Swerving is one of the most important riding tips you can know. It will save your fanny more than any other riding technique.

Swerving is used when stopping is not an option for you. But you must remember not to brake during the swerve. You can brake before or after the swerve but not during it. Many riders have crashed because the tried to swerve and brake at the same time.

Rather than go through swerving techniques I am going to tell you about an experience I had on a mountain road.

Two lane highway each direction, curving road, blind turn to my direction of travel, heavy traffic and a hardware store, a beautiful day.

There I was doing 40 mph the posted speed limit, following a black Cadillac with a 3 to 4 second following distance. But I let my vision stray to some activity, off the road, to my right. I have to follow the road curve to the left soon. Boy this was an experience in not paying attention to the road.

Apparently there was a car turning left into the hardware store and 5 other cars stopped behind it to wait for the turning car to clear the road. When I brought my attention back to the road I was so close to the Cadillac that I knew I did not have room to stop without hitting the Cadillac (Pucker Time). From experience in practicing this exact type of situation I only had one choice, to swerve around the Cadillac. I could not go left as the traffic was heavy and filled their lane. There was a dirt shoulder to my right, very rough with deep tire tracks left from the last rain.

Oh double darn (not what I actually said). My reaction was to brake very hard to bleed off the excess speed. The braking was straight line braking, Head and Eyes Up. After reducing speed to about 20 mph I released the brakes and swerved to the right, onto the dirt shoulder. As there was no pavement available for me I passed all 5 cars while on the shoulder of the road. The other drivers must have thought I was some crazy guy from Arizona. Or they saw it as normal riding as I was in California.

What I want you to learn from this is that I had learned this technique in an Experienced Rider Course (ERC). If I had not been exposed to the proper swerving technique I believe I would have done what many riders do. Keep going straight and hit the Cadillac.

There are many options and practice techniques you can learn in an ERC class. Make your riding as safe as YOU can. Take an ERC with friends. Learn and have fun at the same time. Remember: Head Up, Eyes on the Horizon, and Look Through The turns.

Ride Safe
Charlie

Motorcycle Riding Training
623-979-1839
www.azmrt.com