Better Living Through Motorcycling

He's done a lot and plans to do much more. Lee started riding motorcycles at 12 years old when his dad, a rider himself, thought it would be a great father-son bonding opportunity. Two years later he allowed Lee to start ice racing. Lee enjoyed ice racing, but fell in love with the grace and subtle challenges of roadracing when he was 19. He developed his skills on a Kawasaki GPZ305 with the Utah Sportbike Association while he attended college, studying marketing and communications.

It was in college that he made it a goal to work in the motorcycle industry, working in advertising or PR for one of the big OEMs. Journalism appealed to him, but his journalism professor in the one course he took gave him a C+ and told him he'd never make it as a journalist.

Incredibly, that interview happened, and the next day Lee received a call from Petersen Publication's human resources person, telling him they were flying him to LA to discuss his salary requirements. "I had a buddy who was an expert in HR, and he told me to always politely refuse the first salary offer and to get up and walk out of the office. Sure enough, she told me all they could pay me was the lowest salary they offer to starting associate editors. I told her that I appreciated the offer, but that it just didn't meet my needs. So I got up and slowly started walking out of the room. Just as I was reaching the door, she said, 'Wait, wait!' and offered me much more money; way more than I expected to get." Lee's chutzpah was once more rewarded. In his time at Motorcyclist, Lee learned his craft and made plenty of industry contacts.

Lee's Total Control Advanced Riding Clinics

No matter how long you've been riding or how many people you can pass on Sunday afternoons, if you're like most riders you could use some brush-up instruction and improvement of your riding skills. But although there is beginner and novice-level training in the form of the MSF's Basic RiderCourse (BRC) and Experienced RiderCourse, (ERC), and plenty of racing and racetrack-oriented training like American Supercamp and Keith Code's California Superbike school, a rider who might never do a track day yet enjoys riding at a brisk clip on the street -- like a majority of our readers -- will find a distinct lack of organized training.

The ARC I took was held at the excellent MSF facility, T.E.A.M. Arizona in Gilbert, AZ. Since it was over 110 degrees during the day, the class was broken into two evenings from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM, avoiding the mind-killing, scorching heat.

The first part of the Clinic is taught in an air-conditioned classroom. With the aid of a slick PowerPoint presentation and his easy-going manner, Lee discusses what it takes to go faster on a bike. The materiel is lively and informative, accompanied by a printed study guide for note-taking.

He starts with the hard facts from the physical world, like the forces and skills required for managing traction, but then moves into more esoteric concepts, like managing your fears. "What's the worst thing that can happen today?" he asks his students. When they tell him some of the things they are afraid of, like damaging their motorcycles, looking like jerks, or not being able to master the techniques taught, he then asks, "Well, can you handle that?" Lee's point is that most of us can handle even the worst imaginable situation, and we know that.

After a short break to cool off, we tackle a basic cornering exercise. Although I've been riding for 18 years and racing for over 10, I'm amazed at how clunky and slow I feel doing the low-speed exercises. But Lee is patient and we keep running through the exercises until late in the evening, when we are too tired and sweaty to concentrate. Because a large group of students cancelled at the last minute, the few remaining students and I benefit from Lee's increased attention.

The second evening we are back in the classroom to learn about suspension. Although I knew how to adjust static sag and understood the fundamentals of suspension, I had never really understood enough to set up suspension totally unassisted. Two hours spent talking about suspension with Lee changed that for good.