Wild Motorcycle Tales By Walter F. Kern Here's a great story from Smitty. Got your own story? Send it to me. You Will Fall Down These are the confessions of a "newbie" who is willing to share the embarrassment of some of her first traumatic experiences. However, when I think about how I hadn't learned to ride until after I became a senior citizen, and being a girl, I am proud of myself for hanging in there. The first time I went down was making a U-turn by my house in Prior Lake and hitting the curb. Fortunately, the bike landed ON the curb, which enabled me to actually pick it up. No injuries. Then, when I took my "new" Anniversary Edition Sportster out for the first time in the spring, Dale had convinced me to use the throttle lock on the highway. When we got to town and to a stoplight, I had not disengaged the lock mechanism enough, so my engine began to rev excessively, and although my clutch was in, I panicked and my bike went down. Next, I was on a small ride with some friends and we were making a hairpin turn down a hill that had gravel. Since I had only gotten my training and license late in the season the year before and had forgotten the rules about braking, and since this was basically about my second ride on my Harley and I wasn't used to the controls, I again panicked. This time I used ONLY my front brake (I had almost completely forgotten about the rear brake) and went down hard! My head hit the pavement, but I had a helmet on (and have since vowed never to ride without one) and had some minor cuts and bruises, particularly to my ego. The bike was bleeding oil as the cap had come off, but once that was replaced everything was fine, just a scratched windshield as a reminder. The last time was on another group ride. I had hung back with my girlfriend going through the curves around Welch, and when we met up with the group (they had stopped at the next town to wait for us), I was about to turn right at a T-intersection when I saw them to the left. I turned my wheel to the left but a car was coming, so I had to stop, on a hill, on an incline. My Sportster, being a little top-heavy, started to go over gently. I tried with all my might to balance it, but I lost the battle. The whole group of riders witnessed the incident. Fortunately, my girlfriend stopped, hopped off her bike, and came to my rescue. We were able to quickly get the bike back up and move along, so the humiliation was short lived. But that was last season. This year I felt much more in control and comfortable riding, and my bike and I are getting along just fine. The season is nearing the end, and I have thus far attained my goal of no incidents. As a bonus, I was lucky enough this year to avoid any and all rain conditions (well, except for maybe ten minutes close to home once), thus have not had to don my rain gear even once. I hope I'm on my way to becoming a seasoned rider and that my newbie experiences are behind me. Becoming a safe and proficient rider is a long road. If you are a newbie too, I hope my experiences make you realize that we all go through the same minor mishaps. Let's all resolve to learn how to be safe riders and ride for the rest of our lives. -- Smitty
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© 2015 Walter F. Kern. All rights reserved.
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