SIGNS OF THE TIME
by
The Highway Department spends a lot of bucks posting warning signs along the roadway that many drivers don’t bother looking at anyway. As Riders though, we pay attention to those signs AND the unintentional signs that are present all over the highway.
Big batches of brake skidmarks leading up to an intersection or coming up on a freeway ramp tell us that something unexpected happens there on a regular basis…Be alert and give yourself some extra following distance. On a curvy road, you see a bunch of skidmarks right at the beginning of a curve, which indicates that the curve will be sharper than it appears. Yellow centerlines that are mostly worn away in the middle of a curve give us a warning that many cars drift over that line as they come around the curve…Be ready for them! As you approach each curve scan for the fuzzy look of gravel, and plan your path all the way through the curve to try to avoid the bigger areas of road patching tar. The road crews are always trying different formulas; some of them more slippery and some of them less…but all of them with a different friction factor. Expect the unexpected.
When there is melting snow or yesterdays rainwater draining across the road and the temperature is hanging around the low thirties, you can have wet water on the sunny side of the road, and Black Ice, which looks just like water, on the shady side. Bridges and overpasses freeze before the road surface does. Come the day when you get onto that ice or oil spill, pull in the clutch immediately, don’t touch the brakes, don’t even blink! and try to float through it in a straight line. If you are lucky and stay upright, then you can start breathing again.
There will often be yellow-diamond shaped ‘suggested speed’ signs coming into a curve. Sometimes these are warning of a bad curve, and often they are letting us know that we have limited visibility through the curve. If I can’t see something, then I can’t stop before I hit it.
Overdriving my visibility in the daytime is just as dangerous as overdriving my headlights at night.
In wet weather, painted lines and arrows on the road can be slick, and the last twenty feet before an intersection is more slippery. How deep are the puddles ahead? Well, how big are the splashes that are being made by the cars in front of you? If most of the cars heading towards you coming down the road have their headlights on, you will most likely run into rain pretty soon. At night, are there any darker or lighter spots in the roadway that shouldn’t be there?…Could be puddles, potholes, deer, or an oil spill. Beware! …and if a small animal runs across the road in front of you going very fast, expect a bigger animal to be close behind. Any signs of construction can indicate lane lines that are changed, painted over, or just wrong. Construction also gives us the possible presence of edge traps that can drop you in a flash, loose gravel, oiled roads or steel trench plates…You know, those portable ice skating rinks!
Constant Surface Appraisal and a big healthy following distance are keys to keeping the Shiny Side Up! Be Aware, read ALL of the road signs, and ….Ride Safe !
6/04
GETTING STARTED
There are more new riders out there on the road than ever before. The ones that start with an MSF Riders Course have an advantage and a good head start, but they’re getting on the road with no practical experience. The lucky ones know an experienced rider who will ride with them and Mentor them safely into the sport. And then there are others that you hear about who join a ride, try to keep up with the pack even if it’s beyond their experience and ability, and end up as an “uh oh” article in the local newspaper. If a group that you ride with has new riders joining you from time to time, new members, friends, or family, then it’s a neat idea to hold a “New Riders Run” occasionally. Put the invitation out to whoever wants to join in. This shows your group’s concern to the motorcycling community, and lets the new riders know that no one expects them to be “mucho macho canyon racers” their first month out. The route should be varied and interesting, but not technically dangerous. The run will include almost as many experienced riders as new, including a couple of very good people to watch the middle of the pack and a couple to bring up the rear. Someone has a first aid kit and a Cell-phone, and all gas tanks are full. The key people have maps of the route, including the location of the scheduled breaks, so if they need to drop back for any reason, they know where to find the main group at the next stop. There should be plenty of breaks, as new riders have not yet built up much stamina, or enough callous in their jeans. It’s important that that the new riders be told that it’s O.K. to give the hand signal to call for an unscheduled stop if they need. At the Riders Meeting at the beginning of the run, the group leader explains the safety procedures, hand signals, and the need for plenty of following distance between riders. Nobody runs red lights. On the big highways, it is necessary for everyone to stay up near the posted speed limit to avoid creating a hazard, but on the smaller roads, the pace will be set for the new riders… let them know that there is no need to “keep up”…That if the group stretches out, the front of the group will be waiting at the next rest stop… and the Back Door riders are covering them and will not hurry them or leave them. If anyone has a breakdown or an unexpected dismount, a couple of the key riders will take care of the problem, and the rest of the pack moves off down the road to stop and wait at a safe place. You don’t want a bunch of people standing around in the road becoming a big target for the next car coming around that curve. During the ride if anyone is doing anything unsafe, it should be corrected right away, and any other riding tips or suggestions can be discussed at the meeting at the end of the run. Your riding style sets an example for the new riders. They will appreciate what your group has done for them and you will have increased the chances that they will become good riders. If they become regulars with your group, you have decreased the chances that they will make some mistake on a ride that will harm several of your other riders. We would really rather not ride “Off Road” unless we have planned on it. Knowledge Is Power. Ride Safe !! 6/02 |
It’s finally time to start out on that long awaited Vacation !! Be it Summer in the mountains, Fall in the desert, or Winter at the resorts, we need to prepare our bikes, plan our route (maybe), and adjust our thinking to get ready for many miles and hours on the road. All Right !
Tire pressure and amount of tread wear…Big Time Important ! How old is that battery?
