2Wheeltips

One of the reasons we all love to ride our bikes is so that we can lay into those curves and feel the heart pumping. Even if you like to take it nice and slow while riding, a situation may present itself where you will need to make a split-second decision. So let me ask you a question:

Are you accustomed to making decisions while your heart-rate is elevated?

I know we can all be great decision makers when we have ample time to think about our options, but how are you under pressure? What kind of decision-maker are you when your heart is going boom boom boom out of your chest?

To be a great decision-maker while your heart-rate is elevated you must train under such conditions. How? Glad you asked…

All you have to do is speed-up that inner-metronome every once in a while. Go for a bicycle ride with your dog; maybe some tennis with whoever rides on the back-seat of your motorcycle; don’t forget that humans are made to run, so put on those moccasins and get out there; try my personal favorite, mixed martial arts…whatever gets your ticker in the upper register.

I wish I could say that I am some kind of genius who has figured this out all on his own; alas, that’s not the case. Those guys who make motorcycle-riding their profession figured this out a long time ago.

Of course, there will be a few other beneficial “side-effects” from all this heart-pounding. Being in better shape will allow you to ride longer if need be and will improve your overall health…it’s what I call a win-win-win.

All this talk of running, tennis and so on makes me wonder…what type of other hobbies do 2wheeltipsters like to do? What is your favorite non-bike related activity? And please don’t say “watching golf”.

There are few principals of motorcycle riding that should be everyone’s mantra this riding season. So here is a reminder that might save your ass this spring.



1.    Consider yourself invisible.
2.    Maintain at least 3 escape routes out of every situation
3.    Maintain 360 degree awareness at all times
4.    Leave enough room between you and everybody else
5.    Ride your own ride
6.    Be protected (I got my 9mm)
7.    Get to know your motorcycle…again (T-CLOCS)
8.    Ride sober, well hydrated and well rested
9.     
10.   

That’s it. What? You only counted 8? So what? You guys can add the remaining two :-)

    Have you ever been watching television where they show the camera view from the police cruiser while the cop is talking to the person he has pulled behind when suddenly the cop either narrowly escapes being struck or is hit by a passing motorist?  Or have you ever walked down a hall and caught the eye of the person coming towards you and before you know it, you are both doing the hallway shuffle in an attempt to get around each other?

 Although you may not have given much thought to the dance you do every now and then, it may have crossed your mind to wonder “how the heck, with all those lights going, did that person not see the cop car on the side of the road?”  Believe it or not, the answer is quite simply that the person did see the cop car, as you saw that person in front of you in the hall.  You looked at some part of that person, usually their eyes, and focused on them as you approached.  The driver simply locked his (or her) focus on the cop car and drove directly at it.  Our mind works in strange ways, but subconsciously when we focus on something, we tend to move in the direction we are looking at whether we are walking, driving a car or riding a motorcycle. 

When it comes to riding as beginners, we tend to over-think what we are doing because it is a new experience.  We know the dangers and listen to all the horror stories.  We focus on the things that we know could hurt us because these are the things that we want to avoid; a patch of gravel, a curb, or a vehicle we are trying to avoid. 

In Proficient Motorcycling©, David Hough states that one of the most common reactions a motorcyclist will make when confronted with a vehicle making a turn in front of them is to simply steer the bike directly into the very car they are trying to avoid.  I have seen it myself while riding on my very first group ride and have seen it plenty of times since.  We are all victims of it at some point especially when we first begin riding.  What makes all the difference in the world is realizing what it takes to get out of those habits of focusing on what you want to avoid.

Next time you are driving your car and making turns, pay close attention to what you are physically doing.  What becomes apparent is that you start looking through the turns and you aren’t focused on the things in front of you.  If you see something that you need to avoid, you pick a path around what you want to miss.  The difference between driving a car and riding a motorcycle is that it has become second nature to most of us as we drive our cars.  An example of what happens when you become fixated is to watch a very green driver trying to park his (or her) car in a parking lot when they have absolutely no clue as to how to perform a simple task.  It may take them twenty tries to get the car parked because they are so focused on the car next to them that they keep parking too close or crooked.  

