Prepare Yourself

 

A few days ago I posted this video on the KLK Cycles Facebook page. A sportbike rider has a severe mishap while riding on a track. His clip on handlebar becomes detached, which is basically catastrophic at the rate of speed this bike was going. The rider calmly straightens the bike out and slows down, eventually coming to a stop. The level of calm this rider had in a terrible situation is remarkable!

While, I hope you never find yourself in a similar situation, I think that a rider should be mentally prepared to react to an emergency without panicking. This is WAY easier said than done, but running through these situations in your head can never hurt. What would you do if one of your tires blew out, or your drive chain/belt snapped? Figure out the most likely mishaps you might find yourself in and think your way out of them. This will train yourself to react correctly in an emergency.

I've only had one major mechanical mishap in my motorcycle riding lifetime. It was on my first bike, a 1977 Yamaha DT 100. I had just replaced the throttle cable that day. As a twelve year old kid, my mechanic skills were far from perfect. I mis-routed the cable and it was nearly kinked in one place. When I made the initial ride with my newly replaced cable, the throttle became stuck at full, when I was in 5th gear (top speed for this bike)! Luckily, I didn't panic and just pulled in the clutch and quickly flipped the killswitch. I hadn't thought about any of this ever happening, but like I said, I was lucky! I guess you can say I learned that lesson early in my riding life!

"Life is ten percent what you experience and ninety percent how you respond to it." - Dorothy M. Neddermeyer