My First Crash:
My first long motorcycle ride was a 30 kilometers breakfast ride to Kalladka. It's a place near my hometown which is very famous for a special kind of tea called K-tea. We get a couple of twisty roads on the way to this place.
I planned this ride and invited a few of my friends for the ride. One among them was an experienced rider named Gautam. Mind you, this was 2 weeks after getting my first bike that I went on a ride this far.
We were riding in a single line formation and he was in front of me. As soon as the curves arrived, he sped ahead and started taking the corners. I got excited looking at him corner and even I started speeding ahead. We both were riding fast but the only difference between us was the skills.
He had an experience of 8 years and could do knee down corners. If you don't know what that is, have a look at the image below.
So I tried catching up with him and sped up, couldn't take the corner because it got tighter and I didn't have the proper skills. I freaked out, target fixated (I'll tell you about it in another post) and ended up panic braking. This led to my rear tire skidding and I went straight instead of turning and ended up crashing.
For your easier understanding, this is what happened. I went in straight outta the road and it ended in a crash. Fortunately it was a small one and there were no vehicles behind me. So I'm still here writing this post.
That was the day I decided I would study the skills of motorcycle riding before attempting any such further madness. Life is very delicate when you're on a motorcycle and that's the risk we take for the pleasure it gives. So why to risk it more by riding without knowing what we are doing.
I went online and did my research. I came across a riding skills book my Nick Ienatsch and another by Keith Code. I read the book written by Nick thoroughly and started applying the techniques mentioned and found that motorcycle riding was so much easier, fun and safe when you applied the right techniques.
One technique that if very significant for a new rider is counter-steering.
What is counter-steering?
To explain it in simple terms, counter-steering is pushing your bike handle bar in the opposite direction of where you want to go. For eg. If you want to take a left turn, turn the handlebar right. When I say turn the handlebar right, I don't mean that turn it fully right. You just need to put slight pressure with your left hand on the handlebar towards the front.
To tell it in still simpler terms, if you push the handlebar on the right, the bike goes to the right and if you push on the handlebar on the left, it goes to the left.
I know it's hard to believe that bike goes to the right if you turn left. You need to try it to believe it. Just try it and see the magic next time. Taking corners becomes so much easier and fun. To illustrate this to you for simpler understanding I'll share a few videos with you:
Another one:
One from the master himself: Keith Code
For those who want to go deep into this:
Physics Of Countersteering:
If you apply this while riding anything be it a scooter or a motorcycle, it will help you become a safe rider.