2Wheeltips

Guest post by Gina Williams

Photo courtesy of motorcycle-leather-gear.com

Taking up riding a motorcycle isn’t a difficult decision.  They’re awesome and they’re even more awesome to ride.  However, before you really begin riding, you need to know the risks riding a motorcycle entails and the safety precautions you must take.
According to the National Highway of Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 11 percent of all accidents in the United States involve a motorcycle.  Below is data from the U.S. Census Bureau:



This data is disturbing considering that, according to NHTSA, there are over 39 passenger vehicles for every motorcycle on the road; thus, motorcyclists’ fatality rate is disproportional to the number of motorcyclists on the road. 
After understanding the dangers, you must understand how to remain safe on the road.  Here are safety tips you should take seriously if you take up motorcycling:

Take a motorcycle safety course.

These are a combination of classroom hours and supervised application of those teachings on motorcycles.  Each course differs in material and instruction, but usually students are taught:

• The basics of operating a motorcycle, e.g. how to take road curves, how to properly mount the bike, etc.
• Safety basics, e.g. which equipment to wear, precautions one must take, etc.
• What you are lawfully responsible for as a driver, e.g. the laws of the road.

Take your time learning.

After your motorcycle safety course, don’t just jump on the interstate immediately.  Ensure that you are fully comfortable driving your vehicle at all stages; begin first with neighborhoods, next with rural roads, then small highways, and so on.  Work your way up just as you did when you were learning how to drive a car.

Wear the appropriate motorcycle gear.

You must wear the proper motorcycle equipment when riding; it will protect you from the weather (rain literally feels like needles) and from getting hurt in the event that you do get into an accident.  The good thing is that motorcycle gear looks pretty cool.  You’ll need a riding jacket and pants, riding gloves, and boots that cover your full feet and ankles.

Follow driving laws.

Excessive speeds, lane splitting, and driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol are all well-known causes of motorcycle accidents.  Following driving laws is imperative; even if you have full control of your vehicle, doing any of these things could lead other drivers to react in a way that endangers your life and theirs.

Be aware of everything around you.

Pay attention when you’re driving.  Constantly check all around you for reckless drivers, drivers who may not see you (a common cause of motorcycle accidents), and hazards in the road.  Do not let yourself be distracted by your cell phone, music player, etc.  When you’re driving, your only concern should be driving.

Gina Williams is a guest post and article writer bringing to us safety tips for beginner motorcyclists.

Gina spends the majority of her professional life writing about  motorcycle accidents.

    I remember my first ride very well.  It was a warm summer day, we were to meet not far from my house and the group consisted of some 40 motorcycles.   As I pulled into the parking lot I remember the feeling of excitement and nervousness knowing that I was about to embark on a new journey that would take me into adventures I had never entered before: the roads we were going to take and riding in a large group for the first time.

    Riding in a large group can be daunting for a new rider but it doesn’t have to be if you are with the right group of riders and you follow some simple rules.  It is a very satisfying feeling riding with friends and sharing your experiences together, meeting at a location after the ride to talk over a nice meal before heading home. 

    The most critical piece of information that I can forward to you is to begin by choosing your company very carefully.  Do not go on a group ride through the twisties if you find yourself going wide through turns and crossing the center line when the bike gets a little fast for you.  If you are going out with people you don’t know, you may want to remind them before the ride that you are new to group riding and that you may ride slower than they are used to.  Ask that you ride near the front of the group so that you help set the pace.  You don’t want to get lost as they ride off without you or have to double the speed limit to catch up after everybody else has been scraping the chrome off their exhaust pipes through the turns.

    Don’t be shy.  Keep in mind that at any point you feel uncomfortable, give someone in the group a signal to let them know you will be cutting out of the group and heading home.  Just let the group know what signal you will use before you begin.   Be aware that you should carefully choose the location for departing the group so you do not confuse those behind you and possibly endanger others around you.

