It’s often your attitude that catches you out, diverting you from riding smartly, defensively and safely. The best frame of mind to be in for riding is calm, upbeat, refreshed and focused.
You need to maintain this mindset throughout your ride and you’ll feel even more positive when you return. To do so, it helps to take some time out before and after your ride.
Most riders, most of the time, set out with a destination as their objective. That’s fine, and usually necessary. But a motorcycle can offer more than reaching your destination.
Whatever you do, don’t try to beat a journey time. If you want to race the stopwatch, the only place to do that is the track. Better do some track-based training or track days.
The road offers its own challenges. And there are plenty of plans you can follow for a ride. One of the best is simply to get as much enjoyment out of it as possible.
With this as a framework, you can set yourself a challenge, like practising and improving a technique. It could be one of the defensive riding tips you find here. Or a specific riding technique or vision exercise.
Even an everyday ride through traffic offers opportunities. Maybe work on your low speed balance; try to do a whole section of the ride without having to put your feet down, like a trials rider going for a ‘clean’.
The main thing is, thinking about and achieving something adds to the enjoyment.
Having set out with a plan in mind, the only thing to do when the ride is over is put your feet up, pour a drink and go over it.
Ask yourself:
If the answers to all three are ‘Yes', take a sip, congratulate yourself and think what you’d like to do next time.
