By: James R. Davis Sooner or later you will find something in the road just ahead of you and you are going to hit it. Maybe a small animal. Possibly something that falls off of the vehicle in front of you. Maybe you have missed a curve and a curb is dead ahead. One of the exercises taught by the MSF includes running over a board (4x4?) and you are told to 'lift' the front-end of your motorcycle [...]
By: James R. Davis When everything is going right, riding a motorcycle is effortless and completely enjoyable. By 'right' I mean that the weather is perfect, traffic is light, the bike is familiar and well maintained, and you are rested and healthy. Given these conditions you have the potential to focus entirely on those things that demand your attention - or to be lulled into believing that you can afford to be distracted for a few minutes, and die [...]
By: James R. Davis Some time ago I was riding with a group down a back-country road when our group leader decided that we needed to perform our 'mandatory' U-turn. The road had two lanes (one in each direction) and there was no oncoming traffic. With only one exception everybody made a 'three-point' maneuver. That is, we turned across the road and stopped when we could not keep going without running off the pavement, then backed up after turning [...]
By: James R. Davis Riding when the temperature is well in excess of 90 degrees can be dangerous to your health. Unless you take care to keep your body temperature under control even rides as short as an hour can result in heat-prostration or even sun-stroke. Many riders know that if you keep your neck cool, because the large veins that feed your brain are so close to the surface, you greatly diminish these health risks. There are [...]
By: James R. Davis When you ride in a group it is unquestionably your first priority to take care of yourself - to ride within your limits and the limits of your bike, regardless of what the rest of the group does. That's often been described as 'Riding your own ride'. But you ARE in a group and that means some new responsibilities and behaviors apply. You ride at the speed the group rides, you stay in the [...]
By: James R. Davis A Canadian recently posted the following message in which he expressed his concerns about traveling on his motorcycle in the United States: [blockquote]As a group of us are planning a trip through Wash, Oregon and Calif along the pacific coast and further inland in May, (without any guns and only a small knife to cut our BBQ'd steak.) Are there any precautions that we should be taking or places that we should avoid? The question [...]
By: James R. Davis You have just entered an intersection (at, say, 30 MPH) and notice that a vehicle is about to enter the intersection from the left it will not, cannot, stop in time and unless you do something fast you are going to collide. What are your options? What escape paths do you have? I propose that there are only two choices: accelerate or decelerate. Turning or swerving to the right is not a reasonable alternative [...]