    Listen carefully to your group leader before the ride.  I can’t tell you how many rides I have participated in that someone didn’t listen to the pre-ride instruction or simply ignored it and created unnecessary headaches for the entire group.  If you find yourself in a group that gives no instructions before the ride explaining hand signals, group formation, scheduled stops, and additional pertinent information, I would advise that you skip that ride and wait for another day.  It is also a good idea to swap cell phone numbers with your group leader before you begin so that if you do get separated before during the ride you can eventually get in contact with someone to let them know if you need help or if you are just going to head home.  Always show up with a full tank of gas.  Experience has taught me that it can be frustrating to the entire group when they are ready to begin the ride and someone yells out that they have to stop for gas as soon as everybody pulls out of the parking lot. 

    Keep in mind that some group rides travel the highway to get to the entry point for the back roads.  If you aren’t comfortable with the highways, check with the group leader to see if the highways will be used either on the ride out or the ride home.  EZ pass is a wonderful invention.  Some parts of the country use different versions of the electronic toll payment system.  If you currently do not own one, I strongly suggest you get one as they make group rides so much easier when traveling long distances.   If you don’t have one and aren’t planning on getting one, make sure you have your toll money in an easily accessible place while you are riding.  Again, it’s frustrating and sometimes dangerous when the group has to pull off the highway waiting for you to catch up because you have to take off your gloves, reach into your pocket and fish for a twenty dollar bill, then wait for change and try to stuff nineteen bills into your wallet.  Find out ahead of time how the group will handle cash tolls.  Sometimes they will ride ahead at a pace just below the speed limit and you will be responsible for catching up.  This can be problematic because you lose your position in the group and end up directly in front of the sweep (last) position.

    Group formations are generally positioned two ways: either staggered or single file when staggered formation is not possible.  Staggered formation is simply all bikes riding in one lane; one motorcycle riding over to the left side of the lane the next bike is riding about one second behind and to the right side of the lane.  The following two bikes are riding the same position only two seconds behind the bike directly in front of them.   If you visualize the group looking from the top down, you could draw a zig-zag line from helmet to helmet along the group where the distance between the moving bikes is never less than two seconds apart from one motorcycle to the next directly behind them and never less than one second closer to the bike over in the opposite side of the lane.  If you are in the left side, you don’t want to be any closer than one second to the person to your right.  If you are on the right side, you don’t want to be closer than one second to the person to your left.

     One very common accident that occurs in group riding is an accordion style crash where a rider up front stops short and everybody behind piles up behind them.  This is usually a result of poor spacing and target fixation.  The time it takes for you to get to the person in front of you in the event of an emergency stop cannot be less than what it would take to either evade what’s in front of you or stop safely.  The reason for the one second between you and the person next to you is to allow enough room for an evasive maneuver.  If you are riding directly next to someone, you can’t use the entire lane if necessary without hitting the person occupying the same space. 

    There are a million reasons why people crash; the one that always strikes me as being the one easiest to avoid is when a rider tries to keep up with the person in front of them and finds themselves outside their personal ability.  If you are out riding with the group and suddenly you find yourself in tight twisting roads, switchbacks, reduced radius turns where your pulse is rising, you start hitting the brakes because you keep heading for that center line, slow down! I mean slow down to the point where you feel comfortable entering the turns and exiting them.  The experienced riders understand that those roads aren’t for everybody and that there will be another day to ride those types roads.  One thing to keep in mind when out there is that you need to ride your own ride and not feel pressured by anybody or to ride beyond what is comfortable to you or your ability. 

    Another common mistake is that riders love to look at what they don’t want to hit.  It’s called target fixation and is a difficult habit to break.  While riding in a group, do not fixate on the person in front of you, do not stare at their back tire or tail light.  Keep your eyes on where you want to go, not where you don’t.  The same goes not just for group rides but for all of your daily riding.

    One debatable aspect of riding is when someone drops out of your group and leaves a space to be filled in.  There are some that feel that all of the motorcycles directly behind the open spot should slide up to fill in the position.  This may work when the group comes to a complete stop.  However, if this were to happen at speed, all of the motorcycles will have to pass directly abreast the bikes offset to them to fill in the space.  If any rider should need to change lane position to make an evasive maneuver, the result would be catastrophic.  In my opinion, it is much safer to shuffle left to right to avoid having to pass other riders in the same lane.  This should be discussed in the pre ride instruction to avoid confusion.

