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I recently got back into riding after a 2.5 year hiatus after the birth of my second child. Now I am back in the saddle and went with an R1200R. I also started commuting to work which takes me from a semi rural area to a large east coast city, so I see a bit of everything.
I also noticed I am a bit rusty and decided to really study safe motorcycle commuting and what other riders on the forum like to do to make it home after a commute.
Looking forward to some comments.
If you talk to god you are praying, if god talks to you, you are schizophrenic.
The best single advice that I live by is to "Ride like you're invisible" (not invincible).
Down here in "God's Waiting Room" as they call it, I truly am invisible to most of our gray-haired drivers,
so I never assume they see me.
Good advice. I thought about this after posting and there really isn't much of a difference between riding survival and commuting survival I suppose. One main this I notice is that when I commute I am going the same route over and over, so I try to recognize the danger spots in my commute and plan accordingly. One of the worst spots is where two major highways feed into each other, and the cars are all fighting for position to change lanes. Picking the right lane and lane position in this spot is key.
If you talk to god you are praying, if god talks to you, you are schizophrenic.
Another on a similar theme is to always position yourself so that you can be seen by drivers ahead and also vehicles you are following(i.e. do not ride in their blind spot).
And what about the grey haired motor-cyclists? There's alot of us about...
+1 on the tips so far. I always strive to NEVER be alongside a car, they have this bad habit of changing lanes without looking. This can be tough in heavy traffic though.
2wheels wrote:And what about the grey haired motor-cyclists? There's alot of us about...
Other motorcyclists can be just as dangerous as people in cars, I don't trust them either. In fact I don't trust anyone else on the road, period. They are all blind, dumb as a post, and trying to kill me.
yeah, I hate to say it, but I almost ride like I'm paranoid, and I find that when I'm on my motorcycle I'm 10x more attentive than when I'm in my car (I hate that this is true, but the distractions of kids, radio, bluetooth phone, etc..)..
I always think of an exit... I am extra paranoid of the oncoming left turners and keep myself far enough behind the car in front of me to be seen by oncoming traffic, and to the left of the left lane so that on coming traffic can see me coming, then when I finally enter the intersection, I add power and zoom thru it quickly.
Lastly, take a Intermediate rider course from MSF or your state equivalent as a nice refresher.. I have learned SOOO much from that course, even though I started riding 25 years ago, with my long break between, I needed the training and the learning.
2012 R12R "Classic" - ESA II, ABS II, ASC, Heated Grips, Computer, Windshield Sport
r1200rclassic wrote:Lastly, take a Intermediate rider course from MSF or your state equivalent as a nice refresher.. I have learned SOOO much from that course, even though I started riding 25 years ago, with my long break between, I needed the training and the learning.
That's a good idea. No matter how long you have been riding, there is always something new to be learned. This could probably be said about most things in life. I think I will also take a refresher / experienced riders MSF course soon.
And sometimes none of it matters. This weekend I went for a quick errand to the local auto parts store for a battery charger for my bike. I was going through an intersection as a pickup to my left coming down the hill lost his brakes and missed me by feet. Shook me up bad.
How the guy didn't hit anyone I will never know. I turned around to talk to the driver and he was more shook up than me. Turns out he races trucks offroad and his skills came in handy. In 22 years of riding this is as close being bumper meat as I have ever been.
I guess all you can do is be as careful as you can and hope for the rest to work out.
If you talk to god you are praying, if god talks to you, you are schizophrenic.
