Hula and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance

 Diary of a Newbie Rider
 

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2005

August, 2005

While on our honeymoon, Manu and I rode about 1,500 miles and a few of the days were somewhat damp, with rain and fog limiting visibility to about the length of a semi's trailer, and sometimes significantly less. On one of these delightful evenings, we were returning to the cottage love-nest he had selected when a gentleman, to use the term exceptionally loosely, who had been enjoying some form of mind-altering substance, decided to pull out of a side road directly in front of me. Having noticed a dim glow in the fog ahead, I already had implemented emergency braking manouovers (EBM-02-RAIN/OIL) and had knocked the gears all the way down by the time the glow resolved into a dark sedan about two bike lengths in front of me.

Completing his turn, the gentleman continued up the highway at about 10, maybe 15 miles per hour, accellerating to perhaps 20. In my mirrors, I could see the glow of the following traffic brightening at an alarming rate as my beloved valiently covered my backside, in which he now has a vested interest.

Once assured of my immediate safety, my knight in soggy leather roared past me, making an impressive showing of light and sound. His Ultra Classic, a Harley product which outweighs most economy cars, and sports a lightbar worthy of a small long-haul truck, bellowed threats with every blip of the throttle.

I, behind, was impressed as the driver pulled over and then cowered, hiding his head from my Beloved's wrath. Only later did I learn from my Beloved that the gentleman had pulled over thinking the police were chasing him, and then passed out.

During all this, I realized that my bike, now in first gear, and with large heavy wheeled objects closing rapidly, was in serious danger of being smacked from behind. As my Beloved's bike had been roaring and snarling, I had been desperately trying to get out of first gear. Many kicks and blips later, I finally had matched engine and road speed and was on my way.

After we were safely in our love nest, my Beloved told me it was very hard for him to be intimidating with his snarling machine when I was back there going, "WHIRR! WHIRRRRRRR!!!!! WHIRRRR!!!!!"

Learning to get comfortable with your bike

     Practice, practice, practice! For those of us starting to ride in middle age, a planned program of practice is a HUGE help.
     I go out at odd hours when there is little traffic and practice my trouble spots (like uphill stopsigns with right-hand turns) until I am confident and comfortable. Then, where there is traffic, I can concentrate on the other drivers and  assorted road hazards, rather than trying to figure out how to get my bike to do what I want.
     Some of the very BEST training around is the Motorcycle Safety Foundation RiderCourse. In the State of Hawai`i, for only $150, over four days  you get 10 hours of  "groundschool," 14 hours on one of their practice motorcycles, a textbook, and access to some really well trained instructors. For many of us, finding a bike to learn on is a real challenge. After all, who is going to loan out a few-thousand dollar machine to someone who is certainly going to break it a few times? 
     The MSF RiderCourse takes students through a building-block style training program in which skills are taught and layered in a logical and progressive fashion. As a teacher, I was truly impressed with the methodology and effectiveness of the program.
     While the course is fun, safety is always foremost, and learning to predict and prevent accidents comprises a large part of the training. The course also helps students to decide which type of motorcycle is best for them.
     Since graduating (which got me out of my road test and saved 15% on my insurance) in May of 2001, I've met many new people, and made dear new friends. I may have embarked on this new project as a response to my "mid-life crisis," but whatever it took, I sure am glad I did finally decided to

Live my Dream!