Mastering the Ride E-Book

David L. Hough

• Herausgeber: CompanionHouse Books
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 350

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Best-selling author David Hough is the anti-bad ass of motorcyclists, a serious down-to-earth master of two- (and three-) wheeled street rods who is interested in the safety and road smarts of his fellow motorcyclists. Mastering the Ride is his follow-up book to one that put him on the map, Proficient Motorcycling, and it goes one better. For motorcyclists ready to take their rides to the next level, Mastering the Ride is an exhilarating course in skills, safety, and common sense. Hough's writing style is straightforward and conversational, never professorial, preachy, or boring. With instructional color photographs and drawings, the book covers improving the rider's skills of speed and passing on superslabs, mountain roads, and city streets; anticipating and handling street and road hazards, from treacherous tar snakes to lane-weaving drivers; and learning the limits of sight distances, executing quick stops at sudden hazards as well as curves. The book devotes two full chapters to the skills involved in mastering cornering, with specific advice about rolling on and off the throttle, shifting, braking, countersteering, body steering and positioning, and cornering lines. In the chapter "Mastering the Art of Conspicuity," Hough recommends riders understand and employ conspicuity, that is understanding how motorcyclists and car drivers see their surroundings and getting others to see you on the road by use of hi-viz clothing, LED lights, and other gear. The key to safety rests in increased situational awareness—the topic of the next chapter—the ability to predict how road events will unfold by thinking through the possibilities way before a potential hazard presents itself. Thanks to Hough's direct and specific instructions to riders for what they need to know, to improve, to avoid, and to do every time they get on their bikes, this chapter and the skills it describes are nothing short of life-saving. In short, Mastering the Ride is a crash course in how not to crash—that is, after all is read and done, what every motorcyclists must avoid for his own life and the lives of others on the road. As Eric Trow, a motorcycle safety journalist and instructor states on the back cover, "Mastering the Ride should be required reading for every road-going motorcyclist and become the companion of any rider serious about advancing his or her road craft." Voni Glaves, the record-setting million-mile BMW rider, is a long-time Hough fan who relied on Hough's "wisdom" back in the 1970s when the author was a columnist. "The latest from David brings together his years of experience and his unique analysis to make the case for mastery in a conversational way that makes [Mastering the Ride] impossible to put down. The breadth and depth of the information…is astounding." A section on the aging rider, including ways to compensate for older riders' slower reaction times and readapting their skills, is included in the appendix, as is a travelogue of Hough's road trips to some of his favorite locations. A glossary, resources section, and index complete the book.

Leseprobe

Lead Editor: Jarelle S. Stein

Associate Editor: Jennifer Calvert

Consulting Editors: Dave Searle, Scott Rousseau

Art Directors: Jerome Callens, Eddie Rivera

Production Supervisor: Jessica Jaensch

Book Project Specialist: Karen Julian

Indexer: Melody Englund

Vice President, Chief Content Officer: June Kikuchi

Vice President, Kennel Club Books: Andrew DePrisco

I-5 Press: Jennifer Calvert, Amy Deputato, Karen Julian, Jarelle S. Stein

Text Copyright © 2012 by I-5 Press™

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of I-5 Press™, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hough, David L., 1937-

Mastering the ride : more proficient motorcycling / by David L. Hough. -- 2nd ed.

p. cm.

At head of title: From Motorcycle consumer news.

Revision of articles previously published in Motorcycle consumer news.

Rev. ed. of: More proficient motorcycling : mastering the ride / by David L. Hough. 2003.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-935484-86-8

eISBN 978-1-621870-34-0

1. Motorcycling--Safety measures. 2. Motorcycling accidents--Prevention. 3. Motorcycling--Study and teaching. I. Hough, David L., 1937- More proficient motorcycling. II. Motorcycle consumer news. III. Title. IV. Title: More proficient motorcycling.

TL440.5.H65 2012

629.28’475--dc23

2012000847

I-5 Press™

A Division of I-5 Publishing, LLC™

3 Burroughs

Irvine, California 92618

Printed and bound in China

16 15 14 13 12      1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

This book is dedicated to all the people who tirelessly work to make motorcycling safer and more enjoyable.

I especially want to note those who think “outside the box.” The deck is somewhat stacked against riding instructors and rider coaches, because the standard curricula are intentionally made very simple and overly optimistic, and the license tests are easy to pass. The instructor who wishes to reduce rider fatality and morbidity rates must be willing to question what’s being taught and fight for change, accepting the possibility of gaining a reputation as a rabble-rouser. In my view, a good instructor understands the dangers of motorcycling and works to do whatever it takes to reduce the carnage. I would specifically like to recognize the following rabble-rousers:

Joe Elliott of the National Motorcycle Training Institute. Joe scientifically analyzes the statistics and refuses to downplay the dangers of motorcycling. He was instrumental in developing independent courses in the San Diego area that counseled new riders on the dangers and offered opportunities to opt out.

