The instructor that Colby was talking about was me. When we set out on this trip, although I had a fair amount of experience on my sidecar, I had no experience, not even one mile, touring a speed on the highway or riding my new rig at highway speeds. At the same time, I had a severe handling problem with my rig that wasn't discovered until we were well on our way. Colby and John did baby-sit me through a lot of our ride and I appreciate what they did. By the end of the ride, I was able to keep up pretty well. Since then, I've spent a good deal of time riding both by myself and in groups and I've got the problem that was making me fight the rig fixed. I've put on about 14,000 miles this year and thanks to Colby, some others and the opportunity, I'm a better driver now. Like I told Colby in a separate e-mail, I think I could keep up now. ;^) -Colby brought up a good point, I didn't have the experience that he thought I would and being an instructor has very little to do with being good a something. The issue is, do the two things go hand in hand? I know that a lot of folks will disagree but the fact is almost any teacher will tell you that teaching is not directly connected with doing. My wife used to walk high wire, she was OK at it but not a star (except to me) but she can and has taught others to do it better than she ever could. The S/TEP course is all about making the student aware of a set of basic skills that he/she must then GO OUT AND PRACTICE. No one in their right mind would ever be so naive as to believe that the course, which takes two days, will make them an accomplished sidecar driver. It's a place to start. It introduces skills that will be important for a NEW sidecarist; that includes hanging off but too much is made of that particular skill. In my opinion, the reason is so big a part of the basic course is that it is easily demonstrated by the instructor and easily understood by the students; in addition, it gives the students a feeling of security early on in the course and makes other exercises easier for them. Please remember as well that many of these first time hack drivers are piloting student rigs that are VERY light and small, they lift easily and inadvertent chair flying happens a lot in the early exercises, even with ballast. There is another thing, folks who don't like or know much about S/TEP have seized on that one skill and also made too much of it. The new course curriculum, which is what I learned under, puts much less emphasis on hanging off. -Please note that I've agreed with folks up until now. There's one thing in Colby's post that is flat out wrong. The proceeds of the S/TEP courses don't go to Dave Wendell. In fact, Dave isn't even employed by S/TEP or Evergreen Safety at this time as far as I know, he was in the past but even then, he didn’t get the money from courses. Dave does put on S/TEP courses as an instructor and he does get a portion of the fee for those but if I put on a course or Tom Van Horn puts on a course, or Dave Sasenick or Vic Hari or any of the other certified instructors around the country do, the proceeds that filter up go to Evergreen Safety and not Dave Wendell. -The fee charged for a course is set by the entity that is putting it on. If I put on a course, I look at my costs, which include things like the range cost, completion cards, student handbooks and insurance, and then I set the fee. Some instructors do this for a living and they build the cost of their time and in some cases their equipment into the fee. For instance, it takes several hours just to set up a range for the first ti
While speaking of 'organized training ' I see David Hough refer to the SSP ever so often. I know years back there was the SSP which was called the USCA-SSP. 'SSP' stood for Sidecar Saftey Program and USCA stood for the United Sidecar Association right? Today I see only SSP. Many have inquired about what all of this means. So...I would like to ask Mr. Hough what the history of the USCA-SSP is/was and what it actually is today. With all of this talk about the S/TEP where does the SSP fit in and what exactly is it? Who governs it? Also is there a reason it is no longer called the USCA-SSP? As I said many have asked.
Thanks,
I want to thanks everyone for their thoughts on this subject.
Iam relatively new to sidecar driving and feel that getting on the road and developnig your skills is the best way to improve. After I had read the yellow book (twice) and H Kendalls books I first practiced in large parking lots and then hit the roads. I found it to be beneficial to Plan a route and drive it in a car so you would be familiar with turns etc.
I chose routes that had less traffic so I go at a slower pace and did the same route over and over again. I could see my confidence building and my ability to know how my rig would react.
Keeping within the speed limit, following the basic rules in the books noted above, and learning how your rigs reacts is paramount in becoming a better sidecar driver.
Time practice and repetition !!!!!!!!!
Once you feel you have developed your skills at a certain level repeat all the above at a more challenging sill level.
Sidecar driving have been such a woderful new experience for me that I hope to become good enough to never have to ride a two wheeler again and I have been riding for 35 years!!!!
The USCA is the "United Side Car Association" (note 4 words). This is the national enthusiast organization for sidecarists, and administrator of this web site. The "USCA Sidecar Safety Program, Inc." is a separate non-profit corporation devoted to skills issues, including publication of the book Driving A Sidecar Outfit and development of training curricula. The SSP is staffed by volunteers.
"ESC" is the Evergreen Safety Council, the current national administrator of sidecar/trike training in the USA. The SSP created the curriculum, which was called "Driving A Sidecar", and the SSP initially trained and certified sidecar instructors, and offered training courses. But with the demand expanding nationwide, the SSP transferred rights to it's training program to ESC several years ago. ESC added trike driving information, and calls it's three-wheeler training group the "Sidecar/Trike Education Program" (S/TEP) ESC does training other than motorcycle, so they have a "motorcycle training manager". Until about mid-2003, the ESC motorcycle training manager responsible for Seattle area motorcycle rider training and S/TEP national administration was Dave Wendell. Dave is an S/TEP Chief Instructor, authorized to train S/TEP instructors.
OK, let's ramble through these acronyms to see if you've got it. As part of the contract between the SSP and ESC, the SSP President is on the board of directors of ESC's S/TEP. The USCA doesn't manage either the SSP or S/TEP, but sometimes the SSP President and S/TEP Manager contribute information to the USCA. And of course, soem sidecarists may also be SSP officers, USCA members and S/TEP instructors. Get it?
Your confusion is understandable, since the acronym "USCA" implies that the Sidecar Safety Program is a subgroup of the USCA, while it actually is a separate entity, with it's own officers, treasury, etc. To help sidecarists understand this, I've taken to dropping the "USCA" part of the name, unless it's necessary for legal purposes.
Now, if you want to go back through this and change all those "SSP"s to "USCA SSP" that would be technically more correct, but I'm content to just say "SSP" when referring to the ("USCA Sidecar Safety Program, Inc.")
I know lots of folks are confused over all these acronyms, so I just contributed an article on the subject to The Sidecarist. You are a USCA member, aren't you?
pmdave
Wow!
I just got back from a 10 day tour around WA, OR, then CA, NV, AZ, Death Valley to get warm, and a 3 hour wait in the first winter storm at Truckee Pass in 8" of snow to cool off. Looks like ADS got pretty well autopsied (in the forensic sense) while I was gone. Hope we didn't lose too many potential S/C newbies while I was gone.
Only one thing to add here for the new hackers: Use moderation, and lots of it. You just can't have too much moderation. Add a dash of common sense and you're gonna have a lot of enjoyment with your sidecar outfit.
Wow to you too Lonnie..sounds like you had an interesting trip.
Your advice about moderation to new sidecar jockeys is right on target too.
Welcome back,
Claude
The main reason for the fly's side because the driver does not hang his ass to the sidecar just before entering the curve. Unfortunately, many hackers (and some installers) think it is possible to create a rich, if you do not have to crawl around in the corners. Yes, if you just scampering around on frightening speeds, you should not do anything special, except try to avoid being crushed from behind. But the key to your question is "aggressive" driving. If you want to enjoy speeding smart, it is very important to spend time in both right-handers and left-handers.
