That's another situation that can be a little scary, waiting to make a left turn on the highway with 70 mph traffic flying past, 3 feet from your right mirror. Or, just waiting for the light to turn green & a truck is coming up behind you quickly. I flicker my brake lights, keep it in first gear & scan the intersection for a way out in case the cager doesn't plan on stopping. One of my co-workers got his subcompact Nissan rearended by a Dodge Ram 1500 driver while waiting for a green light. The driver admitted to being alseep & walked away unharmed (but got sued) My friend woke up in the hospital with a badly screwed up spine. A dozen surgurys later he can limp around without a cane now at age 29. Well, to end this on a good note, hey! It's summer! Ride safe.

Glad you're ok mom. One problem I see is that you might not have been in first. You need to be sure you're in first before taking off on a hill like that.

As you're slowing for a stop downshift, downshift, downshift - until you have no more gears. Just down, down, down on the shift lever.

I also check my shifter (sometimes several times) to make sure I'm in first while waiting for a light or when stopped. Switch from holding the bike with the rear footbrake to holding it with the front brake if you have to. Jab the shifter down a time or two. Switch back to the footbrake before taking off.

You have other things to worry about on a hill. Balancing the bike and holding it with the footbrake is plenty to attend to. Make sure you're in first (preferably before you reach the stop).

Mornhm: I took private lessons with a woman that has been teaching the motorcycle saftey course for 20 yrs. and had to take the normal road test but did totally fine.

We did all the exercises that those who take the course do.  only thing is it was all in a flat parking lot like when you take the course.

This was the scariest moment in l30 miles. Overall I do very well on the bike.  The usual silly beginner stuff but I have excellant balance, and was a mountain biker for years.

I have spent time in the hilly neighboorhoods practicing just this manuever, yes i was not in first gear HUGE ERROR! I have now learned.

Diane: I do the same all the time, when I get to a light if im not sure what gear im in I shift down and down and see the netural and go one more down and it is more troublesome if you are stopped.

Its kinda like nursing school they teach you things, how to do things , but its quite different in the hospital setting doing the same things on real people that will be uncoorperative and fuss.  you have to apply basic skills and develop them for the real world.

besides my sore shoulder (injury and surgery 2 yrs ago, still have torn stuff  in there) that i aggravated picking up the bike in a hurry and my lower back that has been sore anyway more sore also from picking up the bike. nothing is gonna stop me from jumping on it and going!
(except rush hour traffic/rain if i can avoid it)  I have to spend more quiet neighboorhood time too with uphill start practice.

Thank you to all of you for your interest and wonderful suggestions and constructive ideas.

Sue

Sue,

This is one gripe (OK just a wish) that I have with the MSF courses: they don't mention what to do when starting up on hills. Of course the first place I went after I took the course was a place that required me to make a sharp right hand turn up a hill. Granted it's a little hill - I live in Illinois but I remember thinking at the time, that this was something that should have been covered in the beginner's course. If I didn't have quite a bit of behind the wheel time in manual transmission cages I would have been in trouble right off the bat.

However, what I was referring to was a state of mind that some people seem to find themselves in that causes them to be constantly having "scary" or unpleasant moments. You've probably talked to them or read their posts. When I had three scary moments in a week, I got to thinking that it was a bad thing and did some reading (Proficient Motorcycling, More Proficient Motorcycling) and determined to take the experienced rider course this spring. I think these two things really improved my state of mind and how I looked at other vehicles and road situations. Haven't had a "scary" moment since. Yeah, people still pull out in front of me, yeah, sometimes I come up on intersections that are covered with spilled gravel or oil, or broken glass (the latest), things happen, but I'm already reacting before anything bad happens, so nothing does. I credit the books I've read, the ER course and a determination to keep the rubber side down. I'm thinking now that next I may take a couple of track days, I don't know that they'll help me think my way through street situations, but they might give me some additional skills.

starmom wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06:

Had some time to kill Saturday when we were out of town for a wedding so I figured I'd show the GF where I did the basic course last fall. When we got there, they were running an 'Advanced' course so I stopped and watched for a while. It was almost all Harleys other than one medium size Kawasaki (440-700 or so). I was pretty amazed at how often people put their feet down on the 'figure 8' and maneuvering courses, and how 'jerky' some of them were with their steering and how off on the speed they were trying to maneuver, either too slow or too fast. I guess I expected more from people that had been riding for 3,000 miles or so, but then again if all the riding had been in a straight line.... I need to find a big ol parking lot and practice that stuff I learned in the BRC so I don't lose it!

olscout99 wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:06:



Glad to hear everything ended up okay.

I will make one suggestion for all beginning riders: find a parking lot and  practice practice practice.  Then find a parking  lot with a good slope and practice practice practice.

Have been working alot this week, got back in the saddle today, after picking up hubbys sportster.

He knew of a nice empty parking lot and we went and played around with manuevers and then went out and did around 30 miles together.

no scarey moments........

great ride.............

of course HIS toy is much louder and a bit faster than mine but the fastest im gonna need to go it 60 and my suzi can do that and more if i need her too.....

was fun