Not long ago, I drove up to the beach. It’s about 75 degrees outside, the sun is shining and the ocean is waiting for me just 9 miles from my driveway. I remember smiling, a little ashamed of myself for getting caught up in the coolness of my Vanson riding jacket and vintage Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses. Maybe I’m even starting to feel like Top Gun’s Maverick – if he wore a helmet. But there I was, easily clicking through the gears on my way to the much-needed reset button in the form of sun, sea and open air. God bless America!
But as the ocean revealed itself, I knew I wasn’t the only one seeking coastal therapy. When I turned onto the Pacific Coast Highway, I was immediately stuck in traffic in both directions. Sure, I could see the ocean, but I was stuck in first gear, the engine fan humming, beads of sweat running down my back. Looks like I’m going to have to skip my free beach volleyball workout and slow-paced balance training.
Luckily for me, driving slowly has always been part of my job as a motor officer. Parades, escorts, crowd control and simple daily traffic. And like anything else, you get good at what you practice. I learned important concepts and skills that helped eliminate ducking, lane drifting, clutching and braking, and the general feeling of dread when stuck in stop-and-go mode.
What components of slow cycling are involved in creating the magical happiness of balancing on a bike? Slow driving can be divided into three parts: rider, motorcycle, and rider input. Let’s look at each one, starting with the rider.
The first thing to appreciate is that riding slowly is all about balance: the bike’s balance, the rider’s balance, and the relationship between the two. This means we need to have a good sense of our body’s center of balance to minimize any negative effects it may have on the balance of the motorcycle. In other words, if you can’t control your balance, things only get worse when you get on the bike.
Now let’s look at the motorbike. No matter what you ride, big or small, long or short, your motorcycle is designed to have a magical position where it maintains vertical balance. In fact, the motorcycle is capable of slowing itself down, but then we come along and spoil the show by throwing our weight around like a middle manager at a big box store. Black Friday.
The final component of our compilation of slow driving skills concerns the rider’s controls and how we execute them. If we have an on/off tendency, light switch clutch work, and throttle manipulation, we will have difficulty keeping the car balanced every time we steer. But when you get the ratio right, you’ll have a wonderfully slow cruise through the worst traffic imaginable. The key is to execute the controls sparingly and calmly, with the goal that they support rather than disrupt our balance.
Below I’ve condensed my slow training process into two simple (but not necessarily easy) parking drills. These, along with a few ideas to keep in mind, will help your slow running skills improve exponentially with minimal risk or effort.
Slow weaving drill: This exercise helps you understand how your body weight changes when the motorcycle changes direction. Our goal here is to become sensitive to the subtle weight changes as we sit on the bike and how they impact our overall balance profile.
Find an area free of traffic and set up six cones in a row, about 9 to 18 feet apart depending on the type of bike and skill level (if you don’t have cones, use parking lines, which are usually 9 feet apart). With the bike in first gear and the clutch partially engaged, weave through the cones. Try your best to keep your speed at about 2-3 mph with minimal lean. To keep your speed low, you can gently pull the rear brake but avoid slamming it on. We want to cause as little wobble as possible when using the controls.
Now position your body so it is aligned with the centerline of the motorcycle. Our goal is to take two parts – you and the bike – and make them move as a balanced mass. And once we reach this point of perfect balance on the bike, we want to live there as long as possible, staying out of it as minimally and as infrequently as possible. It’s easier said than done, but you get the idea.
A great way to help you and your bike work together is to use your windshield as a “balance”. Keep your eyes tracking the top edge of the windshield and you’ll detect even the slightest body movement relative to the bike using this visual cue. With practice, you’ll have fewer large weight shifts and more small adjustments to maintain balance. Rinse and repeat the exercise until you and your bike feel like Maverick and Goose are upside down in an F-14 Tomcat. Feel the need… the need for (slow) speed!
Rod-rod drilling machine: When parking, sit on the bike and slowly turn the handlebars in increments. Have you noticed the bike shifting a few inches in both directions? Yes, and it’s the side-to-side motion that we’ll exploit to help the bike balance underneath us when we come to a complete stop without lowering our feet. Welcome to super slow mode.
Now that you understand my little steering trick, go back and do the Slow Loom Drill again. Only this time I want you to go slower each time, eventually challenging yourself to stop – foot up, clutch steady and rear brake light – at some point along the way.
The task here is to recognize and correct subtle instabilities in balance by moving the handlebars smoothly but decisively in either direction to regain stability beneath you. If you need to roll forward to find your balance and reset, that’s okay. Relax and keep doing it. Your sense of balance will improve over time and you will see huge benefits.
For a live example of all of this, visit Police Motor Training with Quinn Redeker on YouTube and watch the video “Quinn Redeker Rides Slowly.” If it’s easier, you can stop by my house and we’ll put some hats here. But it’s 5:30 p.m. so there might be a traffic jam.
Quinn wears exclusive Lee Parks Design gloves. Find Quinn at Police motorcycle training.
See all the Motorcycle School with Quinn Redeker articles here.
