Not to dissuade you Ward, but it takes years, not months, of riding to get to the point of recognizing ALMOST all of the dangerous situations in which a motorcyclist can find himself "setup" for.
And, not to imply that this accident was your "fault" at all, but in this case, as a novice you missed one of them:
ALWAYS, and I mean ALWAYS whenever you're stopped at a red light, CHECK YOUR MIRRORS until at least that first car stops behind you. Always keep your bike in 1st gear in that situation, and never in neutral, just in case you might spot that cager behind you coming up too fast, and you then "get that feeling" something bad could happen and you then begin your "exit plan" or evasive maneuver.
You see, "that feeling" is what I was talking about. And as I said above, "that feeling" usually takes years to perfect, and even then it's not "perfect", as even those of us with years of riding under our belt(40 continuous years and counting for Yours Truly here) can forget some of these "feelings" now and then or discover a "new feeling" every once in a while.
One of the great things about riding a motorcycle is that it takes your mind off of all the petty and not so petty problems in your life, because it takes ALL of your concentration to ride it correctly and reasonably safely.
This not only pertains to the ability to perform the basic function of riding, but also you should be "inside the mind" of everybody else out there on the road with you. In other words, you should be too busy anticipating the actions of others out there on the road to have any time left over to think about that mortage payment that's due tomorrow. That's "the paradox" of riding these beautiful machines.
(if you can still get back on a bike after accepting what I just said....welcome back!...hope to hear you did)
Last edited by Dwight; 10/29/2007 2:32 AM.
