Breaking 100 Miles

I've gone 100 miles now on my new bike.  A lot of it was parking lot, but a lot was low speed roads.

I'm much more comfortable with the controls.  I can now operate all the main controls without looking down.  I can shift, throttle, brake without looking down.  I still need to look at the turn signals sometimes.

Also, I feel ok riding along at 30 or even 35 mph on the bike.  It takes some getting used to going that fast.  The first time I was going 20 it seemed so fast.  35 still seems fast, but the more I do the more comfortable I get.

I realized other drivers would be a danger, but that's been rung home to me.  There are times when I take a corner too wide or too tight.  Mostly, I'm doing well though.  But the main thing I'm learning is beware of other drivers.  Learn the basics and get comfortable, but don't understand other people's driving dis-ability.  Here's a few of my favorites:

It was daylight, two hundred feet down from a 4 way stop sign, the speed limit was 25mph, right outside a school, I had my left turn signal on, I slowed down with my brake, so my brake lights were on too.  (And yes, they do work.)  There was a car behind me.  I knew he was there.  But as I slowed to make that turn.  I saw him start to move over to the opposite lane, like getting in position to pass me.  I guess he had an important TV show and forgot to set the DVR.  I saw him coming.  I knew my exits.  The right was clean, plenty of space, and open to a wide field beyond that.  The left would have been good where I was intending to go, but he looked like he was considering passing me.  As I slowed for the turn, I kept a tabs on him.  I was ready to break off and head to the extreme right at a moment's notice.  But he came to a complete stop, so I was able to complete my turn.

On another case, I was coming down the road, approaching a stop sign.  There was a trunk with its headlights pointing right at me.  It was stopped in the middle of the road, facing the wrong direction.  I don't even mean over to the side.  I mean completely in the road.    The only plus was that they had come to a complete stop.  I saw that truck from a way back.  I rolled off the throttle and decreased speed as I came up.  I weighed my options if they didn't move.  I could come up and come to a complete stop.  But this could be a drunk or someone who decided to keep going at any moment.  I could pass them on the left, but it was right down from a 4-way intersection with some cars.  Giving unpredictability to what the car might do, and if any traffic comes down the other lane, that didn't seem good.  However, I could do a U-turn and go back the other way.  But that may be the way they were heading.  Or I could simply come to a stop a safe distance in front of them.  Or off to the side of the road, which I kept in mind.  Fortunately, there was a side road on the right coming up well before that car that I could turn down.  I was mostly leaning to that option.  I was also keeping a watch on what that car would do.  At any moment, they may decide to go forward in the wrong lane right at me, switch back over to the right lane, or turn into a drive way, or who knows what.  I kept my speed lower and was preparing to turn on the side road to get the hell away from them.  Then they started to move.  I speed up to complete my turn to the side road.  But, they went one house forward and then into the drive way.

The key is whenever you are on the road.  You are in danger.  I never felt like I had an extremely close call.  Even pass the left turn motorcycle I saw him coming.  But what I do with these scenarios is I play them back in mind and think about the different outcomes and variations.  What if that driver stopped had kept going straight on at me?  What if the car that wanted to pass me did so when I was mid left turn?  I don't do that to scare myself, and I don't dwell on it.  I think of it sort of like a chess game or something.  What would have been my best response if things had played out slightly different?  I like that, because one day if I am where shit hits the fan, I want my response to be automatic.

Other than that, its been fun.  Like I said, much more comfortable and all the controls are coming more naturally with less thought.  You get connected outside in a different way.  In the car, your an observer passing through.  Out on the bike, your out there, part of it.  Looking forward to progressing further.