



Hope you have a great weekend!

Miles and smiles,

Dan