Sun Tzu and the Art of Motorcycling
When you strap-on your protective gear and mount your two wheeled
steed, does it ever feel like you’re about to step onto the
battlefield? Once out there, you are likely to encounter 18 wheeled
monstrosities, 4 wheeled sardine-cans, and single-wheeled hamsters
spinning inside the heads of absent-minded drivers.
To bring the battlefield analogy home, did you realize (as was pointed-out to me by Mr. David Hough) that more people die in motorcycle accidents each year than did on 9/11? So, we have the War on Terror, but we don’t have the War on Motorcycle-Ignorance. Perhaps it doesn’t have a ring to it…
When you go into the battle, you can choose to be like Sun Tzu, a master strategist and a supreme tactician. Someone who knows the enemy and – perhaps more importantly – knows themselves.
If you’ve taken the MSF class, you may have encountered this same advice in perhaps less colorful form when your instructor strongly encouraged you to ride within your – and your bike's- limits.
Or you can choose to be an ignoramus. Run into the battlefield with your pants down and wearing a blind fold.
Not having a good understanding of certain counter intuitive principles of motorcycling (like counter steering, vision casting, dangers of left turns, and so much more….) is tantamount to being that guy dying on the battlefield.
…but you are here, reading this, so I know you are Sun Tzu. And perhaps the ignoramus will have to learn the hard way. There is, however, the third category, and these soldiers need our help.
You probably have a friend – or a friend of a friend – who wants to get into motorcycling or would like to improve their skill set. These eager soldiers must be sent to the right bootcamp. This is how you can help.
Tell your friends about 2wheeltips via Facebook, twitter, and whatever other means you might have of spreading the good word. Point them to an article, or a cool video, or perhaps the upcoming interview with David Hough (and many more to follow).
Growing our little corner of the interweb will enable Tony and Carol to dedicate even more time to 2wt and bring us even better content.
Let’s show our gratitude and appreciation by thanking them right now. Thanks Tony and Carol…you guys rock.
To bring the battlefield analogy home, did you realize (as was pointed-out to me by Mr. David Hough) that more people die in motorcycle accidents each year than did on 9/11? So, we have the War on Terror, but we don’t have the War on Motorcycle-Ignorance. Perhaps it doesn’t have a ring to it…
When you go into the battle, you can choose to be like Sun Tzu, a master strategist and a supreme tactician. Someone who knows the enemy and – perhaps more importantly – knows themselves.
If you’ve taken the MSF class, you may have encountered this same advice in perhaps less colorful form when your instructor strongly encouraged you to ride within your – and your bike's- limits.
Or you can choose to be an ignoramus. Run into the battlefield with your pants down and wearing a blind fold.
Not having a good understanding of certain counter intuitive principles of motorcycling (like counter steering, vision casting, dangers of left turns, and so much more….) is tantamount to being that guy dying on the battlefield.
…but you are here, reading this, so I know you are Sun Tzu. And perhaps the ignoramus will have to learn the hard way. There is, however, the third category, and these soldiers need our help.
You probably have a friend – or a friend of a friend – who wants to get into motorcycling or would like to improve their skill set. These eager soldiers must be sent to the right bootcamp. This is how you can help.
Tell your friends about 2wheeltips via Facebook, twitter, and whatever other means you might have of spreading the good word. Point them to an article, or a cool video, or perhaps the upcoming interview with David Hough (and many more to follow).
Growing our little corner of the interweb will enable Tony and Carol to dedicate even more time to 2wt and bring us even better content.
Let’s show our gratitude and appreciation by thanking them right now. Thanks Tony and Carol…you guys rock.
1 Comment
If you want to be a better biker, you need to get out and practice. I'm not saying go out and do everything you learned in BRC or another training course, but you should make an effort to improve on those things you do not do well.
Let's face it, the mechanics of riding a bike are a small part of it. Anybody can point a bike down the road and crank up the throttle. But as I've learned recently, a very BIG part of motorcycling is mental. Knowing how to keep yourself out of trouble on the road.
The guy that suddenly switched into your lane and cut you off was wrong. But you also have to consider the fact that you shouldn't have been in his blind spot and/or you should have notice he was tweeting/facebooking/texting/iPoding while driving and you should have been paying attention to him/her. Better to be wrong and alive than right and getting your arm amputated.
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