Motorman’s Tips, Tricks and Techniques/ Surviving the Mean Streets

When it comes to riding a motorcycle, fear is a terrible thing. Fear will freeze up your arms, shoulders, hands and neck so tightly you will be unable to move your handlebars more than an inch in either direction. If you can’t move your handlebars, obviously, you will be unable to turn, lean or swerve away from an obstacle.

I’ve seen riders with this type of fear at some of my classes. Here’s what happens: The first exercise I have my students perform is a slow cone weave. Ten cones are set in a straight line 12 feet apart. I explain how to perform the exercise, and then I have my wife demonstrate it 3 or 4 times and explain exactly what she’s doing as the students are observing her. Next, the students give it a try. It takes most riders 2 or 3 passes through the cone weave to get the hang of it. The fearful rider, the one paralyzed with fear, rides straight down the line of cones running over every single one of them. I use a P.A. system and give directions to the fearful rider, but to no avail. The fearful rider hears the instructions but is so paralyzed with fear; he or she cannot make any adjustments or follow the directions. After 9 or 10 runs through the exercise with no improvement, I take the rider through the exercise on the back of my bike so they get the feel of what the motorcycle should be doing.

Then I move the cones further apart and have Mr. or Mrs. Fearful try it several more times. If there is still no improvement the class is over for that rider. That may sound harsh but my course is designed to improve a rider’s skills. In other words, you must have the basics down before you can improve upon those basic skills. I then recommend to the fearful riders, that they return to the beginners motorcycle safety foundation course (MSF) and obtain the basic skills, even if they have already been through MSF. The refresher is well worth it.

All the fearful riders I’ve encountered at my course have one thing in common, they are all riding heavyweight cruisers or touring motorcycles. I believe that the fear that so paralyzes them stems from being so intimidated by the size and weight of the bike they are attempting to ride. To test my theory, recently I put one of these fearful riders on my Yamaha 250cc motorcycle. This bike weighs slightly under 300 pounds. This particular fearful rider initially tried the course on a Harley Ultra. On the Ultra, he was so frozen with fear; he was unable to perform any of the exercises correctly. On the little 250, in a matter of moments, he was breezing through the exercises and able to absorb my instructions. Any mistakes he made, he was quickly able to correct with my coaching since his mind and body were no longer frozen in fear.

Now that this rider is able to use the proper techniques and understands how the motorcycle handles so much easier, my guess is, he’ll be able to transfer this knowledge and skill to the larger motorcycle. All motorcycles, regardless of their size or weight, can be maneuvered with ease using the proper techniques. But, if you are so frozen with fear, and you cannot apply the proper techniques, try learning on a lightweight motorcycle.

Either by taking the MSF beginners course, even if you already have your license or borrowing a friend’s smaller bike. This of course is assuming you already own a heavyweight cruiser. If you’re still riding a smaller bike, learn to ride it properly, safely and skillfully before moving up to a heavyweight motorcycle.

If you’d like to see the proper techniques in action, myself and my entire Ride Like a Pro Crew will be appearing all during Bike Week at the Daytona International Speedway. We’ll be set up right next to the Harley Davidson Demo Rides at the extreme south east corner of the Speedway parking lot. We’ll also have with us our brand new rider Stephanie Bertsos. If you’re not familiar, Stephanie is the 19 year old I trained to ride an 850 pound motorcycle like a pro in a matter of hours. In fact we filmed all of Stephanie’s progress from beginner training to riding like a pro on a documentary which you’ll soon be able to see on Speed Vision.

For more tips or to buy my Ride Like a Pro videos go to my website, www.ridelikeapro.com Till next month, get out there and practice!