Is it any wonder why May is "Motorcycle Safety Awareness" month? Great weather, beautiful green trees, winding roads, and a motorcycle ready and begging you to go play. So, let's go riding!

  

This week, I would like to focus on curves and twisty-turnies we run into once you get off the interstate and decide to ride the roads less traveled. Curves are the area where the most motorcycle "CRASHES" occur. Crash means that no other vehicles are involved, just you the motorcycle and yourself.... :) Let us go through the reasons why there are so many crashes.

  

1- Speed is the number one reason we crash at curves. When we enter a sharp curve going to fast and then need to stop quick, we have almost no options left when we need to do something. If we slow quickly (let off the throttle) the motorcycle thinks we are breaking. Either way the motorcycle reacts and you will not like the result. Just consider the phrase "Steel Horse" and think about what happens when you try to make a horse go where it does not want to go. Steel or Real Horse, the results and hurt will be the same.

  

2- Improper lane or track position when entering the curve, riding through the curve, and exiting the curve. MSF has videos and training on this "important skill" to practice and use when we are having fun riding so we continue to have FUN riding.

  

3- Wrong head position and wrong visual focus. We tend to look down at the road way too much already when we ride. When we do this on curves, we really and quickly realize why this is a bad habit. You will go where you look when you ride!

  

So, if I am going too fast, in the wrong position in the road, and now I am looking down at the double yellow line to my left as I go around a sharp left hand curve, and through my peripheral vision, I see that I am going over the double line and into the other lane as a dump truck is coming at me. What am I gonna do? This is why we say the options are little to none when we add these things up. we also see why this is the place we tend to kill ourselves the most when riding. Think about it.

  

This month we really want to focus on ourselves, our motorcycle, our gear, and our skills to make it as safe as possible when we go and have fun riding. Riding safe takes practiced skills and dedicated focus we can have all year.

  

Ride safe my friends.