Riding home one night after a good day on the road a person walked in front of me out of the darkness between street lights. The dark figure froze in my path when she saw me, (the deer in the headlight syndrome). I wasn’t ready and found myself grabbing a full leg of brake. Even among the well trained bikers when it’s panic time a rider will sometimes lock the rear wheel, and I did.

Too cold to ride is relevant to the individual of course, but some years I’m almost relieved and welcome a break from the summer riding fun. Don’t get me wrong, I’m always yearning for one more good ride, but for those of us living in four climates there is also time for one to do a little learning inside when the Hawk is howling outside. Here are a couple of tips that will keep your Karma in tune this winter and keep you ready to ride when it comes time.

Over-reacting in an emergency situation can be as bad as under-reacting. If you have to test your brakes in an emergency, do you know how your bike is going to respond? Do you know how you will respond? If you haven’t practiced power braking in a parking lot then it probably will be uncharted territory when you need it and the outcome might not be that cool. Thousands of miles riding down the highway will not prepare you for emergency braking. Practice is the key.