Fear Factors:  What Are Yours?

We all encounter situations in riding when we "white knuckle" the grips, or where our pulse quickens, our throats tighten, and our bodies tell us that we're outside of our comfort level.  Often, these responses are because of a stressful situation that deserves more attention on our parts: heavy traffic, bad weather conditions, or difficult road maneuvers.  This is a natural response, and one that helps us concentrate on handling our bikes better at a more challenging time than usual.

But sometimes, we have an irrational response to some situations where we probably shouldn't, and where many riders may not.  That's the Fear Factor.

"I Can't Do This!"

You approach a bridge over a lake or river... you feel like pulling over or turning around and taking a different road.  The sight of a gravel road or grooves in a highway make you wish you were home on your sofa.  Approaching a curve on a rainy day forces you to slow down to walking speed, even though the rest of your group throttles right through.  The sight of an animal on the side of the road gives you the shakes.  These are all examples of "fear factors" that we can encounter.  You don't have to be a new rider to experience this; even seasoned riders will get the (often unseen) shakes at times.  Usually, there is one thing that we get nervous about, while the rest of the situations don't even make us blink.

The potential danger in fear factors is that we create a higher risk to ourselves and others because of the possibility of freezing up or doing something unexpected.  This can be bad when we are out on the road alone, but in a group ride it could create an unsafe situation for the other riders as well.

So what causes our fear factors?  Many things, but often, we get the jitters because we have either experienced a bad incident in a particular type of situation, or because we don't fully understand what may or may not happen in a set of conditions.  We may have gone down on a wet road, or hit an animal, or have heard so much about the dangers of highway driving that we are intimidated.

What can we do about them?  The answer lies in an understanding of the risks in riding, and the desire to enjoy our bikes in spite of an occasional tense moment.

Don't Fear - Understand and Respect

The best way to overcome some nervousness in certain situations is to understand what we are afraid of, what can or cannot happen, and what to do about it.  On wet roads, we may only have 80% (often more) of our dry road traction, but that's still plenty, so we adjust our speed down a little and keep going.  On gravel or on grooved roads, we know that keeping a comfortable pressure on the grips, avoiding sudden turns, and keeping speed reasonable will allow us to go right across these difficult places.  In places where we may expect to see animals in the road, we should use the SEE method (Scan, Evaluate, and Execute) to look ahead for possible dangers, decide the risk and our response, and make adjustments to lower the risk.  On highways, we understand that by keeping a space cushion whenever possible, and being alert to cars changing lanes and the hazards of trucks, we can cover a lot of distance without undue worry.

Respect those challenging situations, but understand what they mean, and you will no longer fear them.  And rest assured, one of these days, you WILL cross that bridge when you come to it... smiling all the way.

Ride safe,

John Henry