It was fun until I had a moment of indicision and went flying across an intersection and landed in the ditch.
I came out of it with only a few scratches and a really badly bruised ego ... and a 900$ bill in parts.
That's the extent of my motorcycling. :-)
Very glad to hear that you're ok.
I am the first to say to anyone that motorcycling isn't for everyone. First thing first, riding requires both respect, fear, confidence, and a little bit of talent and sheer blind luck.
Rule #1, Unless you have been blessed by St. Christopher, everyone goes down at some point.Before you ever get on a bike, you need to fully understand and accept that -- because of many factors, the worst of which are other drivers -- motorcycling is more dangerous mode of travel than a car, or even a convertible. You COULD die. Accept rule #1, and you can move towards riding.
In short: Motorcycling is not about taking risks, it's about weighing, and accepting the associated risks while working to minimize them at every single moment.
Rule #2, you are NEVER a master of a motorcycleEvil Knievel taught us that 35% of the time he jumped. If he can't be perfect, who can?
Rule #3, a little bit of fear is a good thing. Be respectful of what you're doing. When you're climbing on a motorcycle, whether a 75cc moped, a GSXR1100, or an 1800cc GoldWing touring motorcycle, you are putting your faith in yourself that you have the ability -- if not the training -- to handle everything the road can throw at you.
That sometimes includes "flying" turkeys trying to get across the road quickly.
Motorcycles are not the place for you if your mind is on where you want to go rather than watching where you are (and everyone else is) going.
Too much fear on the other hand doubles your risks at any given moment. Everyone has scary moments on bikes. If you have a quick scare, pull over, figure out what happened, ask yourself if you could have done anything better, calm down and breathe, then start again.
Rule #4, confidence.Bikes are psychic to their riders. If you look / think left, you'll go left. If you look / think right, you'll go right. If you think you're going to crash, guess what. YOU will find some way to do it.
While you need to pay attention to what you're doing, it's not you that you need to worry about, it's all the other idiots around you who are literally driving blind and deaf to motorcycles.
I always tell people it's not my job to ride the bike,
it's my job to make sure all the other idiots out there see me.Rule #5, if you're in a hurry, don't ride.When you leave the house 15 minutes late for work, you're never going to make up that 15 minutes in the 15 miles to work.
"Hurry" kills.Either accept that you're late, then take your time getting to work, even if that makes you 30 minutes late, or take another vehicle.
