To reduce the high failure rate at motor school, the CHP is helping students improve their mental game.

Story by QUINN REDEKER / Photos by KEITH SELLE

A FEW MONTHS BACK, I was in Sacramento at the California Highway Patrol Motor Academy for the official launch of BMW’ s new R 1300 RT-P police model. As the national brand ambassador, my role involved a“ first impressions” discussion, followed by a technical riding demonstration for a sea of motor officers, high-level brass, BMW engineers flown out from Germany, and all the current CHP Motor Academy instructors. I’ ll leave it to you to guess how many antacids I popped that morning.

When it was all over, I ate lunch in the academy cafeteria and had an opportunity to talk with Sgt. Dave Jones, who runs the CHP Motor Academy. In just a few minutes it was obvious we had a ton in common as we discussed our philosophies on riding techniques, coaching, competition, training, and more. Then Sgt. Jones told me something that absolutely blew my mind: In just over two years since he took over the program, the pass rate among motor school students went from 40 % to a staggering 90 %! More remarkable, Jones confirmed that he hadn’ t touched the existing program requirements one bit; it’ s just as hard to pass as it ever was.

Over the course of the next few hours, I learned quite a bit about Jones. Turns out he’ s been moonlighting as a baseball coach for the last 15 years, with an emphasis on mental performance for batters. Naturally, once he started running the motor academy, parallels between the mental struggles his high school players had and the struggles his motor school students faced began to reveal themselves. That’ s when Jones put to good use all the coaching knowledge he had amassed, knowing that if he could get the motor school students’ minds right, their mechanics( and success) on the bike would follow. Clearly, it worked like a charm.

What exactly was Dave’ s( Sgt. Jones to you, pal) special sauce that transformed the CHP Motor Academy into such a thriving program? That’ s what I wanted to know. Lucky for us, Dave agreed to walk us through some key points for this month’ s article. Please don’ t ask questions until he’ s done, and most importantly, let this stuff sink in because it has the potential to significantly transform your abilities on the motorcycle. Ready? Here we go.

HOW DO YOU THINK OF TRAINING? When you train, is your goal to succeed, or is it to not fail? See the difference? Which side of the coin you’ re on will dictate the outcome. The inconvenient truth is that most of us train to not fail. And by having this mindset, we subconsciously invite failure to manifest. Then when the inevitable mistake reveals itself, it becomes a confirmation rather than a bump in the road. And just like a strong feedback loop, doubt creeps in, more mistakes occur, and before you realize what has happened, you’ re cooked. The solution? Change your relationship with failure by not concentrating on preventing it but redirecting your focus on the idea of succeeding. This philosophy subconsciously invites resiliency, tenacity, and better outcomes.

OVERCOME SELF-DOUBT Self-doubt is a performance killer, but it can only be overcome through personal belief in yourself; it can’ t happen any other way. No matter how many times I tell you that you’ re the best or that you have it all figured out, doubt will persist in your mind until you conquer it through preparation, consistent effort, and a purposeful investment in your training. Those are the things that build belief. Sure, you will have to put in the work, but by adopting this growth mindset, self-doubt diminishes and the

62 / MARCH 2026 / RIDERMAGAZINE. COM