I didn’t get here by accident. Follow these four easy tips to transform your relationship with your motorcycle, and your skills will skyrocket. (Photos by Kevin Wing) If you were to hang out with me at a police motor competition, you would immediately notice that I approach my police motorcycle a bit differently than the other 200 or so competitors out on the course. Yes, I graduated from a traditional police motor school just like everybody else, but my attitude towards training and the subsequent riding style I have come to use deviate from the norm. My approach continues to evolve to this day. How has it all shaken out? Well, at this point I’ve thrown my kung fu in the ring against pretty much every competitive motor officer in the country over a span of 15 years. The result? Of the 150 or so police events I’ve competed in, there are only three that I have not won. Now, I bring that little self-promotional feel-good morsel to your attention because I believe anybody, including you, can have the same level of success if you dust off your motorcycle skills compass and point it towards one destination: a deeper relationship with your motorcycle. I understand this topic might bring up uncomfortable memories from your past, so if it helps, go ahead and think of me as a marriage and family counselor. Like any good therapist, today I’m giving you some relationship homework, broken down into four key areas. And hear me loud and clear: If you put in the work, I promise you significant performance benefits on your motorcycle in the short term, with continued improvements for all the glorious years to follow. What’s your motorcycle trying to tell you? Are you listening? 1) No Such Thing as Wrong: After trying a technique or having a new experience on the motorcycle, if we get a result we don’t initially want, many of us deem the technique or experience as “wrong.” Then we stop trying and move on, usually sticking to what’s familiar to us. This way of thinking robs us of our ability to better understand our motorcycle in new situations. By mentally closing off and moving away from the “wrong” results we experienced, we inadvertently stunt our knowledge, experience, and development. This is similar to walking away from a family argument before finding a resolution – nothing changes. To move forward with our personal relationships, we need to be patient and work through problems or issues. The same goes for your motorcycle riding. So from now on, whether you’re learning, training, competing, or teaching, stop focusing on right or wrong, good or bad, success or failure. Instead, think about inputs and outputs: I do this, and I get that. When you remain open to seeing, hearing, and experiencing everything, the floodgates blow open and waves of communication come streaming in. 2) Be a Better Listener: Imagine that all I ever did was talk at you. Okay, yes, that’s what I’m doing right now. So how can I tell how my words, physical gestures, vocal inflection, or body posture are landing for you? I can’t. And that means that whatever I just told you may or may not have resonated with you in the way I intended. That begs the question: What follow-up communication would make the most sense, given that I have no idea how you’ve interpreted my message up to this point? Hard to say. Think back to a good conversation you had with somebody, where they spoke, you listened, and both of you continued in a balanced and constructive way because you understood one another and tailored your communication accordingly. I bet it was not only effortless but enabled you to gain information and insight that allowed you to move the relationship forward in a positive direction. That’s because both of you were actively listening: focused, fully engaged, and understanding the complete message, not just hearing the words and waiting for your turn to speak. Most of us ride without actively listening to our motorcycle, so we never improve communication with the machine. Instead, we throw a new technique at the bike, perhaps repeatedly, never asking ourselves how the technique was understood (processed). I know this might sound a little crazy because it’s a mechanical object, but one of the most significant talents of professional racers is their ability to hear the most minor bits of communication from their motorcycles. Change one click on a compression adjuster, and they can sense it. That’s because they are communicating with the machine on a deep level, intently listening to how an input (in this case, a change in suspension damping) is being interpreted and communicated back to them. The next time you ride, ask yourself this: How was a specific input interpreted by the motorcycle? In other words, what was my motorcycle’s reply to what I just did? Then quiet your mind and listen with intention so you can start hearing the responses. Your bike’s behavior will not only provide clues to guide you toward techniques you want to explore, but it will make you better at predicting what your bike will do before you throw an input at it. As with any relationship, when you pay close enough attention to the other person and really understand them, you learn to anticipate how they’re likely to respond to things you do or say. Your relationship with your bike is no different.  New training discoveries on the bike are fantastic. Write them down so you don’t lose them! 3) Everything Is a Lab Experiment: A key component to a meaningful laboratory experiment is manipulating only one variable at a time. To work on a given riding technique and glean the insightful feedback your motorcycle is attempting to communicate, you need to be able to ride consistently and repeatably and remain mentally focused. The environment that best represents a laboratory for me is the figure-8 pattern. Its actual dimensions are not critical and can vary depending on the technique I’m working on, so use your best judgment. I use a stopwatch and do three 10-minute sessions per day, which results in 400-500 figure-8s. There is no better way to gain maximum feedback from your motorcycle than by isolating a technique and drilling on it until the cows come home. 4) Document Your Findings: Imagine scientists conducting experiments but failing to document the results. Pretty much pointless, don’t you think? If your motorcycle gives you feedback but you fail to capture it at the time, odds are you will forget what you were doing within the conversation that enabled you to hear the response. That means you will have to start over at square one. Not great. That’s why I make a point to write down the results I get from my figure-8 lab experiments to help me continue to explore new concepts and evolve as a rider. Just grab some painter’s tape and put a fresh sheet of paper on your tank so you can take notes every time you practice. In short order you’ll discover new things, and having documented them, you’ll be able to recall and repeat them the next time you practice. By picking up where you left off, you’ll make more progress in your development, gaining muscle memory in the techniques that you deem worth keeping in your arsenal. Quinn wears Schuberth helmets and Lee Parks Design gloves. Find Quinn at Police Motor Training. See all Motor School with Quinn Redeker articles here. The post Motor School with Quinn Redeker: The Secret of My Success appeared first on Rider Magazine.