The Motorcycle Safety Foundation offers many opportunities to improve your riding skills. The Advanced Ridercourse begins with a self assessment of risk offset. Basically, as a motorcycle rider how do you rate yourself as a risk taker knowing your own skill level? The more risks you are willing to take the better your skill needs to be.
The next topic was a discussion of total stopping distance which is made up of 3 parts: perception, reaction, and braking. A rider needs to be aware of their surroundings and imagine what could possibly happen… will the car turning left actually see you and stop? Will the truck abruptly change lanes because he is impatient with the traffic flow? Will the person texting come full speed through the intersection instead of stopping? A rider must be constantly running scenarios through your mind, playing the what if game to allow you to “respond” to a situation smoothly and well ahead of time instead of abruptly reacting in an emergent situation. If you perceive a problematic situation it allows time to respond, adjust speed and position, and brake in a controlled manner. If the rider is unaware of a situation and taken by surprise, they are more likely to react abruptly and require the use of emergency braking. Emergency braking is a skill that should be practiced regularly.
Braking and swerving factors were discussed. For optimal braking the front and rear brakes must be used together. If a quick stop is required, the pressure used to apply the brakes should not cause either wheel to lock up. To control a rear wheel skid the brake should remain activated keeping the rear wheel locked until stopped or only releasing the rear brake when the front and rear wheel are in alignment. If traction on a locked rear wheel that is not in alignment with the front wheel can result in a high-side fall. For a front wheel skid you can release and reapply the brake to gain control. Braking distance can be calculated by multiplying miles-per-hour times 1.5 giving you the feet traveled in one second, 60 mph=90 feet to stop as a general rule.
Body posture can assist with cornering. The COUNTERWEIGHT positioning is for slow, tight turns in limited space. This position keeps the motorcycle more upright taking less road width, which can be useful in narrow lanes. The counterweight position is also a useful tool in narrow curvy roadways allowing for quick transitions in reverse turns. The UPPER BODY SHIFT is a forward and in body position.The rider’s chin moves toward the mirror or handgrip and the chest and shoulders move forward and toward the turn side of the bike with the inside elbow bent more and pointed toward the turn. This is not an overly aggressive posture and allows the rider to adjust quickly if a change of path is needed.
Searching the curves and deciding on a path of travel is called Search-Setup-Smooth. Search is to look for factors that might affect your speed and lane position. Setup is to have an appropriate entry speed and lane position. Smooth is to use the motorcycle controls appropriately. Common choices for traveling through a curve at entry, apex, and exit are middle-middle-middle that keeps space on both sides and the outside-inside-outside lane position that decreases the turn radius and allows for improved line of sight. Some factors to consider in navigating curves are radius, length, slope, speed, traffic, runoff space, rider skills, sight distance, surface condition, motorcycle type, motorcycle condition, tire condition, and suspension adjustment among many others.
The beauty of the Advanced Ridercourse after reviewing and discussing these scenarios the riders practice these drills on their own motorcycles. The drills include curves, swerving, emergency braking, among many other challenges. The Rider coaches give a demonstration and are present on the course to give immediate feedback and suggestions to improve rider techniques. Every rider, no matter how seasoned, has room to grow and learn. Try the Advanced Ridercourse or if you are up for a real challenge try the Ultimate Bike Bonding. The Motorcycle Training Academy offers many different classes for a variety of skill levels. Once a class has been paid for they allow you to take the class again in the future if there are openings free of an additional charge. Look for more information at Motorcycletrainingacademy.com or call 719-380-1448.
