Reprinted from the June, 2007 BMW Owners News, with permission of the BMW MOA and Roger Wiles
by, Roger WilesYou began riding many years ago; like so many of us, you may have simply swung a leg over a motorcycle, listened carefully as your neighbor explained how the controls worked, and then let out the clutch and rode the motorcycle up and down your suburban street, teaching yourself how to shift the gears and use the brakes. Riding slowly in a straight line, and making turns were a little bit challenging at first, but you quickly got the hang of it.
Riding in your small town’s traffic was a new experience, but you really had no problems. Riding home one afternoon, you rounded a curve in your neighborhood and suddenly felt you were going too fast. Next thing you knew, you and the motorcycle were laying on the ground in someone’s lawn. One mirror was broken off, and you had some minor bruises, but no real damage was done. When your riding buddies asked about the mirror, and the scrapes on the muffler, you told them about the curve, and said, “I just had to lay her down.” Your buddies nodded sagely.
Perhaps marriage, a mortgage, kids and a career intruded, and you took some years off from riding, but you always remembered the fun, the freedom, the pure exhilaration of riding a motorcycle, and decided to get a bike again. This time, the machine was a good bit heavier, with more power, and you remembered your excursion into the neighbor’s yard, so you began riding in a parking lot for several days before once again venturing out into traffic. But, it all came back, and you quickly became comfortable on the motorcycle, and began piling up the miles, the state lines and the rallies.
Recently, a co-worker who has never ridden before was chatting with you at the coffee break, and announced, “I’m buying a motorcycle, and I’ve signed up for the safety course! The dealer is delivering the bike next Saturday, and I’ll have to leave it in the garage until after I take the course. I just can’t wait!” Then, THE QUESTION: “Have you ever taken the safety course?”
Well, no. I don’t need to take it. I already know how to ride; I taught myself back when I was a teenager, and I’ve been riding, on and off, for nearly twenty years.
Right? Well, yes and no. Such a motorcyclist does ‘know how to ride;’ that is, they know how the controls operate, and may have successfully ridden quite a few tens of thousands of miles – they must ‘know how to ride.’ What is probably missing is a conscious mental knowledge and awareness of both the basic operational actions and maneuvers, and emergency hazard-avoidance procedures. Such riders’ ‘knowledge’ is largely, if not totally, instinctive and intuitive, rather then consciously intellectual and logical. Much, or all, of such knowledge is often unavailable to the brain and mind when trouble appears, suddenly as it often does, and such riders are often left without the proper responses and maneuvers. As a result, a dangerously high percentage of self-trained riders are hurt and killed each year.
“Practice Makes Perfect,” right? No, not really. Practicing the wrong technique simply means that the rider has become proficient and habitual in the wrong, potentially hurtful technique.
What are the advantages of periodic professional motorcycle-rider training? How can this type of training equip riders to deal with situations that will occur, someday? Students in such courses are taught – in fact, are led to ‘learn for themselves’ – in a progressive, step-by-step manner, both the actual physical motions and actions to cause the bike to behave as the rider wishes, and the underlying rationale for each of these actions. Learning these procedures, by both listening to an instructor, talking about the material in the classroom and on the practice-range or track, and actually riding exercises and receiving feedback – both from the motorcycle itself, and the observant instructors, builds this conscious, mental intellectual awareness of the proper movements under all riding conditions. Now, this ‘riding-knowledge’ is available for instant-recall when emergencies arise – as they inevitably will.
In addition to the conscious knowledge of proper techniques, students learn a number of helpful mental strategies that can make the traffic-management puzzle much easier to both remember and solve, well in advance of impending danger, in a relaxed, low-stress approach; riding without undue pressure and panic, enables riders to execute precise, smooth and correct maneuvers, when necessary, and helps riders rely more on brain-power, instead of riding-skills, to avoid hazards. Of course, responsible riders regularly hone those critical riding skills, so that they are readily available, and reliable, when needed.