The best technique I can suggest for eliminating target fixation is to understand the benefits of it by performing u-turns in a parking lot at slow speed.  It’s just like the u-turn box that you practiced in the basic rider course, but this time we aren’t going to set a perimeter.  You are simply going to find an area large enough to give you plenty of room to do some slow speed turns.  Ride forward in first gear and when you are ready to make the turn look over your left shoulder and pick a target behind you off into the distance, the further away the better.  Using clutch and throttle control and if you need to, drag the rear brake a little, initiate the turn while maintaining focus on that point.  The trick is to do this u-turn without shifting your focus away from your target.  Eventually, you can begin using the area that you would normally drive down and try avoiding the painted lines in your u-turn.  What you will find by continuously practicing these maneuvers is that knowing how using target fixation in a positive way allows you to understand when it is happening in a negative way.  In addition, when there is an obstacle in your way, you rapidly shift your focus from that obstacle to the new path that you need to take; whether it’s to get around a pothole or avoid a collision, you learn that the bike really does go where you want it to.  The same technique is used while turning at high speeds.  Looking through the turns, looking as far ahead of you and where you want to exit the turn, and not concentrating on the curb, centerline or oncoming traffic, prevents you from focusing on that one point closest to you and riding directly for it.  You will realize just how eliminating target fixation on the things you want to miss is guaranteed to make you a better rider. 

It's been a real downer of a week here in the middle of Iowa. We had torrential rains and thunderstorms last Sunday night, Monday night and then again on Tuesday night on top of already saturated ground. The results have been devastating with loss to crops, homes, vehicles and endless detours to get anywhere you might need to go. Three people died when they tried to cross a flooded road and were swept away in the flood waters. Not a good week!! Flood waters have receded now and my wife and I went out for a ride this morning down around the Des Moines river towards the South East and it wasn't pretty. Anyway, that is just info to give you an idea of where my heads is at for this ride today. So, we get out and the temps are great, a bit overcast which is, also, great because it's been so hot here and we have a very enjoyable ride and are on our way home. Here is where the real story begins!! I've been taking all back roads since about 9AM this morning. We stopped for lunch in Oskaloosa, IA about Noon and it's now 1PM and I decide to jump on I-80 for the last 30 miles as I'm getting tired and the heat is now in the high 80's and the Interstate will get us home in about 15 minutes. We get on the Interstate and after about a whole 2 minutes we come to a screaching hault and into a slow moving back-up that looks to go on forever. Being the type "double AA" personality that I am with an extra helping of "hurry-up" syndrome, I am not happy with this situation!! In fact I'm furious!! What a bone head decision to ruin a perfectly wonderful ride by getting on the expressway. We endure this for about 30 minutes and then we can start seeing the flashing lights and their are a lot of them. I tell my wife this is really bad. It was all of that and more. We see that traffic going East on I-80 has been completely stopped. We see a vehicle that looks like it exploded. We see 5 bodies laying in the road covered with blankets and towels. How could this happen on a perfectly lovely day on a two lane interstate with no entry or exit ramps even close?? We get home and go on-line and learn that a van crossed the median at a very high rate of speed and hit a car going east bound head-on. Five were dead and the 6th was air lifted to a Des Moines hospital in critical condition. I-80 was shortly closed in both directions and still is as I write this, for Police to try and determine what happened and clean-up the mess. My inconvenience became infinitesimal to the poor victims of this tragedy. My delay was miniscule to the delay of those motorist going eastbound, they would be there for hours. This was not the ending I had hoped for when we started our ride this morning. This was not the ending I had hoped for after a very trying week full of stories from our friends and co-workers about losing everything in the flood waters. I had nothing to complain about. I shut my mouth, rode home and said a prayer.

When I lived in Korea, motorcycles, two wheelers, scooters, had the right of way. The culture of the people expected two wheelers to split lanes, cut in front of you and stop, run through red lights, yellow lights and green lights. It was known that a two wheeler will ride on the side walk and anywhere else it needed to ride to keep moving. I was riding and was obeying the rules of traffic, and many people in cages were upset. It appeared many were expecting me to keep moving, run the red light, split the lane etc., and when I did not, it threw everything else out of whack.  I understood and was told that if you hit a two wheeler even if it is the two wheeler's fault....you have to pay an arm and leg heavy fine. (Maybe when some of our 2wheeltips members from other countries read this, the member can add important information that wil help us, and or correct any error in my understanding and thinking). There is no such thing as, "I did not see you." The fine is so heavy that you do all that you can to see a 2 wheeler. The only thing that frightened me while riding my 2 wheeler in Korea was another 2 wheeler riding up and sharing my lane and coming out of nowhere to do it. I felt safer on my 2 wheeler than in a cage.

