Here’s a thing that you’d think most of us would have learned by now: When you learn a new skill, you either use it or you lose it. Think back to all your childhood firsts, which are now likely just a bunch of things you do every single day without even thinking about them. Still, back when you didn’t know how to tie your shoes, it may have been the type of challenge to make you really frustrated at the time.
Moto vlogger and YouTuber Doodle on a Motorcycle is on a mission in 2023—she’s going to become a certified Motorcycle Safety Foundation instructor, and she’s also going to take advanced off-road training courses from Jocelin Snow. Her chosen steed will be her dream bike, a Triumph Tiger 900 that she finally got herself in 2022.
Both those things require great and precise attention to technical skill-building. That’s why, to help prepare herself, Doodle decided to do a 30-day U-turn challenge. Sure, it’s also good content for YouTube, but the fact remains that if you practice something every single day, you’re very likely to improve. For Doodle, she decided to do 100 U-turns a day, every day, for 30 days. Who among us couldn’t stand to improve our U-turn skills on our bikes? I know I could—and of course, every bike you ride feels different when you do a U-turn, so there’s also that to consider.
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In this video, she takes us on her journey over the course of those 30 days, what she learned, how she learned it, and even a new friend she made along the way. She called on rider coaches Jerry Palladino and Motojitsu (both of whom also have YouTube channels and strong social media presences) and sent them videos to critique what she was doing and how she could improve.
Somewhere along the way, a local kid on a dirt bike started showing up and helping her practice. She nicknamed the kid (who’s maybe 12-years-old or so) ‘Coach,’ and since he was such a great help to her in her daily U-turn exercises, she got him some proper gear to wear on his dirt bike—proof that you don’t even need to ride a Honda to meet the nicest people on bikes, sometimes.
By the end of 30 days, what did Doodle learn? She was able to chart a quantifiable difference between her day one footage and her day 30 footage. When she started, she was going much more slowly through her U-turns and figure eights. She also wasn’t leaning as much, and so, she wasn’t able to turn the bike nearly as tightly as she was through the cones by the end.
By Day 30, Doodle was doing those U-turns at an average of about eight to 12 miles per hour, carrying enough speed through to lean more and keep the bike much tighter and more precise through those turns. It’s hard to say what perfect is in such a scenario, but it’s clear to see that practice will get you a whole lot closer to perfection. If you’re itching to go find an empty parking lot to practice in now, same.