The late Larry Grodsky, author of the “Stayin’ Safe” column for Rider magazine. Larry offered his wisdom via his magazine columns and developed the Stayin’ Safe program to help riders to comprehend riding in the real world.

Walt Fulton III, owner of the Streetmasters Motorcycle Workshops. Walt offers his considerable wisdom about situational awareness and takes riders out of the parking lot and onto the track to enable practice at realistic speeds.

David Grant, BMWMOA director. Dave has taught various standard curricula, but he continues to think about ways to reduce fatalities, especially among military riders. He’s constantly dreaming up courses and exercises that press riders to gain skill and knowledge. And that often involves struggling to get the entrenched bureaucracies to accept alternative rider training.

David Wendell, manager of Pacific Northwest Motorcycle Safety and president of the Sidecar Safety Program. Dave and his cohorts teach lots of standard novice training courses in the Seattle area, but Dave thinks beyond that, offering training for novice operators of three-wheeled motorcycles and also an independent on-street course.

Although I’ve singled out a few of the amazing rider-training thinkers in the United States, the list could go on to fill an entire book. Suffice it to say that I’m privileged to have been a part of the struggle to make motorcycling safer.

CONTENTS

Preface

Introduction

CHAPTER 1

Mastering Attitude, Higher Skills, and Smarter Riding

Developing the Right Attitude

Acquiring Higher Skills

Riding Smarter

Choosing the Right Machine

CHAPTER 2

Mastering Speed and Passing

Watching for Lane Parkers and Passing Demons

Calculating Speed versus Risk

Learning Strategies of Passing

Guarding Against the Dangers of Wimpophobia

CHAPTER 3

Mastering Street and Road Hazards

Dealing with Street Hazards

Avoiding Regional Booby Traps

CHAPTER 4

Mastering the Art of Conspicuity

Understanding How We See Our Surroundings

Adopting Conspicuity Tactics

Checking Vision and Hearing

CHAPTER 5

Mastering Situational Awareness

Developing Expert Eyeballs

Understanding Sight Distance

CHAPTER 6

Mastering Cornering: Throttle, Shifting, Braking

Rolling On and Off the Throttle

Learning the Smooth Shift

Transitioning Between Throttle and Brakes

Braking on Hills

Mastering Aggressive Braking

Understanding Different Brake Systems

CHAPTER 7

Mastering Cornering: Steering, Positioning, Lines

Understanding Countersteering

Understanding Body Steering

Understanding Body Positioning

Understanding Cornering Lines

CHAPTER 8

Mastering the Feel, Skill Renewal, and Self

Interpreting Feedback

Renewing Your Skills

Not Riding Under the Influence

Conclusion

APPENDIX A

The Aging Rider

APPENDIX B

Travel

Glossary

Resources

Acknowledgments

Photo Credits

PREFACE

I have been riding motorcycles for more than forty-five years. My travels have taken me across North America, parts of South America, Great Britain, continental Europe, southern Africa, and New Zealand. I started on a 150cc and moved steadily up from there as my skills increased and my needs changed. I have ridden street bikes and dirt bikes, cruisers and sportbikes, tourers and dual-purpose bikes, and so on. I bring this up to let you know that what I have learned about motorcycling spans not only decades but also different countries and continents, different styles of riding, and different models and types of machines, as well as more than a million miles of road.

Initially I took up motorcycling as a means of commuting to work at the Boeing Company in Seattle, Washington. My wife, Diana, and I lived on an island about 8 miles across the water from Seattle, so my daily commute involved ferry crossings morning and evening. Riding a motorcycle allowed quick, last-minute boarding, and easier parking at work, shortening my commute time. Over the years, I learned a lot about motorcycling in traffic. I eventually added long-distance touring to my riding.

My training in instructional graphics at Boeing lent itself to my career writing and illustrating motorcycling articles.

Commuting and touring provided me with many personal lessons about surviving traffic and weather conditions, including Seattle winters. I began turning these lessons into articles and columns for Road Rider, pounding a typewriter late into the night, after coming home from my full-time job at Boeing. (Road Rider morphed into Motorcycle Consumer News [MCN] not long after I bought my first computer.) It was also serendipitous that I spent the last half of my career at Boeing in flight-crew training, because I discovered several parallels between piloting airplanes and riding motorcycles. And, as it happened, my specialty in instructional graphics gave me important insight into, as well as the skills for, illustrating motorcycling articles.

From the beginning, my writing has focused almost exclusively on riding skills, both the physical skills of controlling the machine and the mental skills for understanding and controlling the situation. Since my retirement from Boeing in 1995, I have contributed articles to a variety of enthusiast publications, including BMWMOA Owners News, BMW Motorcycle Magazine, Friction Zone, and RoadBike. I’ve also contributed online articles to websites such as Sound RIDER! (www.soundrider.com).

