Habits

I read that it takes 14 days to break an old habit or acquire a new one: that's a long time to consciously control an almost unconscious action.  Even if you aren't afflicted with obsessive-compulsive disorder, changing, breaking, or establishing a new habit can be a real challenge.  It's one thing when that challenge is giving up a four-dollar hot breakfast beverage and quite another when it comes to riding a motorcycle: the habits associated with riding will quickly do you much more harm.

For example, my buddy Al was getting ready to ride his new FJR to work the other day.  He was in the driveway, ready to go, and realized he had to do something that required removing his gloves.  During the completion of the task, his gloves fell to the ground, so he leaned the bike over onto what he thought was a deployed sidestand to retrieve them.  It leaned, and leaned, and pretty soon the FJR wasn't quite as new any more.  Al not only picked up his gloves, but the FJR as well.

What happened?  Something took Al out of his "habit pattern:" an oft-repeated, nearly autonomic ritual he performed every day in the same way was interrupted by an uncharacteristic change.  That change led to an incorrect action.  To Al, being gloveless meant the sidestand was down, but not in this case.  Any interruption to our oft-repeated actions can lead to similar grief.  This is why, when a pilot is confronted with an interruption to a checklist, he'll go back to the beginning of the checklist and start over regardless of where he was when it was interrupted: he's reestablishing a good habit pattern in spite of the unexpected change.

But what if the change is expected?  If you are lucky enough to own multiple motorcycles of different brands, switching from one to the other can create the need for habit changes so each can be operated according to its own requirements.  I almost found out the hard way: recently, I was riding my SV to work for the first time in a while instead of my BMW RS.  Aboard the RS, I'd become accustomed to the ABS brakes and frankly, had become quite careless in my use of the rear.  I came around a corner on the SV to find an accident in my way and, used to the no-brainer braking of the RS, applied the brakes with more vigor than the rear could handle.  The resultant overbrake had the rear of the SV squirming, but fortunately I had plenty of room and came to a relatively controlled stop.

The latter situation could have ended badly and it caused me to think about the things I'd changed by switching motorcycles, even the small ones.  Heck, I was riding an SV but still stabbing for the kooky thumb-actuated BMW turn signals and trying to cancel them with an upward thrust of my right thumb!  It drove home the conscious effort it was going to take to establish the habits required to operate the SV safely and effectively again.  Then I remembered a journalist who, used to riding bikes with a conventional shift pattern, was suddenly confronted with a race pattern on the GP bike of a famous rider.  Can you imagine the habit change by which he was confronted?  Coupled with the stress resulting from the shouted admonition of the mechanic as he left the pit lane, saying "If you break it, we'll @#$% KILL you!"?

The hazards of habits don't stop when the motorcycle does either: ever get distracted by something unexpected while filling up and forget to fasten all the buckles on the tank bag before you ride off?  Thieves can take advantage of changes in your habit pattern by deliberately introducing that unexpected change to put you off balance.  If you have a habit of leaving your wallet on the seat while you're filling up, beware of someone engaging you in conversation when it will take your eyes off the prize, lest you be separated from your hard-earned by his accomplice.  I've experienced the former, but thankfully, not the latter.  I'll bet everyone has similar examples to which they can point.

So what is the point of this admonishment?  Whenever you change something about the way you ride (or what you ride), intentionally or unintentionally, it's going to take a couple weeks to become acclimated and establish (or break) the habit patterns required to deal with the new situation.  In addition, if you have a well-established pre-ride, gas-stop, packing, or other ritual and you find it interrupted in some way to which you are not accustomed, take a few minutes to go back over the steps from the beginning to make sure everything is retracted, fastened, buckled, and strapped and that your wallet is right where it should be.  It might help to kick a habit before the habit ends up kicking you.