Piloting an airplane, or better yet, a helicopter, has frequently been likened to riding a motorcycle; all hands and feet are involved, as is the brain. Flying has been described as; “Hours of mind-numbing boredom, interrupted by brief moments of sheer panic!” So that the proper responses are readily available when those ‘moments of sheer panic’ occur, pilots regularly train, re-train, study, and complete proficiency check-rides, so as to keep those emergency responses – both the physical ones as well as the mental ones – sharp and available for instant-recall. In an emergency, such pilots are rarely left with a mind filled with nothing more than the helpless, empty sense of sheer panic. The brain, hands and feet instantly begin working together in harmony, smoothly and precisely, to solve the pilot’s problems. Consider…
Would you fly in an airliner, knowing that the handsome, confident, distinguished-looking pilot completed his flight-training twenty-five years ago, and has not taken any refresher-training, or completed a proficiency check-ride since that time? “NO!” is the right response. Statistically, riding a motorcycle in traffic carries greater risk than flying.
Not only is rider-training crucial for the beginning rider, and the experienced self-trained rider, but periodic refresher training – courses such as the MSF’s ‘Experienced Rider Course,’ track-days and track-schools, off-road training, and much more - will help riders keep their skills and cognizant-awareness of proper technique sharp. Bad habits can creep into our riding, and such periodic re-training can help us recognize and correct these bad habits that can hurt and kill us.
Remember our friend’s slide-out and-fall excursion into the neighbor’s lawn? Fortunately, there was no curb between the roadway and the front-yard, and our rider suffered nothing more than scrapes on the bike and body. But why did this crash happen? What could the rider have done to prevent this crash?
Almost certainly, this motorcyclist – self-trained, and relying on experience-only learning, entered the curve too fast (Incorrect Entry Speed), and immediately ‘sensed’ that he was going too fast to make the turn. His untrained ‘senses’ were in fact faulty – it is very likely that he could have completed the curve without difficulty, if he had the conscious mental awareness of the proper responses to his situation. Once he became aware that his entry speed was higher than he expected, his proper response would be to press more (pressing forward) on the inside handgrip to make the motorcycle lean more, and therefore, turn sharper; to hold his throttle at a steady speed to keep the chassis stable. He would continue to look all the way through the turn, despite the very real – and incorrect – and almost-overwhelming temptations to look in panic at the outside edge of the road, snap the throttle closed, and ‘stomp’ on the rear-brake.
Having the correct and reliable information instantly available to his mind and brain as a result of formal training would have most likely enabled this rider to easily overcome these instinctive-and-incorrect tendencies, apply correct technique, safely negotiate the curve, and quickly consider how to avoid this kind of problem in the future (self-feedback). But, sadly, the correct information was simply not available to his mind, and our friend incompetently crashed a perfectly good motorcycle for no good reason; “I had to lay’er down!”
So, if you are among the self-taught, if you have never taken formal motorcycle-rider training, statistics say that you are twice as likely to crash. If you learned from Dad or Aunt Susie, you may be three times more likely to crash, as compared to those who were properly trained. Consider enrolling in a local riding class, such as those offered by the MSF, or other such professionals. If it has been awhile since you’ve been in the classroom and on the practice range, refresh and renew those skills, habits and strategies – remember, that Buick will be turning left in front of you someday, and the hay-bale will be falling off the pickup truck in the middle of a tight turn. Get it now, the good stuff – conscious knowledge of the proper skills, habits and strategies - that we all need…. because we will need it someday.
Go back periodically for refresher-training. Remember our pilot friend? If you wouldn’t fly with him, would you ride with yourself? Something to think about!
If you will be joining the MOA’s annual family reunion, the International Rally in Wisconsin, consider enrolling in the BMW MOA Foundation’s ‘Experienced Rider Course;’ details can be found on the Foundation’s Web site, and in the ON. Ride safe… and often!
The BMW MOA Foundation’s MotoSafe is intended to present responsible viewpoints on thoughtful and safe motorcycling skills and practices; the authors, the Foundation, the BMW MOA and the Owners News do not guarantee readers’ personal safety, and can take no responsibility for readers’ application of this material.
BMW MOA members who are professional motorcycle safety trainers are invited to submit articles for inclusion in MotoSafe Please contact Roger Wiles (roger@rogerwiles.com or 9223 Hill St, Blairsville, GA 30512) for submission guidelines and instructions.
The BMW MOA Foundation is a not-for-profit, tax-exempt Public Educational Foundation dedicated to increasing and promoting the safe and enjoyable sport of motorcycling to all members of the moto-community. Tax-exempt donations to the Foundation will provide funding for current and new Foundation Projects & Programs. Contact Foundation Headquarters at: PO Box 3982, Ballwin, MO 63022 - (636) 394-7277 - for further information