FEATURE

Register for motorcycle training at WCC, classes start in April

The best season to ride a motorcycle is during the spring. But when you are riding, be sure to have safety gear on. Courtney Prielipp | The Washtenaw Voice

Beck Elandt

Staff Writer

WCC has its own motorcycle training program, and a popular one at that.

Whether you want to go fast, far, or just want to enjoy the road a little more safely–confidence is a big priority in the WCC program.

Safety on a motorcycle may seem extremely demanding, even if you know how to ride. For Robert Pirsig, writer of the book Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, what safety demands, the motorcycle gives, so to speak.

“You spend your time being aware of things and meditating on them. On sights and sounds, on the mood of the weather and things remembered, on the machine and the countryside you’re in,” writes Pirsig.

Students can learn more about safety through the motorcycle training program at WCC.

“I think I’ve sold 24 seats,” said Lindsey Higginbottom, program coordinator for the department. “Once you get a warm day sales will go sky high,” referencing the opening of course registration for April.

Higginbottom has been helping teach the course since 1989 and says there’s usually 46 people for each basic rider course, of which there are 8 sessions for the month of April.

“I’m an engineer, which tends to be very analytical, very numbers focused; teaching gets me out with people. I like the instructors. I like the students,” Higginbottom said on the topic of motorcycling.

The longest loop Higginbottom has ever rode was 14,000 miles, from Washtenaw to Fairbanks, AK, to Phoenix AZ, to Wisconsin, all in one trip.

Aranka Baka, a nursing major at WCC has been riding for almost three years and doesn’t want people to be afraid of taking the course. It’s a place where you can make mistakes.

“I just liked that it was super hands-on, and I liked that they had a variety of motorcycles to choose from,” she said. “They had an in-class session beforehand, and I felt like that was really helpful.”

The course at WCC costs $50, the same price Baka paid three years ago.