Tips for first-time riders

On my first ride with the Club I made two mistakes that could easily have been fatal. Since then I’ve done many thousands of k’s with it, learned a lot and had a ball. Here’s some of what I’ve learned.

Ride your own ride If you’ve not ridden with a group before you are likely to find yourself either pressured or distracted or both. The key is to stay within your comfort zone.

Here are some warning signs:

You’re tensed up, or you feel you’re taking too many risks, or you’re trying too hard to keep on the tail of the rider in front, or you’re often correcting your line mid-corner or finally you’re looking often in your mirrors to see if someone is on your tail.

When you’re tensed up, you won’t ride well. Slow down.

If you’re just following the rider in front, you’re letting him or her make the decisions. Don’t. He might be a complete idiot and you’ll follow him off the road. He might have 20 years experience, tweaked suspension and know the road better than the back of his hand. He’ll be skilled and confident beyond your levels and you’ll get into an ‘oh sh*t’ moment in a bend and lose it.

Each time you check your mirrors you’ll lose a second or two of data about the road in front. When going hard you can’t afford this.

If you feel pressured to keep up with the group just bear in mind that the fastest riders behind the leader get to do corner marking and that puts them at the back of the pack after each corner. Of course they’ll fang past you after that; fine, let them.

If you feel you’re slowing the whole group, then speak to the tail rider at the first rest stop. Talk about your options. There’s no shame in leaving the ride and coming back another time, but do let the tail rider know.

Here are some other tips …

Don’t come out on a ride when you’re tired or hung-over. Your judgement and reaction times will suffer.

Come out with tyres at the right pressure and with plenty of tread left.

Come out with good protective gear. Denim jeans are useless. Tests show them to offer about half a second of protection when sliding down the blacktop. Get quality textile pants, kevlar lined jeans or leathers.

Ask questions. There are no dumb questions. We all started somewhere about where you are on your first ride and are more than happy to share what we know.

The rides we do are wearing on man (and woman) as well as machine. They usually take 100% concentration for 100% of the time. It will likely take you a few rides to build up your stamina. As you do, then while riding your own ride watch what other riders do and learn from it. See how they set themselves up for a bend and how they power out of it. For beginners a good rule of thumb is to go in like a pussy and come out like a lion.

Another tip is to look up and down the road ahead. Don’t just fixate on a spot 20 m in front. Keep your eyes moving: check the long distance view to get a general idea of where the road is going. If zig-zagging from gullies to spurs, see if you can get a quick look across the other side of the gully to check for on-coming traffic and where the road is heading. This longer distance view will set your maximum speed. Then rake the road with your eyes from the furthest view to something closer to check the road surface. This will decide your actual speed.

For your first few rides, keep a margin of safety. Don’t ride at 10/10ths of your capacity. Bear in mind that many of the corners our routes are blind so keep some reserve in hand to deal with a road hazard.

Don’t think that you have to have 150 snarling horsepower at your command. We’ve had riders who’ve done well on 250 twins and 650 singles. The key thing is not the bike; it’s the rider’s skill and confidence.

So welcome to your first ride. We’re all out there to have fun and that comes in different forms for each rider.

Ern Reeders

Honda Fireblade 954 and old phart