[Merkurwwu]

Hello all!

What a useful sight! I’ve been lurking for quite a while now and finally joined the other day.

I’ve been riding for a few months now after taking the MSF course. I got an old ’84 Honda 500cc Interceptor (which i’ve mentioned on the site before) from a friend in a car club and am having a great time! I’ve picked up riding pretty quickly and actually enjoy it more than driving- which I never thought would happen!

I thought I’d introduce myself with a fun story from this morning:

I leave the house in the morning for the gym at about 4:10. I live in a residential area full of man-hole covers (for some reason) and it makes for good practice when nobody else is on the road. Sometimes I slalom, sometimes I practice my swerves by dodging the covers. Well this morning I was practicing my swerves and I went to make a right swerve. When I came back to the left, my bike’s headlight beam came around and shined right on this HUGE raccoon! Like the biggest one I’ve ever seen!

The raccooon stops in the light and I straighten up and hit the brakes (like was taught in the MSF course,) unfortunatlely I was heading straight toward the raccoon, and it wasn’t moving! So, I get slowed and the raccoon turns around and looks like he’s going to run back across the street where he came from (to my left), but then something spooked it and it ran right out in front of me! This time, I swerved left and zipped right around the animal like it was second nature missing it by probably 2 feet (but it felt like inches!) THAT felt good- to actually use something I’ve learned for a reason other than practice!

Anyway, my riding has been going well and while starting out I only dropped the bike once at a stop sign (nobody was around so my ego wasn’t bruised- at least as bad as my elbow!) But lately my cornering has gotten all weird. I’ve noticed that I’ve stopped looking up ahead into corners. Am I just getting “too comfortable?” Is it common to have trouble after riding for a while and getting comfortable?

Thanks! I value the tips on this site greatly!

[Munch]

Whats on your mind while you are riding? And welcome… I have found alot of tips here myself.

[knighthawk77]

Welcome Merkurwwu! I’m glad I’m not the only one on an old Honda around here.

[Budd]

You may be thinking too hard about your line instead of the end destination. Unless you are working on it or on a race track, I wouldn’t really worry about the line you take any further than staying in your lane or taking the wide edge for better visability in low visability areas.

“I am the best there is at what I do, and what I do ain’t nice.”-Wolverine

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