When I lived in Korea, I rode an 80cc scooter and then purchased a Softail Deuce Harley Davidson. When I started riding in Hawaii, I had to go through a cultural change in that motorcycles do not have the right of way and people are not looking out for you or expecting to see you.

Now, we have areas here in MI where, if you injure or kill a construction road worker, you will pay a heavy fine and spend up to 15 years in jail (or both). It says that the state is serious about protecting its workers.  So, if the fine is increased for hitting a motorcycle (sitting, moving, parked, and or standing) such as an $8,000 fine, and 6 months in jail for an injury and up to 15 years in jail for a death (no exception, regardless of who you know) then I think deaths will go down, and people will not be saying, "Oh, I didn't see the motorcycle."

It might take about 3 years for the word to get out that people are both being fined and going to jail before the culture takes it seriously.  However, in Korea, motorcycles are not allowed on the highway. Often you will see a group ride on the highway and, to my knowledge, nothing is done (the riders were riding bikes of at least 800cc). If the rule was not in place, 2wheelers with 50cc would be out there on the highway. The traffic was so thick in the inner city like Seoul that if you got up to 45mph you had a good day to remember.

Have a law passed: Cages have the right of way on the highway and bikers have the right of way on all other roads. I love riding in America; I just wish the rule of law concerning protecting bikers from cagers----was such that every biker would be 100% happy and excited that such a law existed. I would hate for a family member to have to go to jail for 15 years because a biker, due to his/her own fault went beyond his/her riding skill level, or was intoxicated and caused a cage kissing which resulted in a death. When I think of my own family member doing the right thing and the 2wheeler doing the wrong thing (with my family member paying the fine) it causes me to think differently.

The bottom line is that there needs to be a way that people who are riding a motorcycle are taken as seriously as construction workers in a work zone, and given all safety space that is needed so that no one gets hurt. (The writing of this blog is by no means the opinion of 2wheeltips, it is just the author's point of view.)

Mental toughness what is that,
It is the moment that your butt sat;
You raise up your legs and saddle you did do,
Mentally in your mind, a motorcycle you rode too;
You heard the fears, from the voice of others,
All said you were getting yourself into trouble;
Some called you a fool, and said you were crazy,
But none of them thought it was amazing;
Off to the MSF course there you went,
Shaking like a leaf, and grinning like a mint;
Felt the heart letting you know it was there,
Felt your soul, say to you I dare;
Dare what is what you asked,
Are you saying I shouldn't stand up to the task?
The soul kept silent and did not speak a word,
Because it wanted you to get in touch with what you just heard;
The mind of yours began to wonder too,
If this is something that you must do;
You observed the class a varity of people you did see,
The old, the young, and folks just like me;
Here comes the instructor, with a great big smile,
He told everyone to learn to ride a bike will take a while;
Practice, practice, practice, practice he said over and over again,
He made me feel like I could do it, if I gave it a chance;
There was a time, when I wanted to walk out of the class,
When I heard about the accidents that took place in the year past;
The Hurt Report, I think it is what he said,
It talked about what caused a lot of bikers to become dead;
What the instructor highlighted from the report was not little,
A new way of learning to ride safe to keep you out of the hospital;
It was at that moment that my mind made a switch,
It got real tough, and I said to myself, "I am not going to quit."

 Last year, I bought the Gerbings G3 microwire gloves,  microwire heated liner and the dual temperature controller.

Well....the dual temperature controller failed about 3 weeks after I got it.  I was on a ride on a very cold day and all of a sudden I got cold...very cold. I fussed around with the controller and still no heat. At the first stop, I checked everything out and long story short it was the controller. I took it back to the store and they happily swapped it out. I think I used it about 4 times before it died. 

Fast forward to this year and the darn thing crapped out again!! But this time it is stuck on high!! It's like riding around with a blow torch on your skin. I think I may have gotten 6 - 8 rides out of it before it started acting up. 

But this time I called Gerbings Heating Gear.....since their products have a lifetime warranty. And this is where it gets interesting. 

Well....I was told the warranty is if you send it your registration card and you are the original owner.  If you do not, then.....you are out of luck!  They will not replace it. You can pay for them to repair it at $35/hour or you can buy another one. Me? I never send in the cards because all it triggers is a bunch of junk mail. 

Not one to argue but I did ask.....if it has a lifetime warranty, why does it matter who purchased it?

Needless to say, I am not happy about this. Their stuff is not cheap and to have them fail back to back is not good. Just think if it would have happened on a 20 degree day and I was 2 hours from home?

