[dcstrng]

Don’t be put off, just be a realist...

At least among those few riders with whom I correspond (I’m generally not a flocking kinda rider, so I don’t get into group situations except by blunder...), a minor get-off or other moment of modest excitement ever five to ten years seems to be standard fare for those of us who have been riding awhile – seems to go with the territory.

I heartily encourage anyone who seems seriously interested in motorcycling to take the MSF course, but I rarely encourage anyone to take up the sport... On more than one occasion I’ve seen riders (and pillions, for that matter), who bought the glossy-brochure notion of riding down some tranquil sunlit boulevard at 35mph, go almost apoplectic when confronted with the stark realities of 70-75mph metro traffic... The fact is, motorcycling carries its own set of hazards and benefits, and the tranquility the rider may have been seeking (whether a newbie or ol’goat) is often hard to find – high mental load situations are far more common, and this is where I think the screw-ups happen... especially for riders who should have long master the very few skills actually required to get a two-wheeled machine from point A to point B.

I’ve had probably half a dozen get-offs in my day, and while I’ve so far never broken anything, I’ve been black and blue more than once, and hobbled for a few days as a result of an intimate moment with the asphalt... But, as much as I’d like to blame each get-off on someone else, the fact is in 100% of the cases, although I may have been legally in the right, I contributed to the situation – and got myself into a predicament where there was no readily available escape route (often, upon reflection, I realize there really was a way out, but in the split-second when the decision needed to be made, my mind was focused on something else -- I had been in the middle of daydreaming or other mind-numbing activity and didn’t have the information I needed to make the right call).

Riding around cones and practicing obstruction avoidance maneuvers are great for getting a tad better acquainted with the bike/bike-controls, but does little to help a rider who finds themselves in a high-mental-load situation... I’m not sure what the solution is, except perhaps knowing one’s predilections and limitation, or even outright avoidance of some situations... especially when one is tired, lost in thought or just not wanting to wrestle with a road full of cages...

The fact is, I usually am further from these exciting moments when I’m riding a bit harder and concentrating on trying to get a little more out of the ol’machine than when I’m just lollygagging along minding my own business – with my mind in the middle of protracted brain-cramp. My last two get-offs I was in the right legally, but not paying as much attention to traffic and before I knew it I had no readily available escape route when a driver made an unexpected move... old bones still bounce just as high as they once did, but the grunts are more heartfelt...

Alertness, watchfulness, attentiveness, vigilance... with it, there should be no special fear of riding... but lacking it, all the skill, practice and experience in the world won’t save me...