"Champions aren't made in gyms. Champions are made from something they have deep inside them. A desire, a dream, a vision, and a will stronger than their skill."
Muhammad Ali
The domain: Hoka Hey ACRG
will cease to exist in about October. We will then be:
and
This page will be used for tracking fundraiser success.
So Visit us Often
Meanwhile, I will share two things I promise you'll enjoy
1) A Few Survival Tips for the Road
2) A Ride I'll Never Forget
Survival Tips for the Road:
There are whole books on the topic of motorcycle safety. Having had the great honor and opportunity of being a professionally trained Harley-Davidson Motorcycle Test Rider, and having been taught by much better riders than myself, I picked up lots of unusual safety tips for high speed and high stress conditions. And though there is no magic bullet that always works, here are some tips that if followed will improve even the experienced riders, increasing their chances of living to ride another day.
Most motorcycle accidents occur within the first 6 months of ownership. Why? a) Unfamiliarity with motorcycles and general motorcycling safety rules, b) Over confidence coupled with inexperience, c) Stupidity. Though people making left hand turns in front of you is the most visual cause of car-motorcycle accidents, even most of those can be avoided as rider awareness increases. We will briefly address all three major causes.
It goes without saying that reasonableness, paying attention, predicting, reducing your speed, not showing off and obeying the laws and using common sense is the best safety tip you will ever receive from anyone. Time in the saddle is a great teacher and can solve most issues. But these tips here are things even most good and experienced riders who have ridden lots of miles over many years, don't know and wouldn't know unless some professional has trained them.
They are not here for your practice to become a fool on the street. They are here to help you in the event you should find yourself in a crisis.
First, realize that anyone with one leg, one arm and half a brain can drive a car and be pretty good at it. Bikes are totally different. They are a full body involvement vehicle that requires balance, timing, understanding, traction, attention, judgment, physical involvement and confidence.
Big Mistakes
On curves, especially tight curves, never break concentration. Regardless who or what is around or who is trying to talk to you. And don't try to multi-task while in the curves. Don't light cigarettes, change your I-Pod, or look to check your speed or look off to the side, etc. These actions have brought down many a good rider and sent them to the hospital and their bikes to either the repair shop or the junk yard.
The guy here is well into a curve, low, and foolishly takes the time to look and wave at someone on the edge of the road. Notice also he is high in the saddle and his face and upper torso are outside the centerline of the bike. His weight is all wrong for his speed and condition. His hand is off his bar and he's busy waving, looking, and being cool instead of riding.
Focus on your road ahead. Always keep your weight inside the curve, never on the outside of the curve. Keep your weight forward, not rearward. Many novice riders lean rearward in the curves, lean forward. Your most important traction wheel is your front wheel. Lean forward, lean inward.
Your mind is an incredible computer and can compute needs and can change your responses to fit the situation at hand in micro seconds. But only if you keep imputing data to it. So pay attention. When you break concentration and look away, when you look back your brain has to restart the calculation process. You zooming around a curve can end your computer being able to come up with what to do before it's too late. Focus on the road, never break concentration on curves or sweepers.
(NOTE: Sweepers are long gradual, higher speed curves. So you have twisties, curves and sweepers. Just like oil leaks. They are not all the same. You have weeps, seeps and leaks.)
As his mind comes back to what he is doing, he realizes too late, that he is in trouble. He's gone past dragging his floorboards, he's into his frame. The sparks under his bike tell the story. Dragging the frame on the ground is a blood curdling sound and feeling but it does not have to be a trip to the hospital. Notice again his weight and position? He is still too high and outside. He should be low and inside. His high position in the saddle has forced his bike down onto it's frame. It works like this: If you keep your weight up and out, the bike has to go down and in. If you keep your weight down and in, the bike can come up and out. Get it?? If you don't, watch a few motorcycle races and watch the racers themselves. Though you don't have to be as radical as they are, the concept is exactly the same and it could save your life.
The frame becomes a pivot point and can lift the tires off the road. Most people think when they hear dragging, they are dragging frame. Not true. Most of what you will hear is your pegs or floorboards. That's not a good idea or practice, but its not a crisis either. Dragging your frame is the beginning of a crisis and a sound and feeling you will never forget. That said, many a professional rider (including myself) has pushed the bike over past the pegs and onto the frame and has come out of the wobble it creates and continued on, accelerating out of the curve. It can be done, it's not a death kiss. When the frame digs into the pavement, it always creates an instant wobble. Expect it, don't panic, just ride it.
