Rider coach Rich Terrillion helps student Christine Rodriguez during a beginner motorcycle safety course at Germanna Community College recently.

Rider coach Scott Olsen directs a student during a beginner safety course at Germanna. The 15-hour course includes lessons on turning, braking, shifting, riding in straight lines and avoiding hazards.

Olsen gets a laugh out of student Kelly O'Malley as he critiques her riding. At the end of the weekend-long class, the students take a test. If they pass, they're exempt from the riding portion of the Department of Motor Vehicles' licensing exam.

Despite the risks, the thrill of the open road draws many to motorcycles

Date published: 6/18/2006

HE LOVE OF RIDING keeps them going, but the potential dangers bring them to an empty parking lot at dawn on a Saturday morning to hone their skills.

Why ride motorcycles?

"If you have to ask, then you'll never understand," said Scott Gaber, a rider for over 40 years.

Gaber joined other riders in the parking lot at Germanna Community College's Locust Grove campus recently for a weekend-long safety course.

"It's the freedom, the wind in your face," Gaber said of why he rides. "There's so much more out there, the smells, the sights. You see a lot more when you're on a bike."

But the view comes with risks, as illustrated by the wreck last week of Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. Roethlisberger, who was not wearing a helmet, suffered a broken jaw and other injuries.

Virginia law requires all riders to wear helmets. In Pennsylvania, riders 21 and older who have been licensed to ride for at least two years, or who have passed a safety course, don't have to wear helmets, according to the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.

The hazards of riding a bike--with or without a helmet--are why training programs at Germanna and other sites help prepare riders with strategies to avoid wrecks.

"We want to survive while riding and to have fun, too," said Lindsay Walker, program coordinator at Germanna.

The Motorcycle Safety Foundation, a national organization, established the program in the 1970s. The current curriculum has been in place since 2003.

About 850 riders complete the program at Germanna annually, and about 85,000 are trained in similar programs across Virginia each year, according to Walker.

"The demand is awesome," Walker said.

The class at Germanna, which is held most weekends, is booked through October. But cancellations do occur, and Walker recommends interested riders call the college to see if there's an available spot.

"Anything worth having is worth waiting for, and this is worth having," Walker said.

Two classes are offered at Germanna: the Beginning Rider Course and the Experienced Rider Course.

The objectives of the beginning class include riding in a straight line, turning, shifting, braking and hazard avoidance. The experienced class builds on those skills.

But the most fundamental component of each class is safety.

According to the Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles, there were 56 motorcycle fatalities in 2004, or 6 percent of all traffic fatalities that year. In 2004, there were 123,548 registered motorcycles in the state, with 1.7 percent of them involved in crashes.

Instructor Guy Smith knows the dangers of riding firsthand.

"This is a blood sport," Smith said. "No matter how prepared you are."

Several years ago, he was riding his motorcycle in the middle of seven cars when an intoxicated car driver came straight at them in the wrong lane. One of the other car drivers was killed, and Smith was seriously injured.

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Date published: 6/18/2006