Archive for April 10th, 2009
“Luck”
by rider on Apr.10, 2009, under General
Spring is springing, or has sprung, over much of the motorcycling world. Bikes that have sat snugly in storage, hibernating over the cold months are being prepped for riding, and riders coming off a long break are taking to the roads again.
But during those months, when fuel stabilizers were keeping gas tank gunk at bay, and batter tenders were keeping their charges charged, something else was happening - perishable skills were, well, perishing.
And so we begin another riding season, and many riders are relying on a little luck to get them back in the groove. There’s only one problem - luck doesn’t exist.
What we call luck is nothing more than the sum of our experience, training and instinct. As Robert Heinlein once put it, “There is no such thing as luck. There is only adequate or inadequate preparation to cope with a statistical universe.”
I’m still a new rider, in the grand scheme of things, so I treat every new week as a new riding season. And I start each of these 52 riding seasons each year preparing just a little bit better for coping with the statistical universe that is riding.
At the beginning of the season, I break out the reference materials and review them again. Hough’s Proficient Motorcycling sits on my bedside table, and I’ll pick a random chapter and re-read it. At least once during the first couple rides of the week, I’ll break out the bisected tennis balls and do an exercise or three in the parking lot. Panic stops are practiced in the parking lot, or when possible, prudent and safe, on the road.
At the end of the day, there are many variables encountered on each ride. Some we can control, some we cannot. But one thing we absolutely can control is running out of “luck”. If you’re running low, replenish your stock by reading a book, watching a video, and practicing some skills.
Just a random thought for the day.