Keep the mindset that you can ride it out and not go down. If it wobbles, just ride it out. Cruisers drag easy and when they drag, they feel like you are riding a dolphin. Again, expect it, don't panic, just ride it. One of the most valuable pieces of training I received was this sentence. "Whatever the bike does, just ride it." I heard that over and over.
Notice that he is in a panic? Panic causes thinking and reaction to become slow and clumsy and muscle movement to be stiff. It is your enemy. Regardless of what happens, stay calm and ride the bike.
Notice also that he has locked up his front wheel. See the spokes? They are still. His rear wheel is still moving. He is in a "High-slide" A "Low slide" is when the rear wheel is locked up or giving way. Once you lock up the front wheel, it becomes a skate, not a wheel and you will slide in the direction of the inertia. Never lock up your wheels, your front wheel especially. If you find you are coming into a curve and you are too hot, don't panic. Get your blubber forward and over the tank. Your face over or near your bars. Only one-finger feather the brakes--at very most, and focus on where you want the bike to go and NEVER LOOK AT WHERE YOU DON'T WANT TO GO. Like off the edge of the road or into traffic.
Your mind is amazing, it will calculate things and you will go where you look. If you focus on the edge of the road and scream "I DON'T WHAT TO RUN OFF THE ROAD" or "I DON'T WANT TO HIT THAT", your mind will calculate you right into where you don't want to be if that is where you are looking. Try this. The next time you are on a freeway, focus on the lane lines or the little lane indicator bump-pads and try to change lanes without hitting them with your tires. Or the next time you are backing a trailer through a gate, focus on the edge of the gate and try not to hit it. You will see that you have to look where you want to go and not where you don't want to go. If you want to stay on the road, never look anywhere except ahead. Never!!! Looking back and forth from where you are heading and where you want to go will give your mind too much to calculate and will give it too many breaks in concentration. Over-ride your fears and keep your eyes 50 to 100 yards on the road ahead of you. Focus on the road, forget the grinding, lean low, lean forward and lean inward.
Your bike is designed to be able to take far more than the unprofessional or Novice rider can give it. So as they said over and over throughout my Harley-Davidson training, "Trust the tires, trust the bike." Be easy on the gas, either feather the brakes or use no brakes, steady-steady, lean forward, lean in, look ahead and at the right time (if you are beginning to wobble) slow-roll the throttle on.
If you are taking a sweeper and you are too fast (say 70mph in a 50mph sweeper) but not dragging anything, letting off the throttle will cause you to wobble and to drift inward of the curve you are making. If it is a left hand sweeper, you will wobble and drift left toward on-coming traffic. If it is a right hand sweeper, you will wobble and drift right and toward the edge of the road or into the lane next to you.
The antidote? Don't panic, lean forward a little, lean in a little, focus where you want to go, steady the throttle and ride the bike. A full deceleration can steady you too, if you put your weight where it belongs and keep your focus where it belongs. But usually a steady hold of the throttle or a slow-roll-on works best. Believe it or not, it will keep you steady and keep you from wobbling and drifting through the curve.
Breaking through a curve will cause 4 things. a) a wobble, b) your bike to straighten up, as if someone were pulling it upward, c) aim you toward the outside of the curve, and, d) increases your chances for loss of traction. Bikes are all about traction. The more you have, the safer you are.
One last thing about brakes. If you lock up the rear, keep it locked up and ride it until you come to a complete stop. It will sway back and forth underneath you, you will feel like you are riding a dolphin, but it will follow the front tire well enough for you to stay upright. Just steer the bike and ride it to a stop. If you let up on the rear brake you will most likely vault from the bike as the rear tire will instantly catch traction and jerk the bike straight. Try some dirt-bike riding. You will notice that you can lock up the rear tire and ride it to a stop even with it swaying back and forth.
Notice that his front wheel is now moving? That the spokes are now blurry? Never lock the front wheel. If you do it on a curve, you'll go into a high-slide, the bike will follow the inertia and slip out from under you.