My first book, Proficient Motorcycling, now in its second edition, was a collection of columns from Road Rider and MCN. That book was aimed at helping novice riders as well as those with experience. Mastering the Ride is more than a collection of articles. Although I’ve included articles written for MCN and other publications, I’ve rewritten the material to incorporate what I’ve learned about motorcycling over the past couple of decades and focused the book on helping experienced riders reach the next level in their riding. Because I’m writing here for experienced riders, I have assumed a certain level of understanding on the part of the reader. However, if you have difficulty with any of the concepts in this book, I suggest taking a look at Proficient Motorcycling, which explains the various concepts at a more basic level.

Living in Seattle, Washington, I learned to ride in all kinds of conditions, which taught me a great deal about riding skills, precautions, and proper gear, all information I was able to pass to readers.

INTRODUCTION

As the cover and the preface of the book state, Mastering the Ride is meant for experienced motorcyclists who are interested in taking their riding to another level. Maybe you completed a basic riding course and have been riding for a few years and doing well, but now you realize you have a lot of unanswered questions. Or maybe you took a couple training courses but feel you’ve hit a plateau and it’s time to figure out how to start climbing again. Or maybe you’ve been riding for many years without formal training but have concluded there is a great deal more to learn. Wherever you are in your motorcycling career, this book will help you reach a higher level of skill and knowledge.

In chapter 2, we’ll talk about mastering speed and passing in many challenging situations.

I will be covering all the important concepts of motorcycling, both mental and physical, and will break skills and techniques down into easily understood steps, accompanied by illustrations and exercises. In chapter 1, we’ll discuss developing the right attitude toward riding a motorcycle and how that attitude can determine whether you react correctly to escape potential injury (or even death). We’ll also discuss the importance of taking more advanced formal courses and being better prepared before going out on your bike.

In chapter 2, we’ll discuss mastering the skills of speed and passing, understanding what’s appropriate and safe for various situations, and how to handle speed and passing on the superslabs. Too many motorcyclists base their actions on rumors and urban myths—we’ll look at some of those and consider the facts. For example, motorcyclists often ride very aggressively in traffic, believing it safer to stay ahead of everyone else, when the smarter and safer tactic in many cases is to position yourself where you can see better, find a hole in traffic where you have maximum separation from other vehicles, and ride close to the average speed of the surrounding traffic.

In chapter 1, we look at, among other subjects, mastering the right attitude and acquiring higher skills through advanced motorcycling courses.

In chapter 3, we’ll examine street and road hazards, both common and uncommon. In order to be a successful street motorcyclist, you must be aware of other drivers around you and constantly reposition yourself to avoid being in the way. You also need to be aware of and know how to deal with the wide range of street hazards you’re likely to encounter, in your home area and elsewhere. You’ll need to read and be able to react to human and road-surface hazards. You’ll need to do all this and more if you want to master riding in the real world, in dense urban traffic as well as on those twisty back roads.

In chapter 3, we’ll talk about mastering street and road hazards, such as work zones, loose gravel, edge traps, tar snakes, and seal coatings.

In chapter 4, we’ll discuss the business of being seen, which is known as conspicuity—making yourself more conspicuous to other motorists. To better understand how that works, we’ll examine how vision itself works and why sometimes people are inattentionally blind, that is, they simply disregard something that they do not expect to see. Inattentional blindness is a particular challenge for motorcyclists because many motorists don’t see motorcyclists on a regular basis and don’t know anyone who rides a motorcycle. In this chapter, we’ll also talk about ways in which you can make yourself and your motorcycle more conspicuous through the use of high-visibility gear, retroreflective material, and positioning in traffic.

In chapter 5, we’ll discuss situational awareness, the need to be conscious at all times of what’s going on around you—ahead, behind, to the sides. At times we can see miles ahead; at others the view is limited by foliage, roadside obstructions, the crown of a hill, or a large vehicle. The purpose of situational awareness is to be able to spot hazards well in advance, so that you don’t have to make sudden—and often unsuccessful—evasive maneuvers.

In chapter 4 we’ll discuss mastering conspicuity, the art of seeing and begin seen.

In chapter 5, we’ll discuss mastering situational awareness—that is, being aware of everything around you that has the potential to affect your ride (below), including other vehicles, road hazards, and wild animals.

In chapters 6 and 7, we’ll talk about mastering the art of cornering, which comprises many skills, including braking, shifting, use of the throttle, countersteering, body positioning, and cornering lines.

