2Wheeltips

From the minute I put my motorcycle in the garage for the winter I began thinking about next summer. I know just from looking at other motorcycle sites that dreams of next season are almost universal among us. After reading about Route 89 being one of the première bike roads in New England I started planning a Ride to the Border for some time next summer. We would leave out of Quechee, Vermont in the morning and ride all the way to the Canadian border before turning back for a lunch stop along St. Albans Bay and then head home. I talked it up with my fellow riders at church and got an enthusiastic ‘thumbs up.’

But all the planning got me thinking ahead. Every time I drive locally I can’t help but see the road conditions that have developed during the winter. Cracks, pot holes, deteriorating pavement and snow plow damage are changes in the road surface that will effect how I ride next spring. The result has been a consciousness I call “road check.” This is more than just casual observation, it is getting to really know the road I will be traveling as a motorcyclist. Next spring I want to make a ride over to Woodstock to pick up my hunting and fishing license. It is only about 8 miles but before then I will be making a few trips over to be in an art show. Even though it only a short distance I plan to be road checking and make some mental notes. And it’s not just about road surfaces but any areas of travel that would present dangerous conditions.

I realize that what I am about to say will probably get some groans and derogatory remarks from the more experienced “just jump on the bike and ride” crowd but as a relatively new rider I am still bit of a safety nut. There are times when Route 4 is loaded with traffic (I can look down through the woods and see it) and I will actually postpone my ride until the traffic dies down some. My idea of road check is part of my over all desire to limit risk. Obviously I will not be driving my Jeep all the way to the Canadian border and back just to do road check. But on local roads that present potential dangers from intersections, surface conditions or sharp bends (a normal thing in Vermont) it’s worth the effort to do road check before I swing my leg over the saddle.

Next summer the Killington Classic will be cranking up at the end of August. I am hoping to make the ride over for what will be my very first motorcycle rally. The Killington Ski Resort is 18 miles away across the valley and up the side of a mountain. Those 18 miles are a continuous series of curves, bends and tiny towns with speed traps (Woodstock and Bridgewater if anyone plans to come up for the rally.) I have driven that stretch of road hundreds of times but… I have never driven it seeing with a motorcyclist’s eyes of road checking. For me the trip over and back is worth it even at today’s gas prices. Besides giving me a safety heads up, it is an absolutely beautiful trip and one that I will enjoy even more on my Honda. Road checking may not be your thing. Perhaps you have reached the level of skill and confidence that it’s not even necessary but the way I see it, it never hurts to know the road you will be traveling. Until next time I wish you all a good winter. Best wishes, Anchor

 

 

Last summer I got to know and ride with a new motorcycle buddy named Craig. We got in several great evening rides together out through the Vermont countryside. His old Kawasaki 500 and my Honda 400 were pretty well matched in performance and we became instant friends. It had rained all afternoon and the system finally cleared out about 7 pm. As Craig and I motored out onto the Quechee Main Street the late afternoon sun broke through the clouds and brought a beautiful glow to the valley and the mist that hung over the hilltops. It was a gorgeous time for a ride! We rode down past the country club and along the Ottoquechee River and finally came to the steep hill that led down to the Taftsville Covered Bridge. I had let Craig take the lead all the way since this was a new ride for me. Just before the hill he did a little weave ahead of me to give me the heads up to slow down. Thank you Craig! After negotiating the steep hill we rode through the covered bridge, turned around and backtracked over the same road we had just been on. We may have been the last motorcyclists to ride the Taftsville Bridge for a very long time. A few weeks later the rushing waters from Hurricane Irene damaged the supports and they shut it down indefinitely to everyone but structural engineers.  We finished our ride and hung out for a while with his wife and kids for some fresh baked brownies and milk.

A week later we got in another ride. Again Craig was blazing a new “trail” I had not been on as we rode up onto Red Barn Road high up above Quechee Village. All the way I was wishing that he would slow down. As an artist and a photographer I get very tuned in to the landscape around me. As we zipped along the country road past the Red Barn that the road was supposedly named for, I thought, “Ok, this is our ride for the moment but I will be back!

