Rather than chance a U-turn on a narrow road, do you ride a quarter mile out of the way just to find a parking lot? Or when you approach a stoplight or stop sign, do you look like an airplane coming in with your feet out to the sides like landing gear?

Any of you who ride big touring bikes know what I'm talking about. Anyone can ride an 800-pound motorcycle straight down the road at 60 miles per hour, but it's that tight maneuver in a gas station lot that increases the pucker factor.

If the above strikes a chord, you are not alone.

For years, riding like a cop was always a goal or maybe a fantasy. No longer. This summer I attended the Midwest Police Motorcycle Training School for Civilians. It's an intense four days of learning how to make those tight maneuvers and controlled braking exercises that you see motor cops perform. Maybe a better description is breaking bad riding habits and learning new safer techniques. After 50 years of riding, breaking those bad habits was harder than learning how to make a tight U-turn.

Doug Wolfe runs the training school. He is a no-nonsense retired motor cop from Troy, Mich. He along with Larry Schultz, a current motor cop, conduct the course in a professional and demanding style. They are both competition riders and accept only perfection from their students. A student can use his/her own motorcycle or rent a Harley-Davidson Police model Road King. My recommendation is that you rent a motorcycle. (By the way, don't call it a bike; it's a motor or motorcycle.) Their motorcycles are in excellent condition and, as you learn to master the more difficult maneuvers, it will not be uncommon for the motorcycle to meet the asphalt.

The school offers three levels of training: Primary, Advanced Level 1 and Advanced Level 2. Before a student can progress to the advanced levels he or she must successfully complete the primary course. The primary course is a challenge no matter how many years of riding experience you may have.

The first day begins with four hours of classroom instruction. After lunch, they move to the range where Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Schultz start by teaching the student how to mount and dismount the motorcycle and how to lift the heavy Road King after dumping it. From that point on, it's learning five close-quarter maneuvers: the cone weave, a 90-degree left and right pull out from a stop, a rolling 90-degree left and right turn, a figure-eight maneuver and a left and right U-turn. After successfully practicing and demonstrating the close-quarter maneuvers, students progress to road speed avoidance and controlled breaking exercises.

The primary class had the most demanding series of exercises I ever performed on a motorcycle. The course challenges the rider physically and mentally. You need to get your head into these moves, and Mr. Wolfe and Mr. Schultz are there to correct any bad habits you demonstrate. It's not a class for the faint of heart or those with a thin skin.

To gain a certificate of completion and qualify for the advanced classes, the student must successfully demonstrate these primary exercises. The demonstration is the afternoon of day four.

I plan to return to the school, but if you are wondering, it won't be to attend an advanced level class.

To learn more about Midwest Police Motorcycle Training for Civilians go to www.midwestmotorcycletraining.com.