Lots of motorists get into trouble because they don’t adjust speed to what’s happening. Motoring down the highway at 65 mph may be appropriate when the view is unlimited, but that’s way too fast when the road disappears around a blind corner. When you can see far ahead, you have lots of time to react to hazards. When the view becomes limited by the landscape or foliage, however, you need to anticipate hazards. You might imagine a truck wandering into your lane halfway through the corner, or a tree fallen across the road just over the crest of the hill, or a farm tractor pulling out from a side road, and adjust your speed and lane position to avoid riding into trouble. If you wait to react until you can actually see a hazard, it’s likely to be too late.

In chapters 6 and 7, we’ll deal with the set of skills essential to master the art of cornering. First, I’ll identify each of the main skills used in cornering. Then we will break each of these skills down into a step-by-step practice guide. A big part of mastering cornering is to understand how you cause a motorcycle to lean over, maintain the desired angle, and lift up out of a lean. That involves steering input at the handlebars, body positioning on the bike, and correct throttle control. Another big part of mastering cornering is understanding how a “motorcycle” line through a corner can be better than a “car” line and how different machines need different cornering lines.

In chapter 8, we’ll discuss mastering the feel of your motorcycle and interpreting the feedback, to be able to tell when everything is right or when something is wrong. This chapter also has a “spring training” section, which will help you brush the rust off your skills when you’ve been off the motorcycle for a while; this section also serves as a review of the information discussed in the rest of the chapters. In the back of the book, you’ll find some information on the effects of aging on the motorcyclist plus a few travel memories. I’ve also included a glossary and some motorcycle resources that I hope will help you pursue more information on improving skills and techniques.

In chapter 8, we’ll discuss, among other subjects, getting a feel for your motorcycle, interpreting feedback through your hands, your seat, and your feet.

I hope by the time you have finished studying Mastering the Ride and gotten into the habit of practicing the techniques I’ve suggested that you will be well on your way to that next level.

After you’ve been riding for a while, you can appreciate the fact that motorcycling is a lot more complex than you suspected when you first started. There is a definite progression of skills and knowledge, starting with the basics and continuing to deeper levels, that can only be realized through time, dedication, and effort. What does it take to move from novice level to master level in motorcycling? In my opinion, the elements include not only acquiring miles on the road and refining skills but also developing the right attitude toward riding and learning to ride smarter.

Developing the right attitude is crucial; that includes thinking of this aspect of motorcycling as a crash, rather than an accident. Crashes have the potential to be prevented, with skill and experience.

Developing the Right Attitude

As those of us who have been riding motorcycles for any length of time know (much better than the nonriders who issue dire warnings), motorcycling is potentially very risky. Even if you become highly skilled at street motorcycling, you can’t remove all the risks. Riders who treat motorcycling as nothing more than a game or a stunt don’t seem to last long. To master the ride, you must begin by being serious about what you do. (Don’t worry—the thrill and excitement of it all will still be there.) Developing the right attitude toward every aspect of riding is just as critical as developing the correct techniques in every aspect of your riding.

Crashes, for example, are one of the areas in which riders need to have the right attitude—one with better odds for survival. The right attitude begins with thinking of crashes as crashes, not accidents. The word accident implies that no one could have done anything to have avoided what happened. I believe, however, that someone always has some ability to change the outcome.

The general attitude in automotive safety is that accidents happen; no one is at fault. So the solution to preventing injury is to protect occupants with belts, air bags, shatterproof glass, crumple zones, and other safety devices. That’s why, when it comes to motorcycles, automotive experts focus on helmets to deal with accidents.

Motorcycles, however, don’t fit well into the transportation industry’s safety ideas because motorcyclists don’t take well to flying through the air and splatting into immovable objects. On public roads we have all sorts of nasty objects to crash into, including curbs, poles, cable barriers, wild animals, and other vehicles. Although I wear “all the gear, all the time” (ATGATT), I know that crash padding can only do so much for a motorcyclist.

Airplanes, like motorcycles, don’t crash well. That is why the primary approach to avoiding injury in aviation is to avoid the crash. The pilot’s focus is on doing everything exactly right, even during an emergency. The motorcyclist who intends to avoid injury would be wise to develop a similar attitude.

Riding within the Envelope

Pilots often describe their tactics as “flying within the envelope.” The envelope is an imaginary balloon representing the physical limits of the situation, including the pilot’s skill. For example, let’s say a particular airplane needs a minimum of 140 knots to lift off from a runway at 5,000-foot elevation, assuming a maximum temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit. If speed doesn’t exceed 140 knots, the airplane won’t leave the ground. The envelope is ever changing.

A motorcyclist also has an ever-changing envelope. Consider a motorcycle that can corner at a lean angle of 45 degrees on clean, dry pavement with a camber of at least 5 degrees and the rider hanging off the inside of the saddle and easing on the throttle. If the surface camber changes, or there is a splash of diesel oil, or the rider panics and slams the throttle closed, the bike won’t make the corner.