Since this is the second one that died on me, I'm not looking to try it a third time.  Has this happened to anyone out there?   Anyone have any suggestions on a different controller?

 

My wife and I have been taking more and more weekend trips on our GoldWing. Living in the middle of Iowa you need to invest almost a day of riding to get some place worth seeing. The corn and soy bean fields get rather monotonous after a few years!! This year we're going to take the next step and do a week long ride, about 2,000 miles North into Minnesota then across Wisconsin, Michigan's UP then South to Muskegon and take the Lake Express ferry across Lake Michigan to Milwaukee then home to Des Moines, IA. The way I approached this trip is by taking a book I was given "The Most Scenic Drives in America, 120 Spectacular Road trips" and looked at what options I had that were in relative proximity to Des Moines. We had taken some of the closer rides over long weekends but to do the Wisconsin/Michigan scenic routes we would need a full week. After laying out the basic route I wanted to take that followed the majority of the recommended scenic routes in the book, I went into the online AAA trip planner and broke the trip into about 250 mile per day increments. The AAA planner is super easy to use and allows you to do multiple way points. Much faster and easier than Mapquest or Google maps and it's free. You don't have to be a AAA member to use it. After determining our daily routes and approximately where we would want to be stopping for the night I looked at hotel options. Finding an appropriate stopping point that had hotels and restaurants added a bit of complexity as I had to then go back and refigure our route and stopping point each day based on the hotels we booked. Once that was done I printed out the entire route which is segmented by each waypoint and gives you the mileage to that way point along with detailed directions. What is really cool about this is you can plan the exact route you want to take and not get some default route the the mapping software provides. Once I had all that info I just programmed the key way points into the GPS on the GoldWing and am now all set for the trip. Another thing I did was to layout some contingency routes. If we encountered bad weather or had a problem with the bike that would delay us I mapped out shortcuts we could take to keep the trip relatively on schedule without extending the riding day and taking the chance of getting overly tired. So, I've got the route all planned out, all my hotels and ferry ride booked, my 4,000 maintenace and new tires scheduled, all the gear ready to go and just waiting for the big start day to arrive. I'll write a blog when I get back and let you know how things turned out and how some of the new gear we bought for the trip worked out. Stay Tuned!!

By: Dr. Melissa E. Heche, AuD
Doctor of Audiology

The fact has been established that plugs are needed to protect your hearing while riding a motorcycle.  But which earplugs are best suited for you, as the motorcyclist?  Which ones will be the most comfortable and – most importantly – the most functional to protect your hearing?  All different types of plugs will be addressed so that you make an informed choice to protect your hearing while riding.

All hearing protection earplugs are measured based upon an “NRR.”  This stands for Noise Reduction Rating.  Noise Reduction Rating (NRR) is the measurement of the accuracy with which a hearing protector reduces noise.  This is measured in decibels (dB).  In general – the higher the NRR number, the greater the noise reduction. When more than one protector is used, research has shown that the combined NRR provides approximately 5 - 10 decibels more than the higher rate of the two devices. For example, using ear plugs (NRR of 29 decibels) with ear muffs (NRR 27) would provide a Noise Reduction Rating of approximately 39 decibels.

As a motorcycle rider, you are wearing a helmet and therefore cannot utilize supra-aural ear muffs over your plugs.  So, you want to ensure that the plugs you choose will provide the best protection.  Depending upon which helmet you choose, you may benefit from some extra protection.  But the main protecting agent will be the device you put into your ear.

Commonly used by many are the generic hearing protection plugs that are bought in the drugstore. They are disposable and made of either foam or wax, which compresses and then releases inside the canal to attempt to seal the canal.  There are reusable plugs that are functional for a finite number of uses and conform to the canal.  They may be tethered by a cord.  For each of these, the package will give you an NRR rating of anywhere from 23-29 dB.  However, be aware that these plugs are not “one size fits all.”  In fact, a true hermitic seal is rarely obtained when this plug is placed into the canal.  That means that there is air leakage – and if there is air leakage, then sound is working its way into the canal.  Therefore, protection against the loud noise is not complete.

Custom fit hearing protection earmolds are made to fit precisely into your ear canal.  An ear mold impression is taken of your ears and then sent to a laboratory where the mold is designed given the specific style and material.  The custom hearing protection earmold comes in a number of different models that are utilized for a variety of purposes.  The plugs can be filtered or unfiltered depending upon the need.  As an audiologist, I choose the size and model of the hearing protection earmold depending upon the sounds we are trying to protect against; I choose a different protection plugs for musicians, hunters and construction workers, for example.

