Why Motorcycle Riding Skills Are Perishable (And What I Plan to Do About It)

If there is one thing a long winter off the bike will teach you, it is that motorcycle riding skills do not stick around if you are not using them. I was reminded of this in a big way on a recent ride up to the Reading Pagoda. Coming back down those winding hills, making my way back toward civilization, I felt genuinely rusty. Not a little off. Rusty. Uncomfortable. Like I was relearning things I thought were locked in for good. And that feeling stuck with me through every single one of the steep downhill curves.

Riding Is a Perishable Skill, Full Stop

I know I am not the first person to say this, but it really does hit different when you feel it yourself. After a long winter and a rough end to fall, I got back on the Yamaha MT-09 and things that used to feel second nature felt like I was thinking through them consciously again. Braking, throttle control, cornering confidence. All of it needed to warm back up.

This is not a complaint. It is just reality. And honestly, I think it is something more riders need to talk about openly because it does not matter how many years you have been riding. Time off equals rust. Period.

Why I Want to Take the Intermediate Riding Course Again

The minute I got home, my brain went straight to the Intermediate Riding Course, or IRC, which is a free motorcycle safety and skills course. I have taken it before on my MT-09 and it genuinely helped. The drills are practical, the instruction is solid, and the price is about as good as it gets since it is completely free in Pennsylvania. At that price point, there is really no excuse not to do it as a refresher every season.

Here is the thing I kept telling myself last year and never followed through on: I wanted to take the IRC on both bikes. I only ever did it on the MT-09. My Kawasaki Ninja 400 has never seen a day of that course, and after thinking about it more on that ride home, I really think it needs to.

For anyone who has never heard of it, the Total Control course lineup goes from the Beginner Riding Course, or BRC, all the way up to the Advanced Riding Course, or ARC. The IRC sits in the middle and is a great option for riders who already have their license and want to sharpen up their skills in a structured setting.

The MT-09 and the Ninja 400 Are Two Very Different Animals

If you ride both a naked bike and a sportier machine, you already know they do not behave the same way. The MT-09 is incredibly smooth when it comes to throttle input. You can feather it on and off with a lot of control. That smoothness is genuinely helpful during the IRC drills, especially the ones where you accelerate from a stop, build up to a certain RPM range, and then come back down to a smooth stop. The instructors actually watch your headlight during that drill to see if it bobs and bounces. On the MT-09, I did really well with that one because the bike just cooperates.

The Ninja 400 is a different story. That throttle is much more on or off. There is not a lot of middle ground. I have tried to replicate some of those drills at home on the Ninja and it is noticeably more difficult to keep things smooth. I actually saw a younger rider at an IRC event running a Ninja, maybe a 300 or a 400, and he was having a tough time with some of those same drills for exactly that reason. It is not a knock on the bike at all. It is just built differently.

That difference is actually part of why I think taking the IRC on the Ninja 400 would be more valuable, not less. It will force me to work harder on the throttle control and low-speed handling skills that do not come as naturally to me on that bike.

A Quick Detour Down Memory Lane

On the way home I swung past my old neighborhood, which is something I do every now and then when I am out that way. The house my wife and I bought together back when we were still engaged looked completely unrecognizable. Last time I rode past there was a boat parked in the front yard. This time there was a privacy fence and what looked like a gazebo setup going on up the hill. Wild.

That house holds a lot of good memories. We moved in together while we were engaged and lived there for a year or two before the wedding. I still remember being picked up there on the wedding day while my now-wife was internally panicking because she thought the limo was going to make us late. She was apparently ready to demand they send a different car. The limo company responded with something along the lines of “the only other one we have is black.” That did not go over great. But we made it on time. Nearly twenty years later and she is still putting up with me, so I think it worked out.

The Plan Going Forward

Getting back on the bike after winter is always a process, and I think too many riders underestimate how much recalibration it takes. The answer, at least for me, is going to be getting signed up for an IRC refresher on the MT-09 as soon as one opens up nearby, and then doing it again on the Ninja 400 before the season gets too deep.

If you have been off the bike for a while and you are feeling that same rustiness on your first few rides back, do not just push through it and hope the muscle memory comes back on its own. Take it seriously. Look for a skills course in your area. Whether it is the BRC if you are just getting started, the IRC for a solid mid-level refresher, or the ARC if you really want to push your riding to the next level, getting some structured practice back under your belt is always worth it.