It’s summer, it’s South Florida, and it’s HOT. And since we like to heat things up even
more by riding around sitting on top of an air cooled engine, we need to be
mindful of one of the largest hot weather riding hazards.
There are a number of heat related illnesses ranging from
the most common, Heat Cramps and Heat Exhaustion, to the quite serious Heat
Stroke and Heat Collapse. However, the
prime contributors to all of these conditions seem to be excessive loss of
fluids and excessive loss of electrolytes (mostly salt).
When we are working or playing sports in hot weather, we are
aware that we are loosing a lot of fluid because we get sweaty. But when we are riding we may get fooled
because the wind is continually drying (and cooling) us. The best information I have found shows that
when riding in 90-degree weather we loose between 10 and 20 ounces of fluid per hour (depending on size and physical
condition), and we may not notice it.
The best thing we can do when we ride in the summer is to
drink and keep drinking:
-Drink before you ride and make sure
you are fully hydrated before you leave.
-Drink while you are riding, even though you may not feel thirsty. (A common aspect of heat related illness is insufficient thirst drive.)
-Drink whenever you stop, and keep
on drinking until your “pee breaks” are at their normal interval.
-Drinking plain old water is always
a good choice. And if you are drinking
plain water, a little salty junk food will increase your thirst and
replace some electrolytes.
-Drinking sports drinks (like
Gatorade) will replace the fluid and also help replace electrolytes. It has
been found that sports drinks work even better if diluted at least 1 to 1 with
water.
-Drinking anything with caffeine or
alcohol should be avoided. Both are
diuretics and do more harm than good.
Next month we’ll look at some ways to reduce the rate of
fluid loss. So keep drinking out there, and
The Right Line
Did you ever walk into a party or a bar and wish you had
just the right line? Well I can’t help
you with that; but I can discuss proper cornering.
When we hear commentary on a motorcycle or a car race, they
always talk about the drivers “finding the right line” through the
corners. What they are referring to is
the path through the corner, which provides the most traction and allows
maintaining maximum speed. While I hope
we are not looking for maximum speed out there, we certainly do want to
maintain maximum traction.
It’s really pretty simple and instinctive to do. Just go through the corners “outside-inside-outside”.
-Enter the turn on the outside of
your lane (the side farthest away from the apex of the turn).
-Look all the way through the turn
and spot your desired exit point.
-As you approach the apex of the
turn, allow your bike to drift to the inside of your lane (nearest the apex)
-As you complete the turn, allow
your bike to drift back to the outside of your lane to your target exit point.
By using this technique you have “straightened out” the turn
making it less severe and giving yourself the ability to corner with more
traction and safety margin.
This technique works on all types of turns (as you can see
in attached illustrations). And one of the reasons we ride in the “stagger”
formation on group rides is to allow each rider the use of the full width of
the lane so they can turn “outside-inside-outside”. So if you are not using
this technique automatically, give it a try and I bet you’ll like it, and
Ride Safe And Have Fun
Safety Dude
Don’t Try
to Use More Than You Have
We talk a lot about riding around on two wheels. However, in fact we are riding around on two
“Traction Patches”. The traction
patches are the area of contact between our tires and the road. They are about the size of the shaded oval
on this page (about 7 square inches) and they provide the entire amount of
traction we have to work with. In the
MSF courses we refer to this as our “Traction Reserve”.
As you know, traction is what keeps the bike connected to
the road, and allows us to control it.
If we try to use more traction than we have in our reserve, we skid. We use a little of our traction accelerating, but we use it most
in turning and braking. That is why a
good rider never turns and brakes at the same time. And since a swerve is just two quick linked turns, we should
never swerve and brake at the same time either.
There will be times when it is necessary to both turn (or
swerve) and brake, but remember to separate the two actions. Its fine to turn, straighten out, and then
brake; or brake and then turn. But make
sure whenever you need to aggressively brake, you do it with the wheels straight.
In the Experienced Rider Course, riders have an opportunity
to learn and practice the skill of pulling the bike upright in the middle of a
turn and then aggressively braking to a stop.
It’s a skill that everyone should have and practice, and you will find
several of our members who can tell you how it saved their butts (just ask
Chrys or Maria).
So start building your skill of separating turning and
braking, and
Ride And Have Fun
The Never-ending Ride
One of the things we suggest to new riders in the MSF Basic
Rider Course is to always do a pre-ride check. We also suggest that the best time to do it is before your current
ride ends.
As you are nearing the end of a ride it is an ideal time to
mentally assess how you did on this one, and what you might want to try
differently the next time. It might be
a change in your routine for approaching an intersection, finding a better line
through curves, or anything that felt a bit uncomfortable that you can work to
improve on the next ride.
The end of a ride is also the ideal time to assess how your
bike is performing. Every ride changes
a bike in some subtle way: clutch or throttle cables may have stretched a
little, belt and chain tensions may be slightly off, or perhaps the steering
has become a little looser. These
things happen gradually and we adjust to them, but rather than adjusting, we
should get them fixed. So it’s very
good practice to take a few minutes in the last few miles of a ride and be
sensitive to anything that may need adjustment or repair.
But the most important time to start the next ride is when
you shut the engine off. Every owner’s
manual has a pre-ride checklist (TCLOCS for you MSF Graduates), but they don’t
tell you that the best time to perform these checks is at the end of
your ride. That way if you find a minor problem you have time to fix it before
your next ride and avoid rushing around to do last minute repairs or
adjustments; and if you find a major problem, you have time to get your bike to
a shop to have it fixed. That way you won’t be tempted to ride when your bike
is not 100%.
Finally, it is a good idea to park your bike with a full
tank. This not only has you ready to start the next ride, but also will prevent
the start of any rust. So think of your
rides as never-ending, and
Ride Safe and Have Fun
A FINAL THOUGHT
Did you ever wonder how they have Interstate Highways in
Hawaii?
Over the past three years I have written about a number of
things which I hope may have helped some of you be more skillful and safer
riders. I’d just like to leave you with
one final thought: The best riders,
like the best athletes of any kind, never stop practicing and trying to get
better.
So whenever you go for a ride, pick some aspect of your
riding skill and consciously practice it.
It might be making smoother more precise turns, proper stops (using both
brakes fully), more stable starts, or anything you think might need a bit of
polishing. During that ride practice the skill until you are satisfied with
your ability, and pretty soon it will be a permanent riding habit.
I’d like to close by letting you know that I have felt
privileged to serve as your Safety Officer for the last three years. I am pleased that with your cooperation and
the efforts of some dedicated and dependable Road Captains, we have logged
about 200,000 rider miles without a crash or a serious incident. Thanks to all, and
Ride Safe and Have Fun
Safety Dude