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Places to practice?

M

marimoto

New member
Joined
Feb 3, 2020
Location
Mountain View
Moto(s)
Cruiser
Hello,

I just completed my safety course and I'm as noob as they come. Does anyone have advice on where I can practice and get better before I start navigating public roads? I live in Mountain View and I don't want to venture out too far out of the comfort zone yet.

:ride
 
Last edited:
Hi, and welcome!
Took the wife to practice on the google parking lots
any big lots will do, especially office or warehouse parking lots on the weekend when they are empty.
If you want any help, or pointers or just ride or shoot the shit, hit me up
 
Ooh interesting, didn't know one could do that! Thank you! I'm looking for my first bike and can't wait to start riding.
 
Go back to where you took safety school. Otherwise, there's a plot of tech companies that surround you in Mountain view with large parking lots on the weekend and evening: Google, Apple, Stanford, etc.

Look at Google Maps, I don't how much easier it can get to look for places to practice.
 
NoTraffic said:
Go back to where you took safety school. Otherwise, there's a plot of tech companies that surround you in Mountain view with large parking lots on the weekend and evening: Google, Apple, Stanford, etc.

Look at Google Maps, I don't how much easier it can get to look for places to practice.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the tip!
 
Train station, school, light industrial, and high tech parking lots on weekends are pretty empty...
 
NoTraffic said:
Go back to where you took safety school. Otherwise, there's a plot of tech companies that surround you in Mountain view with large parking lots on the weekend and evening: Google, Apple, Stanford, etc.
Click to expand...

Parking lots are full of oil, antifreeze, broken glass, etc. Most big tech companies have security guards who will run you off if they think you're not an employee; I know mine does! The lot where you got trained is probably the one exception. Mountain View has lots of sleepy little streets with stop signs rather than traffic lights, 25mph speed limits, and very little vehicular traffic. If you're not ready to ride on roads like that, you're not ready to ride...
 
Mission College and Levi Stadium both have nice parking lot areas for practice that are largely empty on weekends.
 
Psst.....355 E. Middlefield Rd in MV near Whisman. Behind is an unused long running open parking lot with no security and basically no cars. It runs for over a city block behind many other empty or near empty buildings. The buildings are slated for demolition later this year. It is clean and adjacent to an apricot orchard so nobody to bother you.
Ducati HQ parks their trailers there so motorcycles are a common site. Heard it from a friend.
 
Larger carpool lots.

As long as you are not doing crazy stuff like “wheelers, smoke outs, etc”.
 
There is also the When.

A good time to ride on the streets is Saturday and Sunday morning, before 10:00 am. There are some good roads heading south in your area, get out and get confident (but not too confident, it takes years to get the reflexes to truly handle a bad situation) while the roads have low traffic.
 
rizzay1 said:
anyone know any good places to practice near daly city or sf?
Click to expand...

CMSP does their motorcycle classes at CCSF. I don't know what access to their lots is like in the off-hours.. maybe someone else can chime in.

I've done brief practice sessions at Serramonte mall, diagonally across from Macy's. Over San Bruno Mts towards Brisbane are some corporate parking lots that are empty on weekends. There's also that big lot right next to Lake Merced where new drivers practice.
 
If security or a LEO wants to run you off, just be polite and give a "No problem, I was just practicing with my motorcycle, I'll be moving along, have a nice day". No harm no foul.
 
raymond_h2002 said:
CMSP does their motorcycle classes at CCSF. I don't know what access to their lots is like in the off-hours.. maybe someone else can chime in.

I've gone there on weekends, and have used the lower lot. Even when they are having a class, they seem to only use a small section of the parking area.
Click to expand...
 
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