What a week

and it all started 9 years ago.
In 2008 the state of Colorado introduced 3-wheel safety training to our state. At that time I could not afford the cost of the instructor prep training plus the lost income of not working for 8 days.
Since 2008 I have taken the class as a student multiple times and "kicked" cones for our instructors when we held a class at Iron Buffalo. Since Marg & I took over Iron Buffalo 5 years ago, we have repeatedly tried to come up with the $9-10K needed to host an IP. Thanks to changes in our state motorcycle safety training program, they (Colorado) were able to foot the bill and on March 12th, 2017 the second S/TEP IP (Sidecar/Trike Education Program Instructor Prep) was successfully finished. All of the 6 instructor candidates passed and are now certified S/TEP instructors for the state of Colorado, including yours truly. I do not ask our instructors to do anything that I won't do. Of the original 8 graduates in 2008 there is only 4 left training in the entire state. Realizing this growing problem 5 years ago we made every effort to replenish the instructor pool thus graduation day 2017 was a dream come true. 3-wheel vehicles are far more dangerous to ride than the general public realizes. They are also much more physically demanding to ride than the general public realizes. Thus the need for the S/TEP curriculum produced by Evergreen Safety Council (out of Washington state). Their curriculum is by far the leader in the industry.
The S/TEP IP class was 7 straight days from 5am to sometimes 9pm (one day), this includes travel time. The class (IP) was a mix of classroom and range exercises helping us to understand how to teach the information and more importantly how to handle and teach the skills required to operate a rig.

The graduates L-R (Andrew, Deb, William, Wiff, Bob, Kent):

Andrew on The Burro 

Deb on The Burro

William on his trusty steed, The Mule

Wiff on his trike

Bob on the Great Pumpkin

Kent on his Harley (hardest rig of all to ride, great job Kent)

Anyway it was 3-wheel boot camp, extremely demanding, extremely fun (we all had a blast) and somewhat dangerous at certain points. 

Marg & I are blessed that Iron Buffalo has a group of instructor of this calibre to complete the training in a timely fashion. 

We were complimented numerous times by the Chief Instructor/Trainer, that this group of instructor candidates was the best prepared of any class he had taught in the last 18 years (think that is the number of years he said). 

Getting your student to turn their head and look through a corner is usually a difficult task. I have a favorite technique that usually works, producing a laugh along the way...

"Turn your head, look at me, yeah I know it's painful"

W