    Another important issue to remember when riding in groups is to remember the traffic laws.  It may sound silly, but if a light is red, it means stop!  Do not feel obligated to blow through a red light to keep up.  Do not ignore the stop signs to maintain the group's integrity.  We want the cars to share the road with us while we ride; we need to do the same for them.  Never assume that a car will stop simply because you are with a big group of bikes because most will not.  When following another rider, they may have enough room to make that turn before the Toyota comes barreling through from the left, but you may not.

     I find that the simplest way to look at group riding is to take all other riders out of the equation except for the two riders closest to you.  The rider offset to you in front is the person leading you, the rider offset behind is following you and is relying on you to lead them.  The rest is just traffic.  Obviously the riders other than those I just mentioned are important because they provide you with signals letting you know of hazards in the road and upcoming turns, stops, and setting the pace for the ride, but in order to reduce the workload it is easier to break your large group ride down into a small three person group within the large group. 

    An issue I have had over the past few group rides that I have participated in is that there has been a breakdown in communication at some point along the way.  A critical time in group rides is making turns where the entire group has the greatest possibility of becoming separated.  If you think of your group as the small three person set, when coming to a turn or fork in the road, check your mirror to ensure that the person behind you is still there.  If they are not, stop before making the turn so that when the rider behind you sees where they need to turn.  If this pattern is followed all the way to the front of the line, all the riders ahead will notice that the riders behind them are stopping and waiting for the person behind them.  Eventually everybody will catch up and the ride continues; think of it as a motorcycle bread trail.    

    It is advisable that an experienced rider with a good list of contacts, first aid kit and some first aid knowledge should ride sweep for the group.  Sometimes, bad things happen when riding with a group.   Something to keep in mind is to keep calm and focused on what is going on around you.  A good sense of situational awareness is a great asset.  As trained EMT’s, we were always taught that you need to keep yourself safe first.  The same holds true for accidents and breakdowns in group rides.  First and foremost is to ensure that you keep yourself out of dangers such as oncoming and passing traffic.  Do not panic, stop your bike safely and park it carefully, ride the bike to a smooth stop, and watch for hazards on the side of the road that could cause problems such as drop offs and soft shoulders.  Then deal with the problem calmly and think about what needs to be done.  Talk to those around you and come to a decision together that gets the best results.  Sometimes roadside repairs are possible; just make sure that the area is safe to work on the bike.  Never leave a rider alone to deal with a problem.  If it looks like the bike needs to be towed or it is going to be impossible to make a quick repair, it may be necessary to have the group continue on and have someone stay with the disabled bike and rider.

     In the event of a crash, do not be afraid to call an ambulance.  Sometimes the rider may be in shock and not realize the danger they are in.  Internal injuries can sometimes not show themselves until much later and in certain cases can be fatal if left untreated.  Do not cave into the pleading of the rider to refuse medical assistance when common sense tells you otherwise.  The bike can be replaced or repaired later, just take note of all the facts that may be needed hours or days later; write them down.  These may include contact info for the fallen riders’ family, what medical facility the rider is being taken to and where the motorcycle is being taken for storage. 

    Group riding can be an awesome experience, especially for the first time.  Remembering to ride your own ride helps when more experienced riders feel like showing off their motorcycle skills and keeps you from riding beyond your ability.  Breaking down the large group into a small group helps reduce your mental stress.  Finally, when choosing a group to ride with, stay away from the showboats; let them impress the kids.  You, on the other hand, should stick with more responsible, level-headed individuals.  Go out there and share some memories!

A new rider is faced with a tremendous number of fears: from simply stopping the bike to the dreaded left turner.  Does that guy see me or is that person going to pull out of the parking lot in front of me?  In the past few months, I have spoken with a few new riders and they all have one particular fear in common; riding at highway speeds.  What I would like to address here are some points that may help you overcome these fears. I will also compare city riding to highway riding. 

