Hog-wild dreams

Motorcycle training center to open at the Great Mall

By Adam Hutton  ahutton@olathedailynews.com

Olatheans whose daydreams include cruising down the highway on a motorcycle with "Born to Be Wild" blaring in the background can realize their fantasies when a motorcycle training school opens in March at the Great Mall of the Great Plains.

The Midwest Motorcycle Training Center (MMTC) will be the first commercial driving school in Kansas that will focus its entire curriculum on teaching students to safely operate motorcycles.

More than a business to bring home the bacon or a way to kill some spare time, MMTC founders Stan and J. Elaine Rogers of Overland Park said preparing to open the school had been a labor of love.

"We're not in this to get rich," said Stan Rogers. "This is more a labor of love than it is a dedication to riches."

More so than the potential for financial gain, Stan said he and Elaine were opening the training center out of a love for safe, responsible motorcycle riding and saw MMTC as a valuable service to the public.

Before he retired, Stan Rogers spent 27 years serving the public in Johnson County as a deputy with the sheriff's office. In that time, Rogers said he saw evidence of the need for motorcycle safety training nearly every time he worked a traffic accident involving a motorcycle. The memory of grisly motorcycle accidents coupled with his decades of experience riding motorcycles was a motivating factor for starting the school, Rogers said.

"I've been riding for 43 years, so motorcycling has been a part of my life for a long time," Rogers said. "In my experience with the sheriff's office, I've seen lots of motorcycle accidents involving injuries that could have been prevented."

Rogers said the curriculum at MMTC primarily will consist of two courses established by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation, one for beginning students and another experienced riders.

The three-day beginners course will include eight hours of classroom time to teach basic safety and operational procedures, including the effects of alcohol and drugs on a person's ability to ride a motorcycle.

The beginners course will include 12 hours of "range time," when students will practice motorcycle riding skills, such as turning, shifting and stopping, in the mall parking lot.

The school has a fleet of 12 motorcycles for beginning students to ride during range time.

Students who successfully complete the beginners course will earn a Kansas Completion Certificate, which Rogers said can often serve as a substitute for motorcycle driver's license testing requirements.

A valid motorcycle driver's license and a motorcycle are required for students in the experienced course.

The five-hour course for experienced riders does not include classroom time. Rogers said the course was designed for riders who had taken a hiatus from their bikes and may want to "brush up" on basic skills and learn advanced techniques such as emergency braking, swerving and traction management.

The advanced course also includes instruction on motorcycle inspection and maintenance.

The center's instructors will be certified by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation to teach motorcycle safety.

Stan Rogers will act as chief instructor in addition to his duties as executive programs administrator.

Registration is under way for both courses, which will begin in late March and run through the end of the riding season in September.

For more information about the courses, requirements and cost call the Midwest Motorcycle Training Center at 432-7033.

Reprinted with permission from The Olathe News (www.olathedailynews.com).