About a week later I was on my own. I ran my Honda cm400t through the gears going up the Quechee West Hartford Road and slowed down just enough to make the turn up toward Red Barn. This time I was prepared.  I slowed down and enjoyed leaning into the bends through my classic Vermont countryside.  With the camera in the saddle bag I just had one challenge ahead. I had to pull off onto a rugged gravel farm road and park my bike on a hill! As a new rider, both the gravel and the hill seemed a bit perilous. But I managed to pull in, and do a tight turn around so I could lean my bike into the hill on a conveniently positioned flat rock in the road. With that done I was in my glory. This is what it was all about for me. I was getting to combine both my love for art and photography and my passion for motorcycling. And best of all it was just me and my “Little Girl” solo at our own pace. Biking with a riding buddy may be great but sometimes biking solo is the best of all possible worlds!

Randall Gardner  American Realist  (My art website)

Classic Rider  (My motorcycling blog)

With eager yearning for spring and another great riding season…Anchor

 

 

For most of us another season has come to an end. Only diehards like my friend on his BMW will ride on into those forbidding frigid mornings with his heated seat, heated hand grips and suited up to the max. In a way I admire his tenacity but for the rest of us the bike has been put up for the winter and its time to sit back and dream of the season to come. I feel fortunate that this has been my very first season and before looking ahead I can’t help but do a quick look back on the season just past.

In David Hough’s book Proficient Motorcycling he mentions that in England they make you have a big letter L on the back of your bike if you are just a ‘learner.’ He even goes so far as to suggest that until you have logged 3 years or 20,000 miles of street time you are still a novice. After looking at my odometer on the first season I didn’t even make a dent in those first 20,000! Don’t get me wrong, I have no illusions of being some great experienced motorcyclist after just one season. Never-the-less I can’t help but look back on this first riding season with a great deal of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment. There are three areas that I grew in this season that are fundamental to each of us as riders. Maybe this is all just assumed by the more experienced riders out there but for me these are the BIG changes that took place in my first season. Here are the big three; Safety Awareness, Riding Skills and Confidence.

Safety

At motorcycle school they told us that if you are a cautious, safe car driver you will probably be a cautious, safe motorcycle rider and the result will be a lowered risk factor as you begin riding. Ironically I have found the inverse to be true. After a summer of riding I find that I am actually a safer, more careful car driver because of my experience on a motorcycle! Even driving my big old rugged Grand Cherokee I use the same search, evaluate, execute (SEE) cautious driving now that I did on my Honda all summer. And it’s not that I didn’t have some scary moments on my motorcycle! I was riding up the outside lane on a steep hill with a sharp, blind bend to the left. To my right was a guard rail and a steep drop off to Dewey’s Mill Pond about 25 feet below. Just as I entered the bend a large truck with a horse trailer was coming the opposite direction on the inside. Leaning into that bend I suddenly felt very vulnerable as we passed. It rattled me as I rode carefully and kept my lean but tracked further over in my lane. Though such experiences can be frightening I have found that they have helped my ‘learning curve,’ no pun intended!  An entire season’s worth of caution, head-checks, and the occasional successfully negotiated close encounter has made me a better, safer rider.

Riding Skills

There is no substitute for experience! When I think about how difficult I thought it was to run the gauntlet of offset cones or do a figure 8 in a box I am truly amazed at how simple those would be now.  The everyday experience of pulling into the post office parking lot and making the turns to get into a parking slot seem routine to me now but I am making tighter turns every day than any of the things we had to do at motorcycle school and they seem effortless. On that very First Ride I did with my buddy Dana I remember slowing down going into the mountain road curves and being more than a little nervous at leaning into them like Dana was. Now they seem routine and something to look forward to. Counter steering and leaning have become almost a spontaneous response to the bends in the road. There is no substitute for everyday experience to develop the skills of riding.

