Deftone
I am not weird, you are.
This traffic has turned me into a straight up aggressive rider.. you have to be to survive..
This.
This traffic has turned me into a straight up aggressive rider.. you have to be to survive..
"Aggressive" isn't a useful word because it doesn't distinguish between whatever it is you're trying to describe and truly pathological riding. I could post dozens of news stories about dead "aggressive" riders.This.This traffic has turned me into a straight up aggressive rider.. you have to be to survive..
I know experience and comfort zone is the key here, but was hoping some folks had some additional tips that I could try to put into practice.
Enchanter's advice helped me when I was first starting out.
Another good place to practice wind riding is on 280 between SF and DC. It's usually fairly gusty there and the siping on the road is a trip.
+1Keep your knees against the motorcycle. Counteract the directional changes that the wind causes by pressing (forward) on the handlebar on the side that the wind came from (countersteer). As you mention, try to relax and not be tense on the bars.
I think aggressive really translates into being very decisive with your choices. No hesitation and quick execution of the maneuver. This may lead to some aggressive moves that are necessary in certain cases.
I actually trained a year before starting a freeway commute. I started
some freeway stuff after the first few months of riding, and made a short freeway
stint part of my training ride - along with twisties and PLP - I even included a 0-60 accelleration bit too. The key was I did it during off hours where there was no traffic.
For a full commute in traffic I am with the guys who say wait a while,
a good long while until your bike skills are good. When I started my commute
I had near-death incidents on a regular basis (ok either a swerve or hard
brake). I survived all of them because I was ready, although in restrospect
just barely, and I had a forgiving bike that was hard to lock the
front tire.
I learned real fast to anticipate traffic patterns to avoid those incidents.
Consequently I have them less often now, but looking back, those first few
months of commuting were some of the highest risk riding I ever did.
And riding on the freeway now in traffic is still very high risk.
Traffic is unforgiving, changes in an instant, the roads are bad,
debris is everywhere, freeways scare me, and I do it every day.
Merges are the really nasty bits, and hugging the left of the carpool lane
is where I feel safest, unless the line of cars next to me
is at a dead stop, and I am screaming by at 65 mph, that is defcon 1 for me.
The day I stop being scared is the day I should stop riding to work on a bike.
:wtf I don't really get it - First thing I did with my license was to hit the freeway and get some speed.