Second thing about this photo, notice where he is? He's doing a face plant on the pavement. Why? Because he put his foot down. It is a huge mistake that new, Novice and untrained riders make. Putting their feet down when their bike starts to wobble or grind. It is a natural reaction, but it is also an instant loss of control of the bike. It throws you into an instant wobble and it can drag you off the bike or break your leg or a combination of both. Resist the urge to put your feet down. If you are going faster than 3 miles an hour, keep your feet on the pegs. You cannot steady the bike with your feet when it is moving so don't try. Instead, look ahead, lean low, lean forward, lean in and RIDE THE BIKE!!!
The last thing that can be learned from this photo? Protective gear. How long of a stint in the hospital do you think he spent and how painful was his recovery because he was just wearing a sleeveless t-shirt?
Last but not least, don't play the fool out there. Anticipate that left turners and other drivers don't see you. Decide to follow the law, to not show off, or to try and impress someone. Don't be goated into competing with someone else or to comparing riding skills. Ride safe, ride slow, ride long. There is a saying, "There are old motorcycle riders and their are bold motorcycle riders, but there are no old-bold motorcycle riders."
I'm not trying to be mean or uncaring about what happened to this poor fellow, I'm just using this tragedy to hopefully help you in the event you ever find yourself in this type of situation.
On the brighter side
A Most Memorable Ride
It happened like this...
After many months of riding to work everyday, the same time, through the same intersections, seeing the same people in the same cars, I started telling myself that, “One of these days, I’m going to keep on riding. I’m not going to turn into that parking lot, I’m not going to go to work, I am just going to keep on riding.”
I always left for work at 6:00 AM in the morning just as the day was beginning and at the most beautiful part of the day. Everything is at its best, its freshest and the call of the wild is at its strongest then.
Well, one morning in the Fall of 2007, I got up the same time as usual, took my shower as usual, got ready, dressed in my uniform as usual, walked out into the garage rolled up the garage door as usual to roll out my bike and go to work. After I rolled my bike out, I turned and looked at the eastern sky. I could not believe the morning. It had rained about 2 days before and the smell was incredible. The temperature was cool, the clouds were spotted and scattered in the sky, the sun was breaking on the Superstitions and the bottom of the clouds were as if they were on fire. It was the perfect day.
The sky was absolutely gorgeous and the smell was incredible. As I put on my leathers and prepared for my journey, I started saying to myself, “I think today is the day.” As I rode down the same streets, though the same intersections, seeing the same people at the same times, I just kept repeating in my mind those words, “I think today is the day.” I went the same route as usual, turning west onto Main at Lindsay as usual, where I could see that same 8 story glass building that was my destination. Each passing mile, I could not stop myself from thinking,
“This is the day. ...I’m going to do it today.”
At Center Street and Main, I turned north to turn into the parking lot where I parked my bike. But this time, I just pulled over alongside the road. I flipped up my visor, and looked into the parking lot and then looked down the road. Back into the parking lot, and then back down the road. On the third time that I looked into the parking lot and back down the road, I smiled, I flipped my visor down, rolled on the throttle, let the clutch out and took off.
I went north on Center, cut across the Gila Indian Reservation, headed west to Wickenburg where I ate breakfast. I then headed up Yarnell Hill, rode through the mountains and the forest into Prescott, went over the mountain to Jerome, up into Sadona, rode up Oak Creek Canyon and into Flagstaff. I ate lunch in Flag, headed out around the Snow Bowl, back into Flag, rode down past Lake Mary, across the Magollon Rim, down into Strawberry, Pine, Payson and I arrived back home at around supper time.
I rode a little over 450 miles and I had the time of my life and never once felt bad. I pulled into the driveway almost the same time as usual, went inside and hollered, “Honey, I’m home” as usual and sat down for dinner. I had a terrific day with no guilty conscience at all for what I had done.
Of course, …it was my day off, …but so what!!
…It was what I always wanted to do!!
That day will be a day I will never forget. No matter how long I live. Why? Because it was all about freedom. Incredible freedom!!
Goofy? ...Yeah! ...But worth it? ...Oh yeah!!
Remember to always...
...always...
Infusionsoft
866-800-0004
San Tan Ford
866-629-5966
Keith Salyer
American Family Insurance
480-969-6404
Joeta's Leather
480-827-1868
Skunk Motorsports Inc.
480-649-2800
Superstition Harley-Davidson
480-346-0600
...live the dream.
"We don't see things the way they are,
we see things the way we are."
Talmund
Ask the Lord's help
...to live your dream.
...do it...
