The story of how the Begin 2 Ride program developed.

The story of how the Begin 2 Ride program developed:

In the early 1970s the motorcycle industry, represented by the Motorcycle Industry Council (MIC) was pressured by government to create training programs for motorcyclists. MIC created the subordinate organization, Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) to oversee the training. The two training courses that were developed are called the 'Basic Rider Course' (BRC) and the 'Experienced Rider Course' (ERC).

The MIC/MSF organization was created to promote motorcycling, is funded by the motorcycling industry, and is located at: 2 Jenner Street, Suite 150, Irvine, CA 92618-3806. Of course, as appropriate and necessary, the motorcycle industry is funded by sales of motorcycles & motorcycle accessories.

In the 1990s, Joe Elliott was an award winning motorcycle instructor and site coordinating instructor working in LA and Orange counties. He worked with his mentor, Meredith 'Hoot' Gibson. It had been joked that Hoot had been doing motorcycle training since before there were motorcycles! Hoot had been highly involved in the development of the BRC and ERC at the MIC/MSF.

Hoot and Joe were interested in developing instructor-training techniques for instructors and were contracted to train Site Coordinating Instructors (SCI) at the Fullerton motorcycle training facility in Orange County. Much of the difficulty with teaching the instructors, was not with the instructors! This led Hoot and Joe to the realization that a third program was needed for the students, for true beginner riders.

In the 1990s the MIC/MSF was successful in lobbying for the BRC on-bike test to qualify for the DMV on-bike test for the unrestricted license, and for some additional funding for promoting their training to be received from motorcycle registration fees. This created several conflicts of interest between administrators of these programs, and the educators and students. Joe made many public statements about this situation. (Click here to see concerns of mixing license testing with training.)

Also in the late 1990s a long term study on the effectiveness of the statewide motorcycle training in reducing motorcycle collisions was completed. This study was funded by the CHP and was supposed to show the benefits of the California Motorcycle Training program. (See John Billheimer, Mar 2001) The surprise data of this study shows there are no long term benefits of training on collision rates.

This perplexed almost everyone in the motorcycle training field. Many went on to try to explain why the results of this study were inaccurate, or, to continue to claim benefits of this training by ignoring this long term data. Joe and Hoot decided to look into what went wrong. They had extensive knowledge of all aspects of the program, they were instructor, coordinating instructor, instructor trainer, and administrators.

Joe, who happens to be an athlete, as well as a scholar, recognized that there are three general periods in sports skill development, the Beginners Time, the Learners Time, and the Ongoing Participation Time. It was clear that the MIC/MSF BRC was tailored to the Learners Time and the MIC/MSF ERC was tailored for the Ongoing Riders Time.

This left a vacuum in the most critical area of reducing risk in motorcycling, the beginners time. In sports, and many other activities, if one improperly uses, or simply does not know how to use the equipment for participating in the activity, the risk can dramatically increase. This risk can be eliminated by beginner training. Also, in all sports, as one develops skill, one uses this skill to play with more intensity. Simply put, in the on-going time, skill training cannot be safety training! (Note: Professional athletes are skillful, they are not safe.)

People who are interested in motorcycles, but who have never ridden, need information to help them to decide if they want to pursue the sport/activity of street riding. The process of receiving this information should also allow them to choose not to pursue motorcycling. The Begin 2 Ride program is developed for true beginners.

The true beginner, in an environment that did not have the distractions of the on-going riders information helps focus the beginner to study 'first things first'. Also, any beneficial aspect of training for eliminating unnecessary risk is observed to occur in the very beginning of riding, so the focus should be on the earliest time of the beginner riders' training. In particular, introducing simple and low risk exercises focusing on proper throttle control, clutch control, braking, and exercises for understanding and using the shifter should be emphasized in the first few hours. This needs to be done without distractions from non-beginner riders.

In 2000, National Motorcycle Training was formed to formalize the Begin 2 Ride program. In July of 2001 the Begin 2 Ride program started its first class for true beginners, using blocks of three-hour physical skill training. Although from an educational point, the beginner program worked well hand in hand with the learners program and the on-going riders program, it did not work well with the administrators. Again, we developed a program that would provide training for people interested in learning, but not needing to be tested for their unrestricted license, not necessarily going to buy a motorcycle.

In 1999 Joe petitioned to the program manager for the BRC/Licensing program in California, Gary Goodson, to develop more sites in San Diego county, since demand for motorcycle licensing testing far exceeded the capacity at our facility and the testing being done at the DMVs. Also, since Joe knew that the beneficial aspects of training for risk reduction occurs in the beginners time, the other sites could perform license testing and he could focus much more attention on the beginners. The additional sites would relieve Joe s time of administering those duties so he could further develop the Begin 2 Ride program. By the beginning of 2003, after years of trying, Gary was finally able to create an additional site to serve metro San Diego.

Gary was adamant about keeping the Begin 2 Ride program away and separate from the statewide BRC program. At the opposite end, Hoot always wanted to see an integrated motorcycle training program that addressed all the different levels of students.

To create a shared facility in 2001, Joe resigned as administrator and SCI of the licensing program and Deborah Winterborne and Tom Miller became the administrator and SCI respectively. Later, Ken Winterborne took over as SCI. Instructors worked exclusively for National Motorcycle Training and Begin 2 Ride training or for San Diego Motorcycle Training and BRC/ERC.

In 2003, Deborah and Ken decided to leave motorcycle training. With the other training facility in metro San Diego now providing the BRC and testing for licensing, Gary wanted to end the licensing training at the Kearny Mesa facility, and Joe agreed, without complaint.

Although this left the agreeable situation for Gary and the motorcycle industry to pursue licensing training exclusively, and our program to pursue beginner training exclusively, Hoot still wanted to have an integrated system, with emphasis on the licensing program. However, because of economic reasons, Hoot resigned from National Motorcycle Training in late 2003 to pursue licensing training in Orange county.

In January of 2004, Hoot again wanted to try a complete system of training for all levels of riders, and if not integrated, and least conducted side by side, sharing the same facility. Hoot as operator of his Orange county BRC/License training facilities, contracted with this San Diego site to extend BRC/License training again at our facility, and Joe reluctantly agreed.

By August of 2004, Hoot continued to pursue integration of the programs, however the two programs were so incompatible that the new program manager for the BRC/Licensing course for California, Rob Gladden, told Hoot to discontinue any BRC/License training in San Diego, which he did. As of September of 2004, San Diego Motorcycle Training has been proudly conducting exclusive beginner training.

National Motorcycle Training is an educational based organization that has been designed to run on only the funds received from students gaining knowledge to make informed choices. The MIC/MSF is funded by the industry through sales of motorcycles, and by government funds collected from motorcycle registration fees. We believe this is the root cause of the incompatibility of the two programs. We believe that riding motorcycles on the street is a risky activity, others do not.

The Begin 2 Ride program is the only no-sponsor motorcycle training program that is student (not motorcyclist) based and does not promote or endorse the use and consumption of motorcycles. There are many risky activities and risky sports, we know there are ways to eliminate some unnecessary risks. We continue to provide information to our students to help them make informed choices about participating in street riding, and if they so choose to pursue, will have obtained techniques that will eliminate some of the unnecessary risks.

We sincerely thank all our supporters, for new ideas often need support at crucial times, and we thank all our detractors for making us strong.

Updated 07.07.08 |Site Map|