Whether you’ve been riding for two years or five years or more, whether you ride a dual-sport, a cruiser, or a sport-tourer (above), the learning must be constant if you want to acquire higher skills and keep moving up.

Acquiring Higher Skills

People often ask me how they can become better riders. There is so much to learn that I’m often stumped to provide answers that aren’t overly complicated. An inexperienced rider might think becoming skilled is just a matter of taking the basic beginning rider course to learn how to operate the clutch and roll on the throttle, how to apply the brakes, and what traffic laws apply specifically to motorcycles. The veteran rider knows that the learning, a mix of formal training and self practice, must be constant, a drive to acquire new and higher skills, including precision cornering tactics and avoidance of surface hazards such as tar snakes and V traps, and a drive to develop a better understanding of the complexities of motorcycling, such as the physics involved in cornering and other maneuvers.

SMARTrainer

Bearing in mind that risk-management techniques are similar for pilots and motorcyclists, we could learn something from the way pilots are trained. Commercial pilots take high-quality courses in what’s called ground school, then spend time in a flight simulator practicing procedures, before finally moving up to flying the airplane under supervision of an instructor pilot. Even after getting certified to fly a specified airplane, the pilot studies the operations manual at every opportunity to keep his or her knowledge fresh and undergoes additional training and/or testing on a regular basis. How often depends upon the type of certification.

The airplane industry has a very complex system for training pilots, because crashes are not only tragic in terms of lives lost but also expensive and bad for business. Every time a jetliner crashes, ticket sales drop. One of the important features of pilot training is the use of flight simulators to provide opportunities to practice skills and procedures in an environment in which an error won’t be expensive or dangerous. Flight simulators look, act, and feel almost like real airplanes, including the sensation of motion.

Honda’s SMARTrainer is a tool for developing situational awareness, but in comparison to a flight simulator, it is simplistic. However, it’s the best we have so far.

The full-motion flight simulators used in pilot training have realistic cockpit controls and indicators and a wide image projected on a wraparound screen in front of the cockpit windows. Hydraulic cylinders provide motion to give the pilot a realistic “seat of the pants” feel.

Various motorcycle manufacturers have attempted to develop riding simulators, but there really isn’t sufficient motivation (motorcycling crashes don’t affect business as airplane crashes do). Of course simulators can be shockingly expensive. The best that anyone has managed to come up with so far is a “sit down” video game called the SMARTrainer, developed by Honda.

The SMARTrainer is useful as a situational awareness tool, but unfortunately it has some operational warts that detract from its usefulness. For example, it direct steers like a trike rather than countersteering like a bike. The screen depicting the situation ahead is so small that it can’t show anything like a real-world view. Some of the handlebar switches are used to control the program, not the “bike.”

Let’s hope that before too long someone will come up with a more realistic motorcycling simulator that’s affordable. The computer-games people could certainly do it. In the meantime, I suggest that you take a spin on the SMARTrainer if you have the opportunity to do so.

Because the risks for motorcycling are just as high as the risks for flying, I wish that we could require motorcyclists to undergo the same sort of rigorous, recurrent training that airplane pilots are required to. (See SMARTrainer on the opposite page for further discussion of training.) That, unfortunately, isn’t possible at this time.

However, in addition to the basic beginning rider courses offered in every state, there are an increasing number of courses that offer more intensive and in-depth training springing up around the country. Before taking a look at some of those courses, let’s briefly review the history of motorcycle training in this country and see how certain training developed some serious shortcomings.

Rider Training History

Back in the 1980s, states began making training (frequently subsidized from surcharges on motorcycle licenses) available to the public. Gradually, from 1980 to 1997, the number of motorcyclist fatalities dropped. The safest year for motorcycling in the United States was in 1997, with 2,116 fatalities, and a fatality rate of 55.30 per 100,000 registered motorcycles. However, in the time frame from 1997 to 2008, the more riders who were trained, the greater the number of fatalities. So what changed? The training itself changed and clearly not for the better.

The motorcycle industry was, and is, very much in favor of rider training, as training encourages more people to take up motorcycling. The problem is that in order to ensure that as many people as possible could become motorcyclists, the motorcycle industry’s training developers created a very simple “learn to ride” course and a very easy skills test.

In some states the same industry organization that designed the curriculum also came to manage the training and license testing. As a result, since the late 1990s getting a motorcycle license has, in general, become quicker and easier. Unfortunately, the fallout from that has been a huge number of serious crashes and fatalities.

USA Motorcycle Fatality Rate 1995–2008

The US motorcycle fatality rate had dropped to a low of 2,116 in 1997, but had grown to 4,576 by 2005, in spite of increased rider training. Total US fatalities peaked in 2008 at 5,290.

The fatality rate dropped off a bit after 2008, but it is not clear that rider training was a factor in that change. A more likely cause was the financial crunch that began about that time, which made it more difficult to obtain loans for motorcycles.

