What Should I Know About Highway Riding?

Before you decide to ride a motorcycle on the highway, first make sure you know yourself. While that brings up a tough set of questions, you do need to know the answers to them before putting a tire on roads with higher speed limits (or no speed limits at all).

Question #1: Why do you want to ride a motorcycle on the highway? If it is only because you loved watching the copy of Easy Rider you found at the video store, then that is not enough. If it is because you want to cover longer distances in shorter amounts of time, then you have a maybe. If you are prepared for, and will enjoy, being an integral part of the whole environment, then it could change your life for the better.

Question #2: Do you really understand the rules of highway etiquette? Hopefully you have already learned that passing a test for a drivers’ license did not fully prepare you for vehicle interaction on city streets. The highway has its own set of rules. If you are comfortable with the higher speeds and risks of highway travel on a motorcycle, then you have another maybe.

Question # 3: Are you prepared to accept the fact that it will not be as comfortable as riding in the family car? Hundreds of thousands of miles ridden on the finest examples of luxury touring motorcycles have convinced me that it will never be as comfortable as riding in either the Jaguar or Mercedes Benz sedans in my garage. But I do enjoy it much more. If you believe you will feel that way too, then you have yet another maybe.

Know Your Mount!

My first Atlantic to Pacific Ocean ride was on a 500 cc Yamaha. During that ride I met another rider on a 350 cc Yamaha. Neither of us knew that we were supposed to be riding motorcycles that weighed in excess of 700 pounds, but each motorcycle was suited, and appropriately modified, for the expected climates and road conditions. If you know that your motorcycle will be able to carry you safely through all the expected changes in traveling environments, then you have one more maybe. If you are not completely sure, then do as much research as you can (library, magazines, internet, and even showing up at local club meetings for your chosen mount) before you take another step.

Know Your Gear!

There are vast numbers of manufacturers of motorcycle gear. Each has its’ own strengths and weaknesses for potential riding environments. Again, do that same research you did for your choice of motorcycle on your current and anticipated riding gear. You must know what your gear will do in every possible situation prior to heading down your driveway. During just a single day of riding I once experienced all of the following: 100 F baking sun, driving rain, 40 mph winds, 30 F cold in a mountain pass, and a dust storm while reentering the plains. That ride did give me a number of stories to tell around the campfire, and it also gave me a renewed appreciation for my prior choices of riding gear!

Know Your Skills, Strengths and Limitations!

No, we were neither created equal, nor have we been educated and developed equally. After well over a quarter of a million miles on just one of the brands of motorcycles I have ridden, I find that I learn something new on almost every ride! The effectiveness of your skills and strengths applications will diminish as speed increases. This is not my rule, it is nature's rule. You must know, and I mean really know, that your learned skills and developed strengths will be up to those increased demands. Your limitations are even more important. If you do not deal well with distractions or 30 mph cross winds while riding around your neighborhood, you should consider backing an automobile out of your garage instead of a motorcycle.

Risk!

Everything is dangerous. Even sitting on a recliner involves some degree of danger. Motorcycles are no more dangerous than carrying the trash to the curb. But, riding a motorcycle does involve an increase in risk over driving an automobile. Riding a motorcycle on the highway involves a serious increase in risk, so management of risk becomes paramount. You must finally consider all the variables in what you already know, and what you guess might happen, and decide if you know for certain that you can manage all those risks.

Scoring this Quiz!

Should you have not been able to come up with an honest “maybe” to all these factors, then you should admit (at least to yourself) that you do not know enough to ride a motorcycle on the highway. But do take heart, if you truly do want to ride on the highway, take the steps to “know” all these things. There are a lot of us out there who would enjoy the company!

In the Zone!

There comes a time while traversing long distances on a motorcycle when you are in the zone. This is when you mentally and emotionally become an integral part of the environment. Every thought and movement is working harmoniously toward the goal of moving farther down the road. There is a feeling of confidence, relaxed concentration, accomplishment, and connection with the motorcycle and the environment that is unequaled in all but piloting an aircraft. This is the payoff that makes it all worthwhile. You might even be ready for the next step to long distance endurance riding. But you have to know before you can go there!