Riding on the highway is actually considerably safer than riding around your suburban neighborhood.  If you consider that every parked car is a potential threat due to your inability to see behind or in front of the car parked on the side of the road.  It is possible for a child, adult or pet to come running out from between two parked cars.  In addition, you may not see that narrow driveway beyond the car parked on your right as a car comes speeding out without looking.  Obviously the list of dangers goes on, but I think you get the idea. 

When riding on the highways, all the cars are going in the same direction at pretty much the same speed.  If you have trained yourself to look far enough ahead as well as looking on your rearview mirrors, most moving threats can be seen within enough time to react.  A benefit of being on two wheels is because you are much narrower than the cars around you, avoidance is much easier as you have a full lane to maneuver if you see someone wandering into your lane.  Here are a few tips that make my highway riding safer and have worked for me. 

Stay out of the far right lane, vehicles entering and exiting the highway tend to do so without consideration for cars let alone motorcycles.  As you pass by an exit ramp and a car on your left realizes they are about to miss their exit and do a hard right across your lane, chances are you will not live to smack the driver in the head.  When vehicles enter the highway, more cars are doing the 3 lane change direct from the onramp, again if you are in the far right lane passing the onramp and a car decides to do this without looking, it’s unlikely you will be walking away. 

Drivers today are distracted more and more by electronic devices; we all see it regularly, and those people create a larger threat to us. It’s a smart idea to give the drivers around you a quick glance to see where their attention is.  If you see drivers talking on the phone, texting or playing with their GPS, simply get away from them by slowing down, speeding up, or just changing lanes taking you out of potential harm’s way. 

Riding along the highway can be a great experience.  You get to your destinations quicker if that is your goal, you have the ability to travel much farther and[you can] explore places nowhere near your normal ride radius.  One of the most common dangers on the highway is construction.  They say there are two seasons in the northeast, construction and winter.  You will eventually find yourself in a construction zone regardless of the area you live in.  Remember to observe the speed limits and watch for areas of loose gravel and where resurfacing is taking place.  Often times you will find yourself behind dump trucks and construction equipment spewing rocks and sand in your path; use special care when following these dastardly trucks and give yourself plenty of room.  Sometimes a road crew will grind off one lane and pave another, leaving a difference of three to four inches between lanes.  I caution you to not attempt to change lanes if you see this regardless of how gouged up your lane happens to be or how tempting that fresh pavement looks.  As soon as your front tire touches that big incline, the bike will slam to the ground, and at highway speeds.  Let’s just say bad things will happen.

Keeping yourself visible is critical in maintaining a good level of safety.  It is not simply good enough to wear your big bright neon vest (if you choose to wear one), but it is more important to maintain good lane position and at the appropriate speed.  You may think that riding down the middle of the road is good enough, however it reduces your visibility to the vehicles in front of you and also helps you blend into the vehicles behind you.  In addition, by riding in the center on the lane can increase the size of your blind spot within your rear view mirrors.  I recommend riding along the wheel tracks of the four wheel vehicles on the road.  A common danger on the roads today is debris from littering, things falling off of trucks and cars as well as tire pieces from blow outs on cars and tractor trailers.  Four wheeled vehicles can straddle the debris and if you are following a little too close to the car in front of you, you will not have time to react to it.  There is less likelihood that the debris will be in the wheel track as opposed to the center of the lane.

Changing lanes can be safe or dangerous depending on how you do it and the actions you take prior to it.  When you need to change lanes, it is crucial to make certain the lane next to you is clear.  Looking in that mirror is not good enough because cars and trucks are easily missed in that blind spot.  You must look over your shoulder fully prior to that change, turn on your indicator and look again.  Now check your mirror to see if anybody decides they want to occupy that spot first by speeding up behind you. Once you have determined that you can safely make the lane change, accelerate and lean the bike to get the bike over into the lane position you want to be in.  Cancel your indicator and continue to look down the highway at a safe speed.

