Fear Of Flying (And Falling)
Riding on gravel took me a while to get used to.
Motorcycles are inherently more unstable than cars. When a car comes to a stop it stops. Period. When a motorcycle comes to a stop you’d better put your foot down or you’re going to fall over. Something about two wheels versus four, you know?
Now magnify the instability by adding a curve in the rider’s trajectory. Motorcycles lean in order to go around curves, so you’re already cocked to one side. And then add gravel in the curve. There’s nothing quite as thrilling as feeling your rear tire break loose in gravel on a curve, and this is not the good kind of thrill such as what you get on a roller coaster.
Give credit to the people who design motorcycles and motorcycle tires that losing traction on gravel, or ice, or wet leaves doesn’t automatically mean you go down. All it takes is to hit a wee patch of pavement again and you’re back in control. You’ll probably want to take it easy for a while, though, and let your adrenaline subside.
Motorcyclists generally fall into two categories, those who learned to ride on dirt and those who didn’t. It’s a huge difference. Dirt riding is all about breaking traction, riding the slide, and keeping the bike up. Those who never rode in dirt are at a significant disadvantage.
I never rode in dirt. While I had the opportunity to ride several bikes from time to time over a lot of years, I never got good at it until I bought my first bike, my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom. I learned to ride on the road and gravel was a particular nemesis. I hated gravel roads and gravel in a curve scared the bejeezus out of me.
The very first trip Bill and John and I took, before we even named our group the OFMC, we camped one night at Rifle Gap State Park, outside of Rifle, CO. It was probably 8 to 10 miles from the campground to town and we needed to ride in to have dinner. I had noticed when we first rode out to the park that there was a lot of gravel in some of the curves so I was already in high-caution mode. Heading into town the other guys left me way behind and I picked my way carefully along. Heading back to camp after dinner it was now dark, and thus even harder to pick out the hazards. They were back at camp long before I got there.
The difference, of course, was that they had had scooters and dirt bikes as kids.
“Didn’t you slide on some of that gravel in the curves?â€
“Oh sure, but when you ride dirt bikes you learn how to stay in control.â€
It took me a long time to get comfortable riding my street bikes on gravel roads, but I do it pretty well now. (Except for the Concours, which HATES gravel.) I still hate gravel in a curve. But I’ve been on the dirt more since I got my V-Strom. Maybe someday I’ll feel that rear wheel slide out and smile. But I’m not holding my breath.
Biker Quote for Today
I’m not the biggest motorcycle fan – they’re cool and a lot of fun, but they’re scary as well! — Taylor Lautner
Tags: gravel on the road