The best fit custom hearing protection earplugs for motorcycle riders is the Westone 4RT.  It is the most advantageous because it serves the needs given the variables of motorcycle riding:  the use of a helmet over the plug, the need to be able to hear street noise, the dangerous nature of the noise levels of the wind.  The Westone 4RToffers a complete seal and fits comfortably underneath the helmet.  The mold is formed as a hollow canal style – facilitating increased comfort and reduced resistance.  There is also a graduated frequency response.  The lower frequencies are not attenuated as much as the higher frequencies.  This allows the rider to still be able to hear the engine, gauge speed and identify the presence of traffic.  Hearing is thus protected, without compromising your ability to ride safely.

——————————

Dr. Heche is a Doctor of Audiology and Clinical Voice and Swallowing Pathologist. She is dually certified by the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and licensed in NYS in Audiology and Speech Pathology. In addition, she is a Fellow of the American Academy of Audiology and is Board Certified in Audiology. Dr. Heche is also a NYS licensed Hearing Aid Dispenser.

Dr. Heche runs the NYC-based private practice New York Speech & Hearing and can be reached at:

http://www.2wheeltips.com/members/profile/640

mheche@newyorkspeechandhearing.com
www.newyorkspeechandhearing.com
Office: (212) 260-1414

 

Well, motorcycle friends, I had the shock of my life when I received my copy of the Americade Times in the mail a couple of days ago.  I was thumbing through the magazine, reminiscing about all the great events they had, the well organized tours, the wonderful people I had met...  I was looking at the photos and I almost felt like I was looking at my own photo album of Americade.  As I found out, it was for a good reason!  At least four of the photos they used in the magazine were mine!  Damn, I thought!  I must have won the photo contest.....Nah...I thought again....I am just imagining things...so many other people were up at Americade....so many cameras clicking away...so many people entered the same contest I did.  Better yet, I had never been notified by Americade that I had won, so I just enjoyed the magazine and put my strange thoughts aside.  But wait, I said to myself!  Check the photo credits in the front of the magazine....(of course, this is me, talking to me....)...if your photo or photos are in here, they will give you credit, right???  RIGHT!  And there was my name with the photo credits!  I was ecstatic.  And, in addition to the use of your photos, there was a monetary prize involved...so, I thought (again, me talking to me...)...now I KNOW they used at least one of my photos, I mean my name was listed in the photo credits, but no notification and no check in the mail.  Well, maybe it got lost?  I mean the US Postal Service isn't perfect....it's pretty damned good but it's not perfect.  So, I just put the magazine aside and figured I would send an e-mail to Americade and tell them thanks for picking my photos but I never got any letter (or check....lol) in the mail telling me I had won.  And then, yesterday, I brought in the mail.  And in the mail was a letter (and, yes!, a check) from Americade!  The letter told me I won!  The check floored me!  It was for far more than I had expected to receive (see, I kind of figured that ONE photo was mine....the others, although they sort of looked like mine...well...I figured other bikers had taken similar shots and mine were like the others so I was just imagining things).  So, back I went, to the magazine and, this time, my computer, and found that FOUR of the photos they used were mine!  I was (and I still am) thrilled!!!  So, for those of you who are curious (or just like to hit hyperlinks), here is the link to the online version of the Americade Times magazine.  http://www.tourexpo.com/data/content/view/1612/272/
My photos are in the 2009 magazine and they are:
Page 8, the photo of the ski jump at Lake Placid
Page 9, the photo of the red covered bridge with bikes going through it
Page 17, the photo of sunrise on Lake George
Page 20, the photo of a man working on a bike (with license plate "DEANS")

For those of you who have ever attended an Americade rally, I think I need say no more.  You know what Americade rallies are like....

For those of you who have never attended (or never even heard of) Americade rallies, take a look and read the magazine.  If you are interested in going to Americade (the first week of June 2010 in Lake George Village, NY), and you have questions, you can always pose your questions here.  If there are questions that we cannot answer, I know people who work for Americade and I will get an answer for you!

Americade is a fantastic, huge, incredibly well organized touring rally, and bikers get a chance to mingle with tens of thousands of other bikers of all walks of life, from all parts of the country (and, even from other countries), all who share at least one common interest:  their love of motorcycling.  And, maybe next year, YOUR photos will be in the Americade Times magazine!