Tag: Safe Riding

Words Speak Louder Than Action

Wait, that’s not right. I can say anything, but if my actions do not bear witness to my words then my words mean nothing. Sadly, sometimes our words paint us into a corner and we fail. Our words out-maneuver our intent. Other times we accept the words of others as truth without first verifying their intent and we fall prey to foolishness.

Let’s talk about a few words and see how they play out:

Integrity – Does not mean you never make a mistake. But what it does mean is if you make a mistake you claim responsibility for that mistake and act proportionality to correct it.

Endurance – Many claim to possess it, very few actually do and even fewer still put it to the test.

Honor – Has nothing to do with words. But has everything to do with actions.

Wisdom – Has nothing to do with how many big words you know. But has everything to do with how you act in a difficult situation that words have created.

Compassion – Has very little to do with how you think, but that’s where it starts. Compassion with no action is pity.

Strength – Has nothing to do with holding 100 pounds over your head for long periods. But what it does mean is an ability and desire to help a friend hold that 100 pounds.

Kindness – Has everything to do with a kind and charitable act… so long as you don’t expect anything in return.

Purity – None can claim it, but many do.

Courage – Is not being fearless, but acting even though you are scared to death.

Leadership – The ability to win the trust of people around you to such an extent that they want to follow you. Forced leadership is not leadership; it’s tyranny.

Verbally claiming these traits is contrary to the trait being claimed. These traits are assigned to us by those who know us best.

2014-11-16
What Riding Can Do For You – Proof Provided

The riding community is a combination of every walk of life, every gender (there are two if you are unsure), every race, nationality and creed. We all ride for different and multiple reasons. The one reason that spans all walks of life is, “for the fun of it.”

I’m not an overly intelligent person so I’m not able to adequately describe, or put into eloquent words, why it’s fun; it just is.

There are others reasons as well; economics, availability of parking spaces at work and possibly because you can afford a bike, but not a car. Regardless, we ride.

Over the past 30 years I’ve conducted a number of study groups using thousands of paid subjects and numerous computer programs and post-graduate students to calculate the results and… wait, that’s a lie. I’ve not done any of that. I did read a book on it once, but since there were very few pictures in the book I never finished it.

But here is a truth. Riding is good for the overall well-being of the rider (unless acted on by a texting cager). Here is the proof…

This is a picture of people who do not ride…

Here is a picture of people who do ride…

As you can see the riders appear much happier than the non-riders. I take this as proof that everyone should ride; the world would be a better place if we did.

2014-11-13
Zen – Part 3

In part three of “Zen and The Art of Group Riding” we will discuss the cager.

A cager is not your friend, not necessarily by design or intentional, but the fact remains. It’s hard enough to outmaneuver a cager when riding single, but riding in a group only means the cagers will find themselves in a target rich environment. While riding single the cager must take calculated aim and cater the approach to ensure a hazardous interaction. In a group all they need to do is change lanes and they are going to hit someone without even trying. We all know what the first words spoken by the survivor of such encounters are, “But Officer, I DIDN’T SEE THEM!!!” Of course they don’t mention the fact they were texting or taking a picture or looking for their favorite CD just about the time they made contact with the rider.

I’m not privy to the statistic showing the percentage of riders hit by cagers verses rider only accidents but I feel safe in saying the cagers are leading the pack in kill ratio. The driving habits of cagers is probably one of the specific reasons authorities will not allow us to carry a gun. Were it my call not only would we have direct fire capability in the group we would have the ability to call for in-direct fire as well as air cover for tactical support. Sadly, even the occasional direct fire intervention seems to bring about unwanted attention. Not sure why. So, suffice it to say we must keep our eyes on them and maintain situational awareness of all cagers in our vicinity. Take your eyes off of them for one second and they will put you in the ditch.

As far as 18-wheelers are concerned, I will sum that up in a very short sentence. While passing an 18-wheeler consider yourself knocked down a few notches on the food chain. An 18-wheeler transporting livestock carries its own set of hazards; hazards which should be avoided at all costs.

2014-11-04
Master Your Ride

Being the master of your ride is all about skill… or is it? Every rider, even the newest rider, knows how to apply the brakes and slow down or come to a complete stop, they can shift gears and twist the throttle one way or another to add speed or facilitate a slight reduction in speed. Now, doing all this with finesse and making it seamless comes with repeated use resulting in a familiarity with these actions and how it affects your bike.

I have been riding off and on since 1972 and I’ve faced a significant number of “tests” and thus far have survived them all. That does not mean I am a super-rider with extraordinary abilities far beyond those of mortal men; it means I’ve been lucky. I will admit some (perhaps many) of those “tests” were put before me for no other reason than a result of my being distracted by some insignificant thing, arrogance, pushing the envelope and/or just plain stupidity.

I consider myself a competent rider meaning I have the skills to ride my bike safely. However, sometimes my mental functions and my level of competency fail to work hand in hand with a common goal in mind; that goal being the safe operation of my ride and remain accident or incident free. Granted, some accidents are truly unavoidable. Tooling down the dark country road toward your favorite hangout, obeying the speed limit restrictions, vigilant eye out for danger and a deer comes out of nowhere and plows into the side of you. You never saw it coming; no amount of skill or mental clarity can avoid this. However, avoidable accidents are just that; avoidable. Meaning, on many occasions whether we crash or not depends on our actions.

Mental function and/or clarity are just as important, maybe even more important than skill. Your attitude while riding is paramount. Many avoidable accidents happen because of something you do, or fail to do, right before impact. We all speed, if you say you don’t then not only do you speed you also lie. Speeding on an open road is one thing, speeding in town amongst traffic is surely another. Doing a “hole-shot” and pulling the front wheel off the ground is cool, but what value will it add to your life if your rear tire blows while the front wheel is 2 feet off the ground or a distracted driver changes lanes? We all know what happens right after we say, “Hey, watch this!”

The coefficient of friction (or traction) is one thing that keeps the shiny side up and our rides in a satisfactorily linear position between the ditches. The other thing is our mental attitude while we ride. If your mental attitude (or lack thereof) outweighs your skill then all the skill in the world is not going to save you. A rider may be so familiar with a particular curve in the road they know exactly how fast they can go, how far they can lean and tell by the tone of the scrapping peg where the limit is. Would that same rider take an unfamiliar ride on an unfamiliar curve and apply the same set of variables? I would submit a prudent rider would not, but therein resides the discussion. At what point do we no longer act prudently, when do we willingly set aside a deliberate mental attitude toward riding and exceed our limitations?

Mastery of our riding skills is important, but it is not enough. It is the mastery of your mental attitude while riding that will prolong your life so you can enhance your skills or the lack of that mastery will place you in a situation where no amount of skill will get you out of what you just got yourself into.

2014-10-30