Get ready to ride
Spring may be here – but are you ready to really enjoy it? We asked Bikesafe to help a group of RIDE readers prepare for the summer’s riding. Here’s what they learnt
FROM FAIR-WEATHER-ONLY RIDERS to all-yearround devotees, the seasonal changes from autumn to winter to spring present a challenge for everyone on two wheels. For those of us who didn’t much once the clocks went back in October, the changes in road conditions are a major consideration when getting back on the bike: the tarmac may be colder and more slippery than it was last autumn. Potholes may have appeared where none were before. And the things that were hazards, such as low sun and falling leaves, will be gone – instead the first ride of the year offers different things to avoid, like horse manure, groups of cyclists and spring’s amorous fauna leaping under our wheels.
It’s not just the external changes that can affect us as riders: there will be internal differences, too. None of us will be the same rider in spring as we were five months before, even those of us who rode through the winter. The risk there is finding ourselves stuck in wet-weather mode, taking it extra steady even when spring brings better conditions we could be enjoying more. Getting back to full summer sharpness can take time – or a little bit of help.
We gathered a group of RIDE subscribers who’d either put their bikes away over winter or who admitted that being out on two wheels in the cold, wet months had blunted their riding reflexes. We then got the police’s Bikesafe team to join us, talking our riders through the common problems and assessing their riding.
SHAKING OFF THE winter rust is a common problem, according Cambridgeshire Bikesafe’s Simon Burgin. “I can tell you that come April, as the bike population starts to rise, on the first sunny, dry weekend our control room will get lit up and the phones will be red-hot with motorcyclists throwing themselves into ditches,” he says, pulling no punches.
“So we came up with a phrase last year, and we put it out on Twitter: ‘Your bike’s not rusty; how about you?’ Because people need reminding to take it easy and dial themselves back in again.”
Burgin goes on to explain how many times he hears the same thing from riders who’ve had a spill soon after a winter break: “It’s my first day out; I only taxed it yesterday.” So what goes wrong? Why is this happening? And what can we do to avoid making the same mistakes?
PROBLEM 1 TOO FAST, TOO SOON
Losing confidence mid-corner, rolling off the throttle, hitting the brakes and running wide either towards the verge (on righthanders) or across the oncoming lane (left-handers) is a familiar scenario. But it’s an especially common mistake for riders to make early in the season because the key component is overestimating the speed at which the turn can be taken – and then losing confidence at the crucial point in the corner and trying to bail out.
This all starts with the failure to choose the right speed for a particular corner. And for riders whose judgement might still be in ‘summer-mode’ it’s easy for ambition to outweigh ability. They enter the turn too fast (ambition), suddenly lose confidence (reality check), close the throttle to slow down (instinctive panic), the bike sits up and runs wide (physics)... and then the trouble really starts.
If we find ourselves in this situation, there’s no comfort in remembering this statement (though it may help plant it in our heads). If only we could overcome the panic reaction, we’d realise that if there’s enough grip to stop an upright bike in the middle of a corner, that means there’s enough grip to go round the corner. And
“The outside line is the safest line as you can see further”
there’s also no comfort in the knowledge that plenty of other riders could happily go round the same corner with much more speed than we just didn’t.
The mistake in this situation is trying to bail out. It’s rare that shutting the throttle or braking mid-turn gives a better result than overcoming the panic and, instead, keeping a neutral throttle and continuing to look through the corner and lean the bike over.
Bikesafe’s Simon Burgin says we can avoid this by learning to read the signs, literally. “It differs from county to county, but bends come with information that I can use to determine what speed I need to be travelling at, what gear I need to be in, where I need to be doing my braking and so on. It’s all about observation.” Seeing the corner early enough and reacting to this information should prevent us from going in too fast.
PROBLEM 2 BEND POSITIONING
We all forget where we are from time to time, but it’s especially common on the roads in spring. Bikesafe’s Simon Burgin explains that being in the right place in the road is crucial for maximum observation and visibility: “Ideally, approaching a right-hand bend, the best place to be is over on the left towards the verge as it gives us the longest view of the bend. You can see also what traffic’s coming at you – and they can see you. You’ll also be away from anything running wide into your lane. You then follow the widest possible line around the corner, staying to the left kerb on a right-hand bend,” says Burgin.
As long as your speed is right for the corner, you can hold this wide position until you see the exit of the bend, at which point you can turn and open the throttle to drive smoothly through the corner. Getting the position right lets us take a sweeping line through a bend, giving ourselves space to make adjustments to our line. The outside line is the safest line because you see further and open the throttle sooner.
With a left-hand bend, we need to be over to the right – though how far right depends on what we can see of what’s coming the other way. On an empty road