One trick I use while riding on the highway is that I check the distance of the front tire of the car that poses the greatest threat to me to the line between us.  I will constantly scan the road ahead and behind while continuously monitoring the distance between that wheel and the line.  If for any reason I get the suspicion that the driver is about to change lanes or veer into mine, I will hit the horn and change my position.  Obviously, we don’t want to ride in a driver’s blind spot, but with the crowded roads and highways today, sometimes we simply cannot get enough space around us.  Using good common sense and lane positioning can reduce your risks.

Your ability to juggle your attention to various threats and itemize them into what poses the greatest danger to the least and continuously shuffle them in your mind so that you can take the appropriate action is what makes an excellent motorcyclist.  It is often referred to as situational awareness and plays a huge role in motorcycle safety.  Riding down a highway at 70 mph may seem more dangerous than your neighborhood, but it doesn’t have to be.  The most difficult part is simply maintaining attention and not falling into the trap of complacency.   

Not everybody rides a one thousand pound machine that is less susceptible to crosswinds.  A small 250 cc cruiser is much lighter than a 1300 cc bike.  The weight and profile of the motorcycle do make a big difference in how the machine handles in heavy winds.  Use your judgment when choosing to take to the highways because they tend to have large spans that leave you wide open to heavy winds.  If you are faced with some severe cross winds, the key is to not over compensate for the oncoming breeze.  Simply lean the bike slightly into the wind and feel the feedback from the bike.  Generally speaking, as the gust passes, the bike will begin to steer in the direction of the lean.  You need to use small inputs into the steering of the bike to maintain your lane position and reduce the lean when you feel the wind speed drop off.  Some highways will actually issue motorcycle bans when the wind speeds are too high. 

Another thing to remember while riding the highways (or any road for that matter) is to leave your pride at home.  If you get cut off, or someone does something stupid, it will not pay to chase them down or start waving your middle finger at them.  You don’t know who the driver is or what they are capable of and you may anger them to the point of them simply driving over you.  If you think it won’t happen, you’re wrong; I know of a few people that this has happened to, and some are no longer with us.  The driver will simply say that they didn’t see you and they go home to their family, you don’t. 

I love riding the highways, I have traveled all over the Eastern United States already with my wife and we have seen some amazing things.  Because I use my motorcycle to commute to work I am forced to ride the highways daily.  While everybody in their cars complains about the commute, I will often times seek the longer route home and set the cruise control on the bike and enjoy the ride.  Sometimes it’s just nice to enjoy a long straight stretch of highway.  If you are looking to expand your riding experience to include the slab, I highly recommend going out early on a Saturday or Sunday morning when traffic is very light.  You will get a better feel for what the speed feels like without the cage around you.  Just be careful of animals like deer that may be out at those times and enjoy the ride.

    A golf instructor once told me that in order to achieve an efficient swing every time you must allow your muscles to remain loose.  Grip the club softly because tight muscles are slower than loose muscles and you’ll never achieve a decent club head speed with stiff muscles.  You become fatigued when having a real firm grip and it becomes impossible to achieve a smooth swing.  What does this have to do with riding a motorcycle?  Funny you should ask.  Recently a friend brought up a good observation when it comes to new riders, and it is also a very common problem with new golfers, and it is where the two are very similar.

    A motorcyclist needs to be aware of a million different variables; the situation that you find yourself in is dynamic and fluid.  Anything can happen at any time and riding requires a tremendous amount of concentration; sometimes your response can be the difference between a simple inconvenience and a trip to the emergency room or worse.   Most experienced riders are comfortable on their bikes and are relaxed.  The way their hand wraps around the grips is loose; allowing smooth responses and inputs into steering the bike also adjusting throttle and braking.  Where the experienced riders tend to make the mistakes is because of complacency and over confidence; they assume they have enough time and miles under their belt to simply know better or that they have the ability to outride the laws of physics. 

