20 Riding tips, which will make your ride safe and enjoyable

20 Riding tips, which will make your ride safe and enjoyable

Riding is becoming a passion in many. Riding elegantly is an art and every rider should learn the art of riding. I am riding ever since I am eligible to ride motorcycle. My dad was a rider and maybe I have got this passion from him. I have got many tips from my dad about riding and some of them were very useful and I never found mentioned anywhere. Let me articulate those in bulleted points. I hope you will be enjoying reading and these will be of help to many.

1.     If you are riding on a sunny day and cattle are there on the road. Ensure that you take your ride from the backside of cattle. Most of the 4 legs animals don’t walk backwards having said that some of the animals like elephant; donkeys are the one who will surprise you even taking back-steps. If you are riding in a wild life area, ensure that you keep safe distance from wild animals.

2.    If you are riding on a sunny day and overtaking a standstill long vehicle (truck, lorry etc) then you should very careful as some may come and cross the road without even realizing that you are coming on the way.  You should pay a close look below the vehicle (since these vehicles are having good ground clearance) to see if some one are there.  One more tip here is if sun is on your left (in left hand driving countries) see the shadow to gauge if someone is coming from the blind spot.

3.    Biking / riding/ driving is all about judgment and assumptions. If you are good at your judgments (remember it will be good till the time it does not cheat you) you will likely to deceive an unpleasant event. Having said that consciously keep some buffer in your judgments.  For e.g. on the curve the bikers tend to lean more than it is required moreover it may not be necessary. It is natural refer to centrifugal force- The higher the speed, the more the bike and biker must lean, to counterbalance the centrifugal force attempting to “throw” the vehicle towards the outside of the turn how ever the novice rider should avoid this. Another example of the judgment is riding speed on Ghat sections, remember it is very difficult to control high speed on a slope and if you can’t control the speed the result may be very fetal & dangerous. Do practice cornering before you actually ride on such sections.

4.    If you have experiences about riding in different situations you will have better ability to make focused judgment however many areas you will never be able experience unless you make mistakes for e.g. riding on oil spill road, riding on a slope with gravel on the road, riding on sands, riding on snow etc. In these cases it is better to go very slow and control using gear rather than break (gear will have better traction over breaking on these conditions)

5.    If you are riding on a terrine where you are expected to cross the river. Know the depth of the river before you start, it is better to walk the river first then take your bike. Next thing to know is the current of water in the river. If current in the river is very high you might experience the misbalance and even you and your bike may flow away with the current. What I did during my rides and river crossing is to take the bikes to stones, which you are visible in the river as it gives better judgment of depth.

6.   It is always better to know your bike. Every bike has it known niggles; you should know your bike well. For e.g. you are the best people to judge on what speed how strong your break will work on your bike. Keep some buffer for sure you must have experience the skip of a beat even on small variations.

7.    Be extra careful while overtaking a long vehicle in the night. On coming traffic may leave you blind for few second if they are using high beam and you may misjudge the speed of the oncoming vehicle.

8.   Look out for every single instruction board beside the road. Be it a warning a speed breaker or a curve ahead etc., Please remember that they are there for a reason. In Indian context, you may also find speed breaker without any sign and glow strip, what you should do is keep a watch on the traffic ahead of you, you will be able to gauge the height of the speed breaker by looking at the vehicle’s rear light movement. If you keep the appropriate distance then you will have enough time to control your speed.

9.   Be ready for those long, lonely stretches. Sometimes it’s just you on the road for miles on end without a single soul in the vicinity. These are the time when you feel more fatigue. Never ride during fatigue. Stop! Take some rest, have some energy drink and then start fresh. Even a 10 min power nap helps in these conditions.

10. Use dipper for every single vehicle you come across. Because it’s hard to see across when the opposite vehicle is on high beam. Other motorists may not follow this, but you should do it anyway. I suggest not using the LED lights however if you are using one use it under the projector so that it does not blind the oncoming traffic.