Confidence

At the beginning of the summer I rode on the open public roads on a motorcycle for the very first time in my life. I was completely on edge and nervous as a cat, particularly about any interaction with other traffic. Every time I rode out I lacked confidence and felt the discomfort of feeling like I had a target on me. The good news is that like all beginners I eventually grew in confidence and felt more comfortable and at one with both my bike and the road. But the whole confidence thing is ironic. On the one hand that lack of confidence made me far more vulnerable because my actions in a crisis situation might have been panic driven and dangerous. But the confidence that comes with experience helps to keep a cool head and a quicker, more accurate response under pressure. Obviously we all need to be careful not to become overconfident to the point where we get sloppy and reckless but feeling confident and comfortable as a motorcycle rider goes a long way toward making sure that you will be around to enjoy another season in the saddle. After just one season these are my observations as I look back at what I have learned but every year I want to be able to look back and feel that I have gained in Safety, Riding Skills and Confidence. Eventually I hope to get rid of that big imaginary L on the back of my motorcycle. Hang in there my fellow riders…another season is coming!   Anchor

Like a Kid Again!

Part 1

            At 61 it has been a long time since I was a young but as of June 21^st I was on cloud nine and definitely not feeling my age. At last the basic training course was about to start and I was up at the crack of dawn and on my way over the mountain to be at the State Police Academy before class started. The drive over Killington was beautiful but all the way I felt like a kid about to have Christmas morning. The real irony is that the last time I set foot on the grounds of the Academy I was only about 8 years old and I was a kid. The Academy in those days was the State Sanitarium for Tuberculosis where my great grandfather was a patient. These days you would hardly know the place and everywhere you look there are police cadets, state troupers and even young recruits in full tactical gear about to go out on simulated crime scenarios.

            But as class began I had the sudden reminder that this was not Christmas and I wasn’t 8 years old anymore. I was by far the oldest guy in the class and there were more girls and young women in the class than there were guys! For about half the morning the 10 of us had classroom work and videos that coordinated with the material we were already supposed to have studied. The depth of education in the MSF (Motorcycle Safety Foundation) training program is excellent! I highly recommend taking the three day course to all beginners like me and even bikers who have been on their wheels for a few years. It will make you a better, safer rider and I guarantee you will learn something even if you feel well informed already. It is money well spent! (There are also advanced classes for the more experienced rider.) By about 10:30 we had finished the morning class work and moved out to the course for time on the motorcycles. The ‘course’ was a huge paved lot set up and lined out specifically for the purpose. The instructor checked all of us for the required riding gear and then ran through the motorcycle familiarization lesson before we could actually start riding. As I stepped over the seat of a practically brand new Suzuki 250 I was loving every minute of it! Compared to my old Honda this was a smooth operating machine! I could actually shift into second gear with no hassle! My name was on the headlight and this would be my baby for the next three days.

Next we were given the instruction to just ride single file around the perimeter of the course for several minutes. It was an easy, fun, no stress beginning to our riding day. But by the time we got to the ‘power walking your motorcycle’ section it was getting hot out there! The temperature was climbing up into the high 80’s with high humidity and we were all in helmets, sunglasses (or face shields), long-sleeved shirts, gloves, long pants, and over the ankle boots. It was all gear that was mandatory for the class but majorly uncomfortable in the broiling heat! By the time we broke for lunch we were dripping with sweat and by the end of the day our faces all looked like well done lobsters! It wasn’t hard to figure out why. We were all riding new bikes with gleaming new gas tanks that reflected the sun right up into our faces. It was basically like holding your face over a reflector oven all day.

