About a month ago or so I had to make a morning trip to my local Harley-Davidson dealer for some routine maintenance parts. I rode down taking a less direct route, got my parts, and headed home. I decided to take the interstate home to save some time, even though I knew it was under construction. I didn’t mind that much. I ride in traffic a lot and have been on that stretch of road plenty of times before. I chose to stay in the right hand lane and follow behind a semi, held back 50 or 60 feet. No one was really driving that fast about 60MPH.
Riding through the heart of the construction, traffic to my left and a crumbling shoulder to my right, it seemed like any other trip. Suddenly, without warning the semi in front of me blew a tire and lost the entire recap. The ring landed in the middle of my lane 40 feet away. At 60MPH there was little time to react. My only choice was to break hard and then swerve right trying to stay off of the shoulder. I can say that calmly now. During the maneuver, which I describe as stunt driving, I was a lot less sure of the outcome.
When I broke, the front wheel locked and skidded, the whole bike wobbled seemingly uncontrollably, and I was sure this was the end. I let off of the front break, and gave it some gas to right the bike but saw that I was heading straight into the guard rail. I quickly swerved back straight into the lane where I had been riding before and got the bike under control. I rode up to the next exit, where I was planning to pull off anyway, and continued on my way home. I realized that my heart wasn’t racing and I didn’t feel all that shaken up. That’s when I realized what happened. The skills that I learned in those motorcycle safety courses just paid off in a big way.
It’s those skills that, even though I had not practiced, allowed me to react quickly and methodically to save my own skin. Sometimes as riders we get complacent in our every day trips. We know that at any time something bad can happen. But we don’t always think that it is going to happen today. Drivers in cars are rarely looking out for us. They are on cell phones, changing the radio station, putting on makeup, you get the picture. There is a way that we can make ourselves safer, skills. Since the car drivers aren’t going to help make our hobby any safer it is up to us to become more skilled and safer for ourselves. I realize now that knowing the right skills, and having the technique embedded deep in our minds in some cases can make the difference between making it home or on the 6:00 news.
The truth is that the tight S turns, figure 8’s, that we learned to do in class are not the most important skills to take away from the course. There is a lot of focus on that maneuver which helps us at slow speeds but there are more important skills. I think, maybe because of my own experience, that the single most important skill to be learned is the high speed swerve. How many times has a dog or child run into the road? How often do you see news stories about a biker being hit by a car pulling into traffic? How many times has someone drifted into your lane? Being able to swerve and avoid catastrophe at speed is crucial for things like that. Look at your notes from class or look up the techniques for high speed swerves online and at least have it in your mind. Practice in a safe place if you can. Just learn this skill.
Something else that I learned in the rider course was to always leave yourself an out. You need to have an option to avoid a crash or get out of the way. In formation riding, give the others, and yourself, room to get out of the way if you need to. At the stop light, have somewhere to pull off to when the driver behind you skids to a halt. Use lane position to not only be seen, but to have a way out of trouble.
We all know that the cars are not looking out for us. We get angry with drivers for pulling out in front of us, cutting us off, and so much more. Knowing that gives us some options that we can control to make our rides safer and more enjoyable. Remember that the car in front of you, next to you, behind you is going to do something stupid and be prepared when they do. Watch for the next idiot. The drivers and the states aren’t going to do anything in the near future to raise awareness so; it is up to us to become more aware ourselves. Make yourself seen. Make yourself heard. Make yourself safe.
August 2, 2011- -
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