Checking hoses and wires for chafing and wear. We can ask other riders about areas and roadways (“don’t miss Route 89A”) and map out a route, or we can just plan on heading “Kinda Thataway” until we get to someplace we like the feel of. Sometimes the destination you want to reach is far away, and it’s not the best idea to push yourself too many hours and miles at a time, especially for the first couple of days, that’s not the most pleasant type of riding, and tired riders tend to miss seeing important parts of the road… and “falling” asleep has a whole different meaning when we’re on a motorcycle. There’s a lot of nice stuff to see and enjoy along the way.
Pack a light set of rain gear… Doing that will almost guarantee that you won’t run into any rain on the trip. When traveling someplace cold we need to avoid Hypothermia. Wearing layers of clothing allows us to wear less or more as the day goes along. How fast you are traveling combines with how low the temperature is to create an extremely low windchill factor. When we ride in hot weather, stripping down to a t-shirt will allow our body moisture to just fly away. In the movies you don’t see those Bedouin Tribesman in the desert wearing shorts and a tank-top… Gotta be a reason there. Drink a LOT more than you think you need, and if you get to a stop and don’t need to use the rest room, then you’re not drinking enough. Hydrate !!! Wet your clothes down! Pour water on your head! Feeling very tired while riding in very hot or very cold weather is a BAD sign of things to come. Know when it’s time to take a break. A good time to stop is in that little town to buy whatever it is that you forgot to pack. Sometimes we get High… in the mountains, that is. Traveling in higher altitudes than we live in can cause a change in equilibrium, balance, and temperament. Be ready to recognize that.
So Ride, Ride, Ride !! Get out there and do it, and ride smart, and enjoy it ! Because on a bike, the Trip IS the Destination !
7/03
COMING UP NEXT ?
What’s right around the next bend in the road? Life is full of surprises, which is a good thing! Life would be awfully boring without them. As long as we expect surprises, we stand a better chance of surviving them.
Constant Surface Appraisal. That’s a necessity. If we train to use our eyes like airplane pilots do, it will keep us aware of all our surroundings and changing situations: Keep your eyes moving; never more than a second in any one place; scan the next 50 feet in front of your bike, the “immediate area”; scan the sides of the road, the treeline, (the parked cars and lawns, in town); look out to infinity; check the mirrors; back to the immediate area; No surprises. We’re looking for anything that could go wrong; looking for the fuzzy look of gravel in the next curve; The shiny look of anything wet; Motion; Any color that doesn’t belong.
There are 100,000 reported collisions with deer every year, and they don’t wear reflectors at night… be ready. After dusk, if something small, furry, and fast shoots across the road in front of you, be ready next for something large, furry, and fast chasing it.
Good tire tread and proper inflation can help keep you upright. A good pair of boots can save your ankle if you don’t stay upright. If there is anything unexpected in the road, and if you look at it for a second too long, (you know, target fixation) then that can lead you into other mistakes. If you miss seeing that patch of gravel in the curve, and enter the curve a bit wide or fast, then …“Physics Rules”… You want to turn more into the curve, but your bike wants to keep going straight. “A body in motion tends to stay in motion..” You know, all that “Newton” stuff. As riders, the one Newton rule we would rather not experience is “Gravity Sucks”.
If you are surprised, and need to stop abruptly, If you lock your rear wheel… then leave it locked ! A highside crash can be deadly.
Once you experience a close call, a “near miss”, or a “near hit”, then think about it:
What did I do right? What did I do wrong? What could have been done differently? Doing this will improve your chances of getting through the next one with the shiny side up. Read The Road, and … Ride Safe !
WHAT COST, THAT DRINK?
We shop for a good deal on a bike, search for a good mechanic who does reasonably priced repairs, and compare prices on accessories and gasoline. Saving a buck can be tough these days. Being cost conscious should also make us concerned about that car waiting to make a left turn at the next intersection. If the driver has been drinking, he or she could cost you thousands and thousands of dollars…or cost your family way more than that to pay off your funeral expenses… and even way more than that for your family to support themselves for the next forever without you around. That person who has been drinking and jumps in the car or on the bike has their own expenses to be concerned about. They can be arrested for a DUI/DWI after only four drinks. The average DUI arrest will end up costing about fifteen thousand dollars before it’s over, and cause tons of grief to the family and friends. If they cause a collision while they have been drinking, they may have to live forever with the memory of the kid whose death they caused because of a couple of brews or some nice table wine at dinner.
If someone has a couple of drinks, that alcohol should theoretically be out of their system in a couple of hours. Four drinks, four hours. That’s how the average body processes alcohol. Tests have shown that only two drinks causes from 35% to 50% longer reaction time to an emergency situation… not to count longer perception time and the possible inability to make the correct decision on what action should be taken.
The National Safety Council reviews arrest records and estimates that on any given day, one out of every fifty drivers around you is drunk… that number changes to one in every ten drivers around you on Friday and Saturday nights! Is that the one approaching you at the next intersection? In half of all single-vehicle motorcycle accident fatalities, the rider had been drinking, and alcohol is involved in half of all motor vehicle fatalities. Even if the pedestrian down the block looks directly at you, don’t trust them to make the correct decision; Of all the adult pedestrians killed by cars every year in this country, forty percent of the pedestrians were drunk at the time they were killed! And twenty five percent of the adult bicyclists were drunk when they were hit by other vehicles and killed.
So be careful out there! Hey, we’re adults… Drink what you want, but ride sober, and think defensively so that you’re not trusting anyone around you to make the right move. Ride Safe, Ride Sober, and Ride Smart.
This article is dedicated to the memory of Jim Mitchell.