One of the drills that had absolutely scared me into thinking I would never pass was weaving in and out of the cones in a slalom motion. I had set up a sample course in my yard with wood blocks according to a diagram I had in the Vermont motorcycle manual. No matter how I tried I could not manage it without overrunning blocks. So as the class began I already came to this with the apprehension that I was going to fail. To my great relief and enjoyment it was a whole different animal when you have plenty of room and the spacing is right. By mid-afternoon of the first day I was flowing in and out of the cones and I actually got a rhythm going! This was fun!!! What a relief, the old guy can do it after all. At least it was one less anxiety that I wouldn’t pass the test at the end of the course.

We pressed on through the torrid heat and actually went over time and kept riding till about 5:30 but as we got back to the class room and took off all the helmets and gloves and got ready to leave you couldn’t help but sense the feeling of excitement we were all having for what we had accomplished that day in spite of the heat and red faces. I rode back over the mountain with my Jeep windows wide open to catch the cooler air as I left the valley below. It was nice to cool off and dry off but I couldn’t stop thinking about what a superb first day it had been. When I got home I summed it all up for Sharon. “I feel like I got my money’s worth ($160) on the very first day!” But there were two days left to go and the big test at the end would determine if 26 years of waiting, $350 of motorcycle buying, $150 in repair parts, and $160 of ‘educational investment’ had been worth it all. Stay tuned for part 2.

Enjoy these beautiful riding days while we have them and keep your knees in the wind!   Anchor

The Long, Long Wait

Many long years ago I fell in love with a little Honda cb250 in the window of a BMW shop over in Pittsford, Vermont. I went in and asked how much it was and was told, “Just pay me what it cost to put the new pipes on and it’s yours!” Some poor guy never came back to claim the bike so that was the deal. I tried every which way to get Sharon to let me buy the bike but we were young, right in the middle of having our family and she wanted no part of me taking chances with my life with three kids growing up so my little Honda with the dented gas tank and new pipes went to some other lucky soul.

Fast forward a quarter of a century and finally! We have an empty nest, and several guys in the church who ride (my excuse) and without telling her anything I started a daily search of Craigslist, keeping my search to around $400 for an old motorcycle. I even had a special folder on my computer with the secret title MCH (Motorcycle Hope) just to keep her from knowing that my old desire to ride was riding high again. Eventually I told her to try and ease her into the idea but with the kids gone she gave me the green light at long last! I went and looked at an old Kawasaki but it was kind of beat up and the seat was bad.

I had a growing list of ‘possibles’ in MCH but then, right in the middle of a report trip I saw it! I fired off an Email and expressed my interest and begged the guy to hold out for ten days until I got back. The photo was of a 1980 Honda cm400t in great shape with a rack, sissy bar, windshield and only 13,000 miles and the seat looked perfect! Thankfully no one bought it and when I finally got back to look at it he could only get it to run for about a minute and then it started leaking gas. I walked away for a moment, took $50 out of the envelope and only handed him $350 instead of the $400 he was asking. He took it. Dana and I got it back in his garage, tore the carburetors down, cleaned them and put in new needle valves and finally, after all those years of waiting I had my Honda!

But right from the beginning, even before I bought the bike, I assured Sharon that I would not go out on the road until I took the motorcycle safety course. If she was going to be open minded enough to let me have my bike the least I could do was give myself the edge on being as safe a rider as I could possibly be. Unfortunately it was the end of August and every course was filled for the rest of the year and that meant having to wait for yet another season! But when you have waited for more than a ¼ century what’s another season?!

            So I cleaned and polished and practiced riding. Down the hill around the church building and back up, down the hill around the church building and back up over and over again for hundreds of times until I could ride it in my sleep. By the time I finally hit the road it amounted to 38 miles of that silly practice run. After a long winter and patiently waiting for my safety course it was almost a year from the time I bought my bike till I finally got my license. It was over 26 years from when I fell in love with that little Honda in the shop window! The moral of the story is that dreams are worth waiting for. So if your dream is a new bike or a bigger bike or getting your very first one, make a folder for your desk top called MCH and stuff it with all the things that keep the dream alive. It’s really kind of fun waiting when it all pays off in the end. 

