In my last post I began to talk about Competence. I talked a bit about defensive driving and how defensive driving should be your priority giving way only to Competence. Let me give you a definition for both. First Defensive driving. Being a defensive driver means, as a rider you must use every sense you have to watch your butt while you're on your bike. It's you against the world, whether it's a car driver or your friend with the loud, obnoxious bike beside you. Defensive driving techniques can be learned by reading, taking classes, or from stories told by other bikers. However, once you've heard or learned, it is up to you to use it. Every day you ride you are gaining experience and seeing more and more situations, the trick is to remember and to think, "What would I have done if that BOZO pulled had pulled out. So, my first bit of advice is, DON'T ride your bike around in a FOG. If you feel that you're not on your game, take your bike home. A good example of Defensive driving would be, you're sitting at a traffic light, waiting for it to change, you hear skidding, you should immediately look in your mirror, and look quickly, you could be a potential victim. You see the _ss you save could be your own !! Always leave room in front or to the side in order to escape should it become necessary. If you're approaching an intersection at a descent speed and hear sirens, start looking, in other words don't drive as if you're in your 3,000 pound SUV, use your common sense., drive defensively !! The more you ride, the more your sense of survival grows into a 6th sense. This is what I believe develops in riders after years of experience. This is something that does not develop in "Fair weather riders. You know, the folks who only ride when the temperature is over 90 degrees & sunny. (shorts, Tees & Flip flops)
What does competence mean ? It means that you know how to operate your bike. There are many of you out there right now who feel unstable when entering a corner, or trying to downshift. Is your bike to big for you, can you stop it quickly, without falling over ? Do you even know how to downshift, or how to take off while sitting on a steep hill ? You see, if some knuckle head pulls into your path while you're pushing 50 you can't afford to be looking around for the rear brake !! or fiddling with the gear shift lever, or even confusing the two. What happens if you do find the rear brake, stomp it and it isn't doing the job, now what the #@$% are you going to do ? Well do you have answer ? (if you do email it to motorcyclecoach@gmail.com). I'd like to know if you really do know what to do in this situation. You see, there is an order to learning or committing to learning to ride a motorcycle. First you learn your bike, What can you do with it ? what can't you do with it ? is the bike to big or to fast for you ? If you get a bike that moves faster than you can think, your days are numbered. This goes for veterans also. In my upcoming book "Motorcycling 101, 20-10 edition" I will provide at least 25 mp3 audio files of interviews with riders telling us in their own words exactly "What happened". Did they see it coming, Why couldn't they stop or avoid it, Did the driver of the other vehicle see them, was it a 1 vehicle accident, just them, Had they had a couple beers before the accident, and finally what was the outcome ? If you have a story (I have a couple of my own) Either write a summary in an e-mail or send me an e-mail requesting my number, and I'll shoot it to you. You can be completely anonymous if you like. That's it for now, remember - Ride to live and live to Ride. And practice those riding skills
JYNorflet
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note: Always check your bike mechanically before each ride. Check air pressure, your brakes and your throttle for sticking. Make sure you ride with a headlight on Day or night.
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