Then when I left School, I went out and bought a bike instead of a car first up. A CB400 four, 197? model. It was still a late model bike then
I only had it a short time, then had a windfall, and bought a brand new Ducati 1000 mille desmo. Never had a licence though
A family at a young age forced the sale of the Ducati, and I never rode again until the Early 90's then.
A housemate at the time, had CBR1000 then a VFR750. This rekindled my desire, and very soon I had myself a bike again. From hence forward, was when I really progressed in my riding. At first I really had no idea what I was doing (Not a lot has changed hey?)
. I was all over the place, like a lot of riders are at first.
Back then, rider training was pretty much thin on the ground. There were no internet forums yet, as the internet was pretty much non existent. Access to experienced riders thoughts were restricted to what you could gather at each of the stopping or meeting points on a weekend ride, and where for the most part often misguided information, more often than not each conflicting with the others thoughts.
So pretty much back then you learnt by trial and error.
Approach a turn faster than your brain could handle, and then struggle your way thru the turn, hopefully learning by each of your mistakes or suffering the obvious lemming consequences. It certainly provided loads of Darwin theory ammunition over the years.
I think back to how I rode back then, and how I ride now, and it makes me think that there must be loads of talented and experienced people in here with a wealth of information to assist newer less experienced riders in gaining skills and confidence. The only problem being, that as before, each rider has differing opinions, more often than not based on what experiences they have had up to that point.
So with the obvious risk of a million posts disagreeing with me, I am going to share a thought with you, which changed things dramatically for me a long time ago. It was something a very fast road rider said to me quietly one day. His comment stuck in my head, and it allowed me to move through the mental barrier I had in my riding, and it is the one thing even today, which has assisted me in staying on the bike when faced with a challenging riding situation.
The majority of single vehicle motorcycle accidents, near accidents or incidents can be narrowed down to one factor.!!! i will paint a picture and see if it rings any bells with anyone???
Group ride. Sunny day, with clear and clean roads. You are riding in a group of 10 or so riders. The leader is a mate of yours, who rides OK, but is a little slower than you most days. You tag onto his/her tail and follow them along. They see you in the mirrors, and immediately you notice the red mist fall over their visor. They wick it up, gassing the shit outta it to keep ahead of you. In their endeavours to keep ahead of you, they extend themselves further than their comfort zone, and actually start riding slower!!!!!!!
They are jumping on the brakes hard and really late, tipping it in, grabbing more brakes mid turn, running wide, and generally heading for a crash.
After one such day riding like this, the person I spoke of, pulled me aside at lunch, and had a little chat with me about what was going on. He quizzed me as to how i felt while i was trying to keep ahead of him, only succeeding in making a twat of myself, running wide and doing all sorts of scary shit. I basically told him that I was shitting myself thru every turn.
His question to me was WHY??? I thought about it, and then said that basically, when I tipped it in, I lost confidence that my tyres were going to grip!!!! And as soon as this happened, My brain forced me to brake and stand up the bike, hence running wide. Of course I blamed everything but me before that. it was the bike, the suspension, the tyres were shit, the brakes were fading (it was my brain tha was really fading
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You see it on the race track with the professional racers all the time. They tip it in to a turn after about 3/4 race distance when the tyres are starting to walk around, and often have outbraked only themselves, and although they could make the turn the brain forces them to think, "it isnt gunna grip" and they stand it up n run wide, when they could have actually made the turn had they just layed it on it's side. I have done it myself, both on the track and on the road.
The comment this guy made to me on that day which really changed things for me was this.
If you have a bike which works as it should, and tyres which are in good condition and are inflated to the correct pressure for the conditions, and you have given the tyres 4-5 klms of riding to warm them up sufficiently. The road is clean and dry, then..........."trust you tyres" they WILL GRIP!!!!
Next time you lean it into a turn, and crap yourself that you are not gunna make it. Don't jump on the brakes and stand it up. Remain calm, trust your tyres and just lean it over a little further. You will run out of clearance well before the tyres let go!!!
Most of it is fear in our heads. Survival mechanism, telling us we are gunna die, which overides our skills confidence and forces us to distrust the tyres. Trust them. They will grip provided they are in good nick etc.,
It will take practice, and for you to push your boundaries a little, but it is the most valuable lesson i have learnt in riding a motorcycle.
Cheers
andi - 
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