Don’t get me wrong—it makes sense to encourage all new riders to take formal training. Formal training is a good idea. What isn’t a good idea is simplified training and easy-to-pass testing. A two-day basic course in a parking lot is way too short and too far removed from the real world to teach new riders how to manage the risks of riding on public roads. Rider training should be linked to the outcomes. In other words, if the crash or fatality rates are rising, that means there’s a problem with the training. In my opinion, new riders would be better served by a more comprehensive training course and a much tougher skills test, one administered by the state, not the training group. In addition, rather than encouraging everyone to take up motorcycling, we would do better to explain the risks of motorcycling openly and honestly and allow people to opt out early if they decide that the risks involved are unacceptable.

Students on motorcycles and scooters prepare to run through a drill in a parking lot at a two-day basic riding course. This kind of course should be considered the beginning, not the end, of formal rider training.

Let’s be honest, too, that as experienced riders we don’t want badly trained riders out there on the road with us. You don’t want to see one of those fresh-from-the-two-day-parking-lot-course guys wobble into a lane on the highway in front of you. Suddenly he, you, and everyone in the immediate vicinity have been thrown into an unpredictable and potentially dangerous situation.

Worse still, you know it’s dangerous—you can see it in everything about the way he’s riding—but he doesn’t know it, because he passed the course and got his license so he thinks he’s fine to be out there. Or maybe he’s realized his mistake by now and is riding terrified. Even worse!

So if you know anyone who’s just graduated from a basic course, do that friend a big favor and tell him or her to sign up for another course right away. While you’re at it, do yourself a favor and sign up for your next course as well. Remember, the learning should never stop.

Independent Training Courses

The good news is that there are training courses available around the country that address real-world riding for both novices and experienced riders, with a focus on managing the risks. It might sound strange to travel across the country to take a motorcycle course when there is a cheap course close to home, but the nearby course may not provide what you need. Perhaps you can take a motorcycle journey with the course at the middle. If you don’t have the time (or the experience) to ride cross-country to attend a training course, be aware that many courses rent machines as well as riding gear to students. You could simply fly in and take the course.

I strongly encourage you to look beyond the industry’s courses and check out the independent schools listed below or others like them. This list is by no means exhaustive; a computer search will turn up many other courses, as well as forums dealing with riding skills. My suggestion is to take a different rider-training course every few years.

Stayin’ Safe instructors Eric Trow and Pete Tamblyn conduct a roadside “chalk talk” lesson for training tour participants. Independent advanced training courses offers real-world tactics for riding on public roads.

Atlanta Motorcycle Schools (http://www.atlantamotorcycleschools.com/course.html) offer a variety of courses, including on-street courses. All instruction is provided with one or more instructors per student, and each course is tailored to the individual’s learning style and needs. Courses range from beginning through advanced skills and are offered for both street and dual-sport motorcycles as well as scooters. The course offerings also include real-world, on-street training for all experience levels.

BMW Motorrad USA (http://www.bmwusa.com, search “motorcycle”) offers off-road and on-road motorcycle courses at the BMW Performance Center in Greer, South Carolina. The One-Day Off-Road, Two-Day Off-Road, and One-Day On-Road courses are for intermediate and advanced riders.

A group of students practice cornering at a Streetmasters Precision Cornering Workshop, where experienced riders learn advanced techniques.

California Superbike School (http://superbikeschool.com), created by former racer Keith Code, is arguably the largest and best known track school in the world. The school focuses on cornering, with four basic levels, presented in order, to build skills progressively. This California Superbike School is intended for serious, experienced sport riders. Although “California” is in the name, the school is offered at different venues in the United States, and occasionally in other countries around the world.

Cornerspeed Schools (http://www.cornerspeed.net/overview.html) are offered to experienced riders at Virginia International Raceway. Cornerspeed is a comprehensive skills school that covers the major aspects of motorcycle control through both lectures and practice drills. The school has various levels, including an advanced course applicable to street riders and higher-level courses for riders wishing to obtain a motorcycle racing license.

Idaho, through its STAR program (http://idahostar.org), and Oregon, through Team Oregon (http://teamoregon.orst.edu), offer basic rider training that differs from the basic training that is offered in the other forty-eight states and is independent from the motorcycle industry. In addition to the basic training, Idaho STAR has an experienced course, while Team Oregon has intermediate, advanced, and skills practice courses.

Keigwins@theTrack (http://www.keigwin.com/index.php) offers a variety of courses in California, at tracks including Buttonwillow, Infineon, Laguna Seca, and Thunderhill Park. Experienced sportbike riders are divided into separate groups based on ability.

