This is a guest post by my traveling companion, John St John, that he originallly posted to Facebook and that I am sharing here with permission.


Yesterday, Yermo gave Lucy a day-long course in "passengering".

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His methodical approach, taking nothing for granted, was also instructional to me. As a rider who grew up on a motorcycle, as both pilot and passenger from the age of 8 or 9, there is much that I take for granted. Such as: when the bike leans, the passenger leans with it. I could never understand why it was so much harder to pilot the motorcycle when Lucy was on the back. I had told her a few basic concepts, such as: how to get on the bike without flipping me and it on our sides, I told her that she needed to relax and go with the bike, etc, but it wasn't working - Really!

Yermo, on the other hand, left nothing to chance or intuition. He explained the mechanics of how the bike corners, how the bike will feel cornering, ideal body positions for left, right and center. He told her about all the techniques the pilot uses to smoothly go around corners. He explained line of sight, the difference between a "race line" and a "street line", how important it is to roll on the throtle through the entire corner, to maintain stability.......basically, everything he's explained to countless riders, a.k.a. Pilots.

Lucy accepted all this knowlege like an addoring schoolgirl from her handsome young teacher.

So, it turned out to be a great day of riding. She learned to love cornering; and to be really good at co-piloting the bike. Being in it together - just works.

Today, Yermo will head back east. We will both miss his good company. But, Lucy and I will head off into the twisty roads between Canon City and Denver. We are very thankfull for the time we spent with Yermo and for his extensive couseling. Yes, getting us both to understand our roles in two up riding - will go along way towards improving our relationship - on the bike, at least:-)

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