Practice, people, practice



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Just a sec. Lordy this soapbox is tall. Ok, I’m up. I’d like to talk today about doing more than just looking at the scenery while riding. First off there is nothing at all wrong with the casual, relaxed, no thinking ride, sometimes it’s the whole purpose of the ride, to tune out the world but if you want to improve your skills so you stand a better chance of avoiding the deer, the sand and the cagers it’s necessary to spend some time practicing the basics.

Disclaimer: Riding a motorcycle is dangerous. Pay attention to your skill level. Don’t be stupid. The following is what I do, adjust as needed to keep yourself safe because crashing sucks. Your well being is beyond my control, sorry about that.

Here’s what I do every ride. First and obviously I gear up, boots, leather, gloves and a helmet. Then I find a clean piece of empty road and do some quick stops. Luckily I can do that as soon as I get out of my driveway. The reason I do this is because every book I’ve read on motorcycling suggests finding the limit of my skill and the bikes ability because someday I WILL  NEED it. Again this is a drill I do every ride. Sometimes I brake to a complete stop and sometimes it’s from say sixty down to 40 or 10mph. Sometimes it’s modulating the brake so I stop at a particular spot, say the stop line at a crosswalk.  Sometimes I find a sandy bit of road or go for a ride in the rain so I can practice modulating the brake in adverse conditions. It’s all about hard-wiring my muscles to my bike so I don’t need to think when I need to miss that deer. Practice this at the speeds you ride, if you tend to exceed 100 mph you best be doing braking drills from that same speed. It might slow you down. I also do this drill because stoppies are cool and if you are practicing hard braking you will do stoppies.

The other thing I do is pick a technique such as looking through the corner or rolling on the gas at the apex and practice just that one thing. When I do this type of drill I leave the bike in third or fourth gear and ride at a pace that guarantees I can concentrate on doing it absolutely right and smoothly every time. That usually means at a pace of about 75% of my skill level. This way I have time to think about what I’m doing, at 90 or 95% it’s too easy to fall behind the rhythm of the road.

A huge plus to this kind of practice is it moves your startle point or survival reactions out of the envelope of normal riding speed.

Things I practice regularly, getting into position, late apexes, snapping the bike over into the corner as fast as I can, slight positive throttle through the corner,  applying more throttle as I stand the bike up, trail braking and on and on. All of it helps make me and the bike become one.