MotoMark1 (http://www.motomark1.com) offers a variety of motor-officer-style training developed by Mark Brown, a police officer in North Carolina. Courses range from novice to advanced, and there are special courses for military, law-enforcement, and emergency-medical-service riders. Training is available for street, off-road, and ATV riders. Courses can be tailored to group, family, or one-on-one private instruction. Instructors hold certifications in police and military motorcycle operation as well as from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF) and the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America (SVIA).

Pacific NorthWest Motorcycle Safety (http://www.pnwmotorcyclesafety.com) in Washington State offers a new On-Street Course. It includes classroom dialogue to help riders better understand concepts such as hazard identification and inattentional blindness, followed by group riding on public roads under the supervision of advisers. Participants get coaching throughout the ride via radio headsets.

R.I.D.E. (Riders Institute for Defensive Education, www.ridemotorschool.com) offers beginner, intermediate, and advanced courses in Mississippi and Alabama. The instructors are all former police motor officers who are motivated to teach skills that they believe will help keep riders alive.

Ride Like A PRO (http://www.ridelikeapro.com) is a course developed by retired police motor officer Jerry “Motorman” Palladino to help civilian riders learn the skills and techniques used by police motor officers to control motorcycles in tight maneuvers such as a small circle, U-turn, cone weave, figure 8, and four-leaf clover. The course is offered at various sites in several states. Instructors are generally active or retired police motor officers.

STAR Motorcycle School (http://www.starmotorcycle.com) offers multiple training events at different tracks across the United States, including Oregon Race-way Park, Blackhawk Farms Raceway, Heartland Park Topeka, and New Jersey Motorsports Park. (STAR stands for Skills and Techniques for Advanced Riding.) The chief instructor is racer Jason Pridmore. STAR always separates street riders and track newcomers from advanced riders with track experience.

Stayin’ Safe (http://www.stayinsafe.com) combines sport-touring and advanced skills coaching in full and multiday training tours. In real time, expert coaches use radio commentary to introduce advanced road-reading strategies and provide individualized skills coaching in a variety of real-world riding environments. Originally developed by riding guru Larry Grodsky, the program is currently run by motorcycle safety journalist Eric Trow. Courses are conducted from California to Connecticut.

Streetmasters Motorcycle Workshops (http://www.streetmasters.info) is a street-riding course conducted on a section of a Southern California racetrack by safety adviser and former racer Walt Fulton III and Nancy Foote. The course is targeted at experienced street riders and specializes in teaching precision cornering techniques. Students ride their own machines, which can be any type of street motorcycle.

Tony’s Track Days (http://tonystrackdays.com) are offered at New Hampshire Motor Speedway and New Jersey Motorsports Park. The primary goals are to offer supervised track riding to street riders who have no prior track experience and to give more experienced riders time on the track to hone their skills. Personal one-on-one training, from veteran riders such as Ken Condon, is available for intermediate and advanced riders.

Total Control Advanced Riding Clinic (http://www.totalcontroltraining.net) was developed by ex-racer/journalist Lee Parks for experienced riders and is offered at numerous training sites around the country. Total Control emphasizes control skills in an off-street range. The course includes both classroom discussions of motorcycle dynamics and riding exercises designed to build skill and confidence.

Riding Smarter

Motorcyclists have always been at risk among other vehicles, and it’s getting worse. As has always been the case, motorcycles are still smaller and harder to see than cars, but now drivers are more frustrated than ever by traffic congestion and construction zones, and increasingly angry at the perceived transgressions of other motorists and motorcyclists. In and around big cities, people run stop signs, fly through red lights, and speed through school zones. On highways such as I-15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas, it’s common for everyone, including the police, to be zipping along at least 20 miles per hour over the limit. The point is, if you want to survive traffic you need to be smarter than the average motorist, and a lot more skillful than the majority of motorcyclists seem to be.

Dwarfed by trucks, buses, and cars in rush-hour traffic, this motorcyclist needs to ride with skill, alertness, and intelligence. Riding smarter is crucial for the motorcyclist who wants to survive the unpredictability and dangers of urban traffic.

“Phantom Phil” used to be a military fighter instructor pilot—one of those top-gun flyers. Phil recognized a parallel between his motorcycling and his military flights, and he would treat his rides with the same seriousness he applied to his military missions. As Phil pointed out to me, a fighter pilot wouldn’t survive long trying to dodge missiles in combat without first learning how to do it on a practice range. It is the same with motorcycles.

Checklist

Phantom Phil makes a point of resolving all bike squawks (mechanical problems) before leaving the garage. Before each ride, Phil goes through a predeparture checklist for the motorcycle, and a checklist for the ride. As Phil says, when your mission takes you into enemy territory, there is no room for mechanical failures and no excuse for forgotten gear or an incomplete ride plan. A written checklist helps you to avoid overlooking important details, such as packing the reflective vest and clear face shield for a ride that’s likely to end after dark, or making sure you’ve got the water bladder for a ride into the desert.