    A newer rider has more of a tendency to hold the handlebars with all his or her might, hoping that doing so will somehow enable them to react quickly when in fact, the opposite is true.   Also the fear of what could happen manifests itself in holding the grips with white knuckles and being overly cautious of what could be.  A good habit to get into is to learn to relax while still remaining aware and sharp.  A result of holding the grips too tight is that after a while, you will begin to feel fatigue in your shoulders and eventually your upper back.  If you are on a long ride, this becomes more dangerous because now your focus is shifted from the hazards around you to the pain in your back, shoulders and hands.  Coupled with hand fatigue which might cause you to let go of the grip, this could be a disaster in the making.

    Remember the tight muscles?  Those tight muscles make it impossible for you to react quickly and smoothly.  You may recall from your BRC class that it takes one half second to take your hand from the throttle to the brake lever and another half second to squeeze the brake.  If you find yourself having to make an emergency stop, those tight muscles will not only reduce your reaction time considerably, but also cause you to snap off the throttle and slam on those brakes, almost guaranteeing a massive loss of traction and inevitably, because you are now panicked, the bike will more than likely go down.  In addition, slower turns are no longer smooth and safe, but become choppy and abrupt usually resulting in a wider turn than what you had anticipated, possibly causing you to cross the center line or even leave the road surface altogether.  Faster turns will be more difficult and efficient counter steering becomes impossible because you can’t lean the bike smoothly possibly creating a situation where you take the turn way too wide.

    Worst of all, you just don’t look cool.  Your shoulders up around your ears and your arms straight out make you look like a scared mouse in a helmet. Definitely not cool.  Just remember to relax.  You know how to ride; just stay focused on what’s going on around you and loosen up those hands.  Stay focused, not afraid. You might even find that you can go the extra hundred miles and still come home smiling, ready to go out again tomorrow.  

I was reading my local news online a couple of days ago, when a headline grabbed my attention:

"1 Dead After Crash on Route 18 in East Brunswick"
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/article/20100712/NEWS/100712019/1004/NEWS0102

Somehow, without the headline saying it, I knew a motorcycle was involved.  Sadly, I was correct.  Sadder yet, the motorcyclist died in the accident; the passenger on the bike was taken to the hospital and was in stable condition at the time.  Apparently, the 19 year old driver of the automobile that was involved was not injured.

I know nothing about this accident (other than what little was written up in the local paper) and I know none of the people involved.  But motorcycle accidents send chills down my spine whenever they occur, and especially when they occur on local roads that I travel all the time.  Perhaps many of you will agree with me when I say that it seems like we are often a bit too interested in the gory details of motor vehicle accidents.  Yet, hopefully, we can learn something from even the most tragic of accidents.  I looked at the photos that were taken of the accident (and there was controversy about the newspaper even posting some of them, especially the ones that show what appears to be covering over the body of the biker) in an attempt to understand better what had happened and I am baffled.  Was the biker making a right turn onto Route 18 from the side street?  Did the vehicles collide while merging into the same lane?  Was someone driving under the influence of alcohol or drugs?  Was one of the operators distracted?  I don't have an answer.  What I do know is that, regardless of the roads that we ride on, the moment we let down our guard is the moment that we will be in big trouble.  Defensive motorcycling is necessary on all roads at all times....because our lives depend upon it.

Take a look at the photos after this accident to see if you can learn anything from them:



















And, for those of you who might live in my area, and who just might have been witness to what happened on Sunday evening, this is what I found on the road today:

I was riding yesterday on a busy road just after rush hour. The traffic was slow and I was minding my own business staying in my lane and watching my following distance.

Then out of no where, an idiot on a sport bike zoomed by and passed me in MY LANE! I'm thinking to myself, what kind of fool would do such a thing? What if I would have moved a bit to avoid a pothole, or a dead animal or even a car battery in the road? He would have hit me and we would have both been hurt.