Keep the rubber side down, the shiny side up and your knees in the wind!  Anchor

Rider Down

            There is probably no worse a feeling than to hear that a rider has gone down on his bike. When I was considering taking up motorcycle riding my wife reminded me of our neighbor many years ago who went down on her bike and even with a helmet on was never the same again. Thankfully the statistics in recent years are better because of automobile/rider awareness, better helmets and safety courses that help train new riders. I remember just recently on Father’s Day of all things, I was coming back from Father’s Day lunch with my family and when we got the bottom of the off-ramp, a big bike was down in the middle of the road, the police were there and we had just seen an ambulance headed toward the hospital. My family got very quiet. Needless to say none of us wants to even hear about accidents like that. Fortunately not all ‘rider down’ occurrences are as serious as the one I just mentioned.

            A good friend of mine was coming home from a Men’s Retreat in Connecticut last year when he was actually clipped by a young man in a pick up truck who just kept going. It was pouring down rain and his big Honda Shadow went down pinning his rain pants between the highway bars and the street. A Good Samaritan right behind him, stopped, put on his flashers, got out of his car and helped Dave get out from under and then helped him get the bike back up. Aside from an irresponsible young man in a pickup it all worked out well. The bike was fine and Dave was able to continue his trip back home. He was sore for a few days but at least it was a rider down story with a happy ending.

            What gets me are the stories where a biker walks away completely unscathed! I have two friends of mine who have both laid bikes down in an accident scenario and were not hurt at all. A young man who was following his wife as she drove in the car with their little daughter  was forced to dump when she rounded a corner and had to stop suddenly. As he rounded the same corner it was either do a “controlled” low-side skid and lay-down or go into the back of the car. Obviously in the split second decision he made the wise choice that scratched up his BMW a little but spared the back of their car and several bones in his body if he had hit it!

            Another older friend of mine has been riding most of his life and recently laid his Gold Wing down and totaled it and walked away unhurt! Right after it happened his boys (riders themselves) told him, “Dad you’ve got to get another bike!” Actually they encouraged him to either get a trike or a Can-Am! His wife preferred that he not get either one.  He got a trike and now she rides with him safely belted into her passenger seat!

            Last fall, I bought my Honda and I was determined to learn to ride it. I had virtually no experience and no one really taught me. It had rained a day or two earlier and the gravel was loose around the church building where I did my practice. As I turned off from the pavement onto the gravel I gave it too much throttle and paid for it dearly. I was wearing layers and a good leather jacket over the layers but the force of the bike coming down suddenly slammed my shoulder into the dirt with tremendous impact. Thankfully the borrowed helmet saved my head from the little whack as it took the brief pop on the dirt. My leg was pinned and I had to push the bike off by pushing down on the saddle with my free foot. I managed to pick the bike up and ride it back up the house and into the garage. The damage and a pain in my shoulder was really bad and I was almost tempted to sell the bike and quit riding. But all my cycle friends said, “That was a good experience for you! Now get right back on the bike and keep riding!” After $150 in parts and my own labor I had a new headlight cowling and headlight installed and the rest is history. You would never know now that “Little Girl” or I had ever been in an accident. After it was over I was bruised and in pain for a long time but I healed over the winter and I learned my lesson.

            In every one of the cases where my friends and I had the “Rider Down” experience we got back on and kept riding and I dare say that our ‘down’ experience has made each of us better and certainly more cautious riders today. Obviously decisions like that are personal and everyone has to make their own call. The moral of the story is, ride so well and so carefully that you never have that down experience. SEE = Search, Evaluate, Execute. As you go down the road See all the possible dangers ahead of you. Evaluate your alternatives, and Execute your maneuvers with the bike to avoid the dangers. Safe riding everyone and may you never have one of those ‘down’ days!                                           Anchor

 

First Ride!