Phil describes this in military terms. “A mission through the mountains at aggressive speeds requires a weapon system that has no squawks that will cause you to go down. A detailed preflight check of the bike and riding gear allows you to correct any discrepancies before you depart.”

All serious riders run through some sort of checklist (perhaps not as rigorous as Phil’s) before leaving on a ride, even if it’s only pausing to mentally recall what they’ve packed or to pat down their pockets to make sure they have wallet, knife, and spare keys. I don’t use a written checklist for local rides, but I do make a list for cross-country trips, to make sure I don’t forget essentials such as cell phone, credit cards, license and registration, passport, maps, weather-appropriate gear, and tools for emergency repairs.

For longer rides, I deal with bike maintenance the week before departure, looking for loose fasteners, lubricating cable ends, and checking fluid levels, wheel bearings, brakes, and tires. If I regularly use a battery charger, I unplug it for several days before a long ride to make sure the battery is holding a charge. The day before the ride I top up tire pressures, load the bike, turn on the headlight to be sure the battery is up, and then make sure to switch the ignition off.

I choose my riding gear for the trip, and on the morning of the departure I suit up and then do a pat-down check. I actually feel for my wallet, spare keys, multi-tool, and air gauge, which should be in my jacket pockets. I keep a dozen or so pairs of disposable earplugs in an inside jacket pocket and an encrypted thumb drive with personal information in an inside pocket. I also carry a packet in my jacket breast pocket containing a small bottle of eyewash, a tube of lip ointment, and a squeeze bottle of sunscreen/insect repellent cream. To avoid having to dig down through layers of gear to extricate my wallet, I’ll stash a $20 bill in a sleeve pocket, and a “travel” wallet with one credit card in an external jacket pocket. After I put the key in the ignition, I feel my jacket and pants pockets to make sure all zippers are closed.

I don’t use a written checklist before firing up the bike each morning on a long trip, but I check tire pressures and engine oil before I pack it up, and then stay tuned for abnormalities as I ride along. At rest stops I do checks for leaking fluids or loose tie-down straps and monitor the tire treads for cuts or nails.

The truth is, both flying and riding require quick decisions and actions. Being “skilled” means being able to perform the right actions automatically. When you are confronted with a threat, your brain transmits subconscious commands to initiate action. The way to make the correct responses automatic is to practice the needed skills over and over until they become habits. When you first start to practice a skill, you will probably have to think about it. Eventually, as you practice, the skills become automatic, and you can control the motorcycle without having to think about every little detail. Do yourself a favor and take the time to actually practice different skills on your bike, whether on your own or in a training course. (See chapter 6 for a discussion of Muscle Memory.)

Miles from civilization, my fully loaded BMW GS lies at the side of a desert road, where I crashed after I hooked my front tire in a sand berm at speed. With an injured shoulder and a cracked rib, I couldn’t get my motorcycle upright and had to call for emergency help. It was the hard way to reaffirm that it’s not smart to ride off on a remote road by yourself.

Traffic as Combat

Phil likens motorcycle riding to his military flights, and combat is a pretty good description of riding a motorcycle on our public roads these days. For combat missions in city traffic, it’s important to keep your head on a swivel and your eyes on long-range scan. To try to avoid crashes, you should treat every unknown vehicle as a “bandit” (enemy) until you can VID (visually identify) it to be nonhostile.

For fast motorcycle missions in the mountains, it’s smart to ride with a wingman, because back roads have an increased risk of unseen hazards. If you have a crash on a lonely road while riding solo, help can be hard to come by. A riding buddy provides some backup for problems.

That’s a message that I wish I had taken to heart a few years ago when I headed out by myself on a lonely desert road in California on my fully loaded BMW GS. I did just fine until I hooked the front tire in a sand berm, shot off the road, and crashed. With a torn shoulder and a cracked rib, I was unable to pick up the motorcycle. A wingman sure would have been handy on that mission.

Whatever the mission, it’s smart to build up to it progressively, rather than suddenly jump out of the garage into a traffic dogfight. When you first leave home base, consider running lightly traveled secondary streets for a few minutes to get familiar with the bike and see how it is performs before “entering combat.”

Combat Tactics

Phantom Phil suggested to me that motorcycling, like flying, is mostly mental. Your attention needs to be well ahead of the bike, planning what is going to happen next, and being ready for it. If you see a potential hazard way ahead, you can just make a minor adjustment to avoid it, and nothing happens. It was a nonevent because you were prepared for it. You may have heard of the acronym SIPDE—which stands for search (or scan), identify, predict, decide, execute—and is taught in some driver-education and motorcycle-riding courses. The military version, Phil explained to me, is OODA (observe, orient, decide, act).

Observe: If you want to avoid riding into a problem, it’s critical to observe what is happening well before you get there. By observe