Mossriders lessons from the road 3

[mossrider]

Note: The following are opinions. It is not based on scientific research but on experience and observation.

Before I retired I had the good fortune to work the Sturgis Rally for a number of years. Because of this I had the unique opportunity to observe hundreds of thousands of similarly dressed rugged individualists attempt to operate motorcycles. That experience taught me two things. First was that many of them were inept at handling motorcycles and a vast majority of those honestly thought they were 'above avg' to 'excellent' riders when in fact they could not make a simple feet-up U turn in the full width of a 2 lane road. In talking to them at crash scenes, tip overs, fender benders and assorted mishaps I was appalled by the realization that they refused to practice or to learn or to seek instruction, frequently telling me that they thought their skills are "good enough", when clearly they were not.

Second was that their focus and attention was frequently within the cockpit of the motorcycle instead of down range where it should be. When presented with situations that required divided attention, like pulling off a busy roadway into a busy gas station, their attention would shrink to their hand controls and they might very well crash straight into the fuel pumps or a car or another biker oblivious to their presence. Riders pulling away from a stop into traffic would pause and stare at the throttle, brake and clutch levers or at the ground directly in front of their motorcycle because they were overwhelmed and commence their action often with disastrous results. 

On to the free part. It costs nothing to stop in an empty parking lot or out of the way spot by yourself or better yet with other riders to offer critical input and PRACTICE riding. Braking. Turning. Avoidance maneuvers. Working with your control interfaces to make their operation intrinsic. Basic motorcycle control to familiarize yourself with your machine and it's capabilities. Two up if you ever take a loved one with. You owe it to your passenger to be better than 'good enough'.

Occasionally practicing for problem #1 has the added benefit of taking care of problem #2, letting you safely enjoy the ride. The rest of us thank you.

I realize that most of us here or that will read this are statistically not those I speak of.  My hope is that we lead by example and are seen routinely practicing. That we take a friend or neighbor or other riding companion to the parking lot and learn together because I know my skills will never be good enough. 

Ride safe.

[fzar]

Now this is advice that we should all take.

Thank You.

[Beemer]

I see it all the time in my area and 90% or more of the bikes I see are cruisers so cruiser riders do more dumb sh*t than sport bike riders in my neck of the woods and they often do it in tank tops, shorts and sandals. The up side of that is it's a cheap way of getting rid of a bunch of ugly tattoos when you lay your bike down. 

[Northstar01]

I just assume most people riding during the sturgis rally are drunk, in fact, I assume most cruiser riders are inebriated.