The weather was perfect! It was nothing but blue skies overhead and a warm afternoon when my friend pulled into the yard on his Honda Magna. I had my ancient 1980 Honda cm400t all ready to go. Dana had said that as soon as I got my bike on the road we would take a ride together. The thought was exciting but a little frightening as well. At 61, I am a brand new rider where-as Dana at 50 has been riding for 30 year! But I was not about to chicken out from an opportunity like this. For a week now, I had been ‘getting my wheels under me’ just riding the mile and a half down to the post office in the middle of our tiny village of Quechee, Vermont. It was a beautiful ride down the hill and along the Ottoquechee River. The water sparkles in the morning sunlight and reflects a perfect mirror of the woods and mountains of the Upper Valley. I always managed to do a “rolling stop” on the hill next to the cemetery before pulling into the village. (I’m still a little insecure on those hill starts!) The post office run was now in my comfort zone but Dana was about to open up a whole new world for me beyond it.

Ironically the “first ride” started exactly like my usual morning run as we motored down along the river and through the village but then we left the edge of town and began winding our way up through the beautiful Green Mountains along the Quechee West Hartford Road. The first thing that I became aware of was the business of speed, gearing and the sound of the engine. (And particularly in going up and down fairly steep hills) For the experienced rider who has been riding for years it is all second nature. I am sure it is probably not even a conscious thing. The good news is that I found that it was really not all that hard and just like we were told in MSF school, “you’ll get the hang of it!”

Beyond that bit of the technical there was the sheer exhilaration of cruising up through the hills with the beauty of God's creation all around us. It was a thrill to be riding my classic old bike and finally getting her up to speeds where I felt like we were really moving. After 15 minutes or so we reached the high point on the road and began several miles of pitching down toward West Hartford village. Now keep in mind there is no such thing as a straight road in Vermont! My grandmother (a Vermonter) had a saying, “This road’s so crooked it’d break a snake’s back!” And that is what we were riding on, going down hill at a fairly good clip! I watched with admiration as Dana carved through the bends like an old pro, his feet up on the pegs and relaxed as anything as he leaned his bike over comfortably at every bend. Behind him I was enjoying the ride but giving a cautionary application of front and rear break to both slow the decent and make the bends more manageable at a slower speed. I admit I was grateful so see the stoplight ahead as we finished the decent and made our turn onto Route 14 along the White River. For the moment all the bends and apprehension of mountain roads were behind us and now I had a brand new experience ahead of me. The thrill of the open road and letting my little 400 open up and get some speed along the gentle bends and fairly flat smooth road ahead of us. My little Honda may be an ancient 31 years old but she only has 13,000 miles on her and, for an old girl, she cranked right up there! At this point Dana’s bigger, faster Magna left me in the dust. I could still see him ahead of me but I didn’t care how far out he got. I was just enjoying my own ride at my own pace. I wound her up to around 50 mph. for the first time since I had her and stayed in fifth gear all along the river. It’s an incredible experience…with blue skies, sunshine, the wind in your face and a good bike under you. What a day and what a ride! When we finally pulled into my yard and dismounted I walked over and shook Dana’s hand and thanked him for getting me out of my comfort zone. It was a great first ride!        Anchor

Keep the shiny side up, the rubber side down and happy riding everyone!

    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.

It is a choice that I have made,
to be sure that others are paid;
I see the gear and I hear the rap,
It makes my head hurt and I want to take a nap;
How much is it going to cost me today,
to ride with the big boys and play it safe;
Helmet on my head,
Chaps around my leg;
Glasses covering my eyes,
Armor covering my thighs;
Jacket wrapped around upper body,
and gloves covering my hand,
 And I am riding around looking
like the wrapped up mummy man.
My colors are black and drawing in the heat,
But the gear is so safe, it is a must to keep;
Boots on my feet feeling real tight,
squeezing my toes with all its might;
Down the road, I must go
Dressed like a mummy ready for a show;
I see my friends checking me out,
Scratching their heads with a sign of doubt;
They are wondering what's wrong with me,
That I am riding around looking like a biker's mummy.