11.  If you are a long rider and ride in extreme places like north-east, Ladhak region, ensure you have the enough warm clothing as well as some dry fruits always with you. I know people have died because they got stuck in extreme weather and they did not have the survival instinct. Know the route you’re travelling on. As thrilling as it may sound travelling on unknown roads in the night, it won’t be so thrilling should you need something.

12.  If you are a highway rider then you should be first ready loose your pocket on riding gears and I am not talking about only helmet. So let’s count what are the body part needs protections. You can compare the cost of the body parts and relative gear and ensure you have what ever is cheaper. J . Mark my words these are worth the investment.

a.    Head – Helmet

b.   Shoulder, back, elbow – Jacket with protection

c.    Wrist, fingers, knuckles – riding gloves

d.   Bum, thigh, shin, knee – riding pants and knee and shin pads

e.    Ankles – High Ankle leather Shoes (remember leather is the best protection)

13. Are you comfortable in long rides? What can make you comfortable? The first thing you should look at the motorcycle seat. The seat should be customized based on your bum size and cushion should be appropriate not be too  hard and not be too soft. You can also try air-based seats or gel based seats.  Second is your seating posture can be modified by using a comfortable handle bar and customized footrest. The next thing is keeping luggage during long rides. Have saddlebags, tank bags to keep your luggage safe. Use bungee cords to tie your luggage, it will be disturbing every time getting down and settle your luggage during rides. And don’t forget to keep your baggage inside a plastic bag, this way you can keep your luggage dry while crossing rivers and wet areas.

14. Know your Rides – Do some planning, like no of km you can ride in a day, what are the road condition, weather conditions etc. based on such information you can plan the halt, stay, food etc.

15. Riding in Rains- you have to be double careful while riding in rains especially riding in first rains. During first rains water get mixed with the dry oil on the road and make the road more slippery and most accident happens during first rain. Be careful about your judgment here.  The problem become worst when you ride in Rains in the night. First thing is you have to be noticeable during night riding in rains. Keep some strong 3M reflectors/ strobe lights so that vehicle behind can see you clearly. Second is you need to be using a good quality helmet visor because you also need to see the roads clearly while oncoming traffic comes in full beam during rains and because of water particle the lights become more reflective and it is surely discomforting. Some aux lights during rains may be useful.  Following Reparations strips on the road is good way to riding safe during rains (and otherwise). The problem is that those stripes can be very slippery. Some combinations of tires and motorcycle will really slide when you cross such a stripe. Try not to get scared (well, that's easier said than done), and especially, try not to react, but instead try to hold the throttle in the same position: your motorbike will then be able to find its balance on its own.

16. I had read somewhere that 10% of accidents happens because the vehicle hits from behind. The best way to reduce the probability of such incidence is to look at the rear mirror more often than usually.

17. Don’t panic – some of the other idiots on the road will have either pressure horn or very high lumens light and come close to you from behind and blow the horn. Don’t panic (again, that's easier said than done but with conscious efforts this can be managed) in such scenarios be sturdy most of the cases we loose balance by getting panic, while the behind vehicle takes care of the distance by default.  

18. If you are riding on hot sun especially in hot summer. You have to keep yourself hydrated with water and SALT (most imp). If you only drink water you will be hydrated but soon you will start getting cramps. Take electrols or salt water during each sip. I had to leave one of my ride because of this.

19. Please keep safe distance. Please remember the four wheelers on the road have much stronger breaks than your bikes. And if you are on high speed it would be difficult for you to control the bike and chances are there that you will hit the vehicle.

20.Never stretch your bike beyond a limit on a long rides, you may experience an unpleasant event and your journey may get spoil. It is always better to ride 25%-30% less speed from the max speed of your bike. Similarly don’t even stretch your self too, for e.g. if your capacity is to ride 1000 km a day try to do only 750km a day.

Best Luck! Ride hard and Ride safe…