Why I am a RiderCoach

by Katt
(Broken Arrow, OK)

Hello! My name is Katt Smith. And this is the reason why I am a RiderCoach for OREP.

Taking the first step to ride on the street wasn’t a great one for me. I had finally gotten my nerve up to go & take a rider course. It was an awful experience. Something that I wouldn’t want anyone else to have to go thru.

I had told everyone that I was taking this course and I would show up Monday morning on my bike. Well, that didn’t happen. The course I took was lead by coaches that didn’t have the passion in riding. I wrecked on one of the exercises. I felt scared, embarrassed, & I was hurt. I was left there laying on the ground with a running bike on me and no one seemed to care. I got the bike turned off and wiggled my way out from under it. I picked the bike up and pushed it to where the trailer was parked & sat down looking at my knee that was bleeding and watching the rest of the class continue on. Finally after they completed the exercise, one of the coaches came over to check on me. But by that time it was to late. I felt awful. Hell, if the coaches didn’t have enough belief in me then why should I? After all, they were the “experts”. I walked off the range crying, not so much from pain, but from feeling ashamed & like a failure. I had to go back and tell everyone why i wasn’t on my bike. It took me a few years before i got the guts to try again. Yes, another riding course. But this time it was an AWESOME experience.

I wrecked again on the same exercises as before. I had already made my mind up that I was done. That’s when one of the coaches was pulling the bike off of me getting me up, making sure that I was alright. The whole class had stopped while the coaches talked to me and explained to me what I had done wrong. And before I knew it, I was back on the bike. I finished the course and I have been unstoppable from that point forward.

What was different this time? The coaches!! They had a real passion for riding & they passed it on to each one of us.

I went back telling every one about OREP. How their program was great & how AWESOME the coaches were.

A few years later my husband & myself became RiderCoaches. I wanted to share my love and passion for riding with others. I didn’t want anyone to go thru what I went thru the 1st time.