Your Health and Riding
Riding a motorcycle requires a great deal of concentration and physical coordination. Mentally: a smart rider constantly scans the horizon for potential dangers and assesses events immediately. He or she also studies other drivers around himself/herself looking for clues that they might suddenly change their behavior and endanger the rider. In addition to the intense use of the eyes and brain, a rider uses all four limbs constantly: (1) left hand for the clutch and horn; (2) right hand for the front brake; (3) left foot for the gear shifter; and (4) right foot for the rear break. Additionally, there are other controls for which the hands are needed, such as auxiliary head lights, turn signals, and emergency cut off switch. On some bikes, the rider must manually reach down and turn the fuel shutoff switch to go to the reserve tank if the main tank goes empty while riding.
Consequently, a rider should be in a good physical condition and mentally alert. Of course, the more demanding the ride, the greater the need will be for good conditioning and riding skills, for example, 500+ miles a day, riding in the rain or snow, riding at night, or riding off road over rough surfaces. I've had personal experience with trying to cheat this axiom and I nearly paid for it with my life. Here are four examples.
Intoxicated by alcohol
The most foolish thing I've ever done on a motorcycle was ride after drinking down several bottles of beer in quick succession. I wasn't falling down drunk, but my judgment was seriously impaired. This happened the first year I was riding. I was only about 19 years old and feeling pretty invincible. I was in the city of Buffalo, NY and it was about 2:00 a.m. My friend and I hauled ass away from the bar racing down city streets at 50+ miles per hour-in 30 mph speed zones. I had no idea how fast I was going until I looked down at my speedometer. Because I was feeling really good from the alcohol, I had lost my sense of speed from the vibration of the bike and the sound of the wind. Coincidentally, I took a friend for a ride a couple of weeks ago and she asked me how I knew when to shift. I hadn't thought about it in a while; I told her I shifted when I felt the engine speed was higher than average. And then I pointed to the tachometer and told her that average was between two and three thousand RPM.
Insufficient sleep
More than once, I have ridden tired. However, one time I was so tired, I actually fell asleep while riding. The rumble strips along the interstate woke me up. I was so tired, that when I pulled over at the next rest stop, I shut the bike off and immediately laid on the grass, with all my gear including the helmet still on. I fell asleep so fast that when I awoke, I felt that I hadn't slept at all, but when I looked at my watch, 30 minutes had passed. Wow, that was a stunner! That 30 minutes of sound sleep was enough to refresh me and make it safely home. What happened was, I was at my brother's house, sleeping on the living room floor. They had the AC down to about 60 degrees and between feeling cold and sleeping on the floor, I got an hour of sleep at most. I should have gotten up and asked for one or more additional blankets. Pride can be a killer.
Hypothermia
This isn't actually a fitness or nutrition issue, but I want to cover it here because it is a physiology issue. I own and use an electric vest, even though I've had many a fellow rider make fun of me. I don't care. I almost died of hypothermia back in the 1980s when I got caught in snow in the Adirondack Mountains. It was Memorial Day weekend 1984 and the weather on the Friday up there was gorgeous: sunny and in the low 80s in the afternoon. Saturday and Sunday were likewise beautiful. We didn't bother checking the weather forecast. On Monday morning when I poked my head out of the tent for that first morning pee, it was snowing with 3-5 inches already on the ground. Our bikes had fallen over on each other the day before because we parked them on soft ground along Middle Saranac Lake. The incident broke the nylon screws on my Vetter Rooster fairing (see photo). The time I most needed that damned windshield it wasn't there for me. The wind chill was brutal and combined with the wet snow, sleet, and then cold rain, the heat just flowed out of my body. With the electric vest, I have gotten caught in snow in the North Carolina mountains, and while snow and cold take a lot of the fun out of riding, I don't suffer a significant drop in core body temperature. Keeping the core warm is the key to staying alive and lucid. One of the symptoms I experienced on my ride back to Buffalo from the Adirondacks was hallucinations. To combat this problem, my friend (and college roommate) Tiger and I sounded our horns when we noticed the other guy drifting in our lane, often onto the shoulder. I remember that I didn't actually fall asleep, but rather, began having what I can only call dreams while still awake. While Steve pushed on for his home in Buffalo, I got off the New York State Thruway with Tiger at Corfu and he and I hit the showers as soon as we got to his parents' home. We were sure to start out with room temperature water and eased it up slowly so as to not shock our systems. It was weird being so cold that I had actually stopped shivering; I had gotten beyond that level of coldness.
Dehydration
Especially when riding out West where it's much dryer than I am used to here in North Carolina, it is critical to develop a habit of drinking water at regular intervals. Coke and beer are not what you drink when you're dehydrated. Start with lots of water and then mix in a bottle of Gatorade or other sports drink. I also recommend you eat at least one banana a day for the potassium. I speak from experience: more than once I've let myself get dehydrated, but only to the point of cramping and a headache. I hydrated before it became obviously dangerous. Of course, once it becomes obviously dangerous, it may be too late. A good indicator that you're under-hydrated is the lack of the need to urinate for more than a few hours. If you've gone most of the day without going, you're dehydrated.
State of Mind
State of mind is an important element to consider when riding. For example, don't go for a ride if your girlfriend just broke up with you or your boss threatened to fire you. Riding while angry or despondent is almost as bad as riding while intoxicated. In the August 2012 issue of Motorcycle Consumer News, Editor David Searle write in his column about the benefits he's experienced from Zen meditation. Also in Motorcycle Consumer News (MCN), Dr. Mark Barnes has in his column "Mental Motorcycling" over the last few years addressed various issues related to our state of mind when we ride. Just to reinforce the importance of our health vis-à-vis riding, MCN also offers a column each month titled "Medical Motorcycling" in which John Alevizos, M.D. addresses health and well-being issues relevant to motorcyclists.
I've been going to the gym three days a week this year and what got me motivated far more than anything else is the realization that if I want to ride to Coldfoot, Alaska next year, I need to strengthen more core muscles and improve my endurance. Dropping 20 pounds would also be a great help.
I've never been a big fan of nutrition or exercise, but now that I'm north of 50 years old, if I want to keep riding, I realize that I have to devote some time and effort to take care of my body at least as well as I take care of my precious machine.
And as always,
Keep the shiny side up!
-The Long Rider
Michael A. Uhl
Reader Comments (2)
The hypothermia story is true. Yes, it was a cold wet snow that we rode in down from Lake Placid in 84" The trip was about 5 hrs. We had hoped that we would get out of the bad stuff when we got out of the mountians and into Utica. No such luck!....I recall my hands were so cold I couldn't squeeze the clutch. I found that my gloves had stiffened (froze) to the point that all I had to do was pull my arm back to operate the clutch.....Not our craziest ride but we were young, foolish and didn't reallly know of any options. Ride on! That which does not kill me, makes me stronger! Big Mike on his Gold Wing seemed unfazed...Superhuman I think.....
You mean "Big Steve" on his Gold Wing. He seemed more pissed off at the weather than unfazed... :-)