Unfortunately for him, there was a red light up ahead and I drove right up to him, tapped him on the shoulder and told him he was a complete #$%#$%^&*#@@$! and that he could have killed or hurt both of us. He was in total shock that he was getting lectured in the middle of the highway. From talking to him, I could tell he was a new rider.....perhaps 2 years or so.  After a few more choice words, I moved so he could go and he rode away. At the next intersection, he made a left turn and almost rode off the road.

I know we are all taught to stay out of the way of cars and trucks on the road, but I think we should not forget about idiots like this guy that are on the road. They tailgate in group rides, weave in and out of traffic, speed through intersections and pass too close to other riders. They can get you just as quick as a distracted driver. They are also the ones you read about in the newspapers and see on the 6pm local news.

One of the things I hear new riders talk about all the time is how much faster it seems they are moving on a bike, when in many cases, they are riding below the speed limit and cars are passing them.

One of the things I tell them is riding in a car is much different than riding a motorcycle. In a car you are isolated and can not accurately judge your speed. On a motorcycle, you are out in the open and the ground is rushing by a few inches beneath your feet. For a newbie, getting an accurate "feel" for how fast 55mph is can be scary and troubling.  If you are going to become a decent rider, it is something you will have to get used to.

So, how do you get comfortable with riding at highway speeds? Well....practice makes perfect. The more you ride, the faster you will you get used to it. We are not saying you should go out on a major freeway and hit the gas, but once you get comfortable riding around the neighborhood streets you need to spend some time on some major roads. Another thing that can help you is to keep your head up and look down the road where you want to go and not down at your feet or in front of the bike. We have a video on this so you can see the difference keeping your head up makes. http://www.2wheeltips.com/videos/view/keep-your-head-up_156.html?m=9

And finally, never rider faster than your skills allow. Now is the time to learn and build your motorcycle skills. Once you've mastered the basics, you will have plenty of time to ride fast if that's what you want to do. If you try to burn up the road before you are ready, you may end up a motorcycle statistic.

I was at a motorcycle class recently and one of the sponsors asked me to blog about a topic that he felt does not get enough attention; knowing when to hang up the helmet when you do not have the physical skills to manage a bike.

Why did this come up? Well... during the class, one of the students kept dropping his bike. During every exercise, we kept hearing a loud crash followed by cursing and a racing engine. This happened more than once. Of course the student blamed it on the bike. He complained there was something wrong with the throttle and that's why he could not maintain the speed needed to complete the exercises.

To see if the throttle was the problem, one of the class sponsors checked it out. He didn't find any problems. He was able to maintain a constant engine speed at various rpms.  He then asked the student to do it and he could not. Why? He seemed to have some nerve disorder that caused his hands to move back and forth! Because of this, he could not control the throttle.

For obvious reasons, he wasn't able to finish the class and left early. What was not obvious to him was he should not be on a bike. He is not only a danger to himself but to others as well. We all know the day is coming when we will have to hang up the helmet and move on to other hobbies. For me, it will be one of the saddest days of my life. Hopefully I will have enough sense when that day comes to think of the dangers I pose to others and myself by riding around unable to operate the controls.

Share your thoughts.....

We forgot to update this, but the "Before the BRC/BRT" videos have been up for a while. Here is the link.

http://www.2wheeltips.com/test_page::before_the_brc.html

Ride a motorcycle and soon you will realize that one of the most personalized accessories you can get  speaks volumes about you, but costs you absolutely nothing:  your biker nickname.  In this column, I invite everyone to respond by answering the following questions (and I'll be the first to provide my own answers!):
    1.    Do you have a biker nickname?  If so, what is it?
    2.    Now, for the really interesting part:  How did you acquire that nickname (without being too offensive, and avoiding those dreaded TMI (too much information) bits and pieces…?
    3.    If you don't have a nickname, what do you want it to be, and why?

Okay, everyone, here I go!

1.  My biker nickname is "Cookie".
2.  Friends that I ride with know me for my homemade cookies, so "Cookie"  seemed the appropriate nickname for me.
Do I look like a "Cookie"….who knows (you can decide for yourself when you meet me in person)?  But, "Cookie" it is, and "Cookie" I am!

Now, it's your turn to share!  What's your story?