Revised and rewritten 12/01/06

How many miles does it take to classify a rider as experienced? Does 100,000 miles make a rider experienced or can a rider with fewer miles actually be more experienced? The question is one that is asked a lot. Many riders consider themselves experienced but what is it that classifies them. The rider who only gets 1000 miles a year will not be as experienced as a rider who finishes the year with 7 or 8 thousand miles.

Experience, just how much is enough?

by Phil Floria

As riders we tend to think of years and miles as a gauge of experience. This is as it should be. The more miles and years in the saddle means that the rider has had more experiences with all of the possible situations that can happen when motorcycling. These situations can range from minor mishaps, hazard avoidance, accidents, near misses, what to pack for a long trip, how to fix a flat tire and more.

This shouldn't be confused with skill levels. Some riders who have collected thousands of miles over many years may not be as skilled as a younger rider with less miles. Of course the other measuring scale is that with age we are supposed to get better at the thinking end of the scale. Older riders should be better at decision making because of their time riding in all kinds of situations.

Of course all of this is relative to the individuals you're comparing. Being highly skilled doesn't mean they will always make the right decision when placed in a panic situation. It is experience that tempers the thinking mind to control panic and do the correct thing or take the proper action; but, what if you never had that particular experience. The older rider or the one with the most time in the saddle will always win out. Simply because somewhere along the way there was a similar situation or one that is close enough that the rider can use during the decision process.

When we talk about, when a new rider can move up to the next size machine, this conversation always happens.

"Reading through the "First Buy Bike" thread I again had this thought and decided to ask it... When are you "experienced"? Honestly, I'm quite sick of hearing people say "you need at least 2 years before you should be on bike xyz" Or even more pretentious... "15 years and then you can start to think you're something"...

What does years have to do with anything at all? Shouldn't MILES be the biggest factor?

Someone who has ridden for 5 years, but only puts less than 1000 miles on the bike a year... versus someone who puts 5000 in the first year... that says something.

NOT to say I've got all the answers, my recent accident alone shows that, but in just the first two months with my bike I put about 1500 miles in of a variety of conditions. It'd be a lot more if not for the fact that the bike has been not working for the last 2.5 weeks :(

So.. my point, talking about years of experience sounds to me like flexing the wrong muscles. I'm impressed with massive miles, not age."
Chris '85 VF500F

I suppose one way to determine your level of experience would be to test all of your skills and decision making abilities in a real world setting. This could be a course you negotiate and then we would unexpectedly have cars cut you off, stop short in front of you, force you off the road, and do some of the other stupid things we have experienced on the street.

We could also lay out a course in a rural area and test for animal avoidance, sand on the road, and maybe some other items like two by fours, peanut shells and oil.

We will have to run the test during the day,and then do it at night, and of course a third time in the rain. If you survive by using your skill and decision making ability; you will pass and can be titled "experienced". However any time spent in the emergency room or an extended hospital stay will leave you as a novice.

These tests are a bit extreme, but then think about it; experience is just that. Accidents and near misses test your skills when you're not ready. It teaches us when we make correct or wrong decisions about how we reacted or responded to the situation; and we learn from these experiences.

There are riders out there who for some odd reason have been fortunate, and have been spared the fun of some of these experiences. The rest of us who have had the pleasure and learned from them are the more experienced. Some of the riders I know have been in the saddle for many years; yet it amazes me when I mention or talk about a basic skill like counter-steering, they have no clue what I'm talking about. They tell me they aren't going to race so that stuff means nothing to them.

There was a rider who rode with me a couple of times, he rode a Gold Wing not that it matters much it could have been any other motorcycle. He had over ten years of riding experience, with many long distance trips to his credit. Most of us would consider him experienced.

He crashed his Gold Wing on an exit ramp leaving an interstate highway. He took it too wide and ran off the pavement. In our discussions about how this happened we learned his speed was well within the bikes capability to make the corner. But not understanding how to correctly set up for a corner, how his throttle control sets his suspension, or how far his motorcycle could lean, lead to his off road adventure. The more we talked the more he began to realize how much he still had to learn.

Your skill development will be different; you may master the basics in a year where others may take longer. New riders and casual riders; who only ride during the summer months and then only on weekends and never practice braking, throttle control, and cornering will have a hard time perfecting their skills and techniques. Their skills will develop very slowly or not at all.

Aside from the basic skill set that's taught in most Basic Rider Courses; those skills which allow you to work the controls and maneuver the bike around a parking lot at slow speeds. You also need to learn the additional skills which go with high speed cornering. For obvious reasons these skills are not practiced in basic courses. They do involve the basic skills and other skills you need to develop. What is surprising to most riders is these are the same skills that professional motorcycle racers use. But even if you're not racing they are necessary on the street and at highway speeds.

Braking is the other skill most riders never perfect. I've seen riders run through intersections, or crash in groups taking out other riders because they haven't perfected braking skills.

Learning to brake a motorcycle is a difficult skill to master for a lot of riders. They have to get past the mental image of the machine flipping over its front wheel. Also making it difficult to master; is developing the delicate control of levers and the foot brake. All too often riders think they can stop and when done in a panic situation they lock up the rear wheel and lose control. Most times they never utilize the full effect of the front brakes.

Another skill, which develops very slowly, is your ability to see or read (SCAN) traffic around you in order to avoid potentially dangerous situations. Beginners are more concerned with the mechanics of riding. Their attention is divided between shifting, braking and steering there is little left for traffic and other road hazards. All of this takes time to learn. Some folks never get it; some do it in record time. Being able to concentrate on the task at hand and not be distracted by other thoughts is difficult and that's why it takes practice. Practice makes the physical task, the mechanical part of riding, automatic and leaves more of the brain free to focus on traffic and avoidance of other hazards.

In Keith Code's "Twist of the Wrist"; he talks about your ability to concentrate or pay attention as a ten-dollar bill, and how much you spend on the different things you do while riding. The more you practice the better your skills get, the more of the ten dollars you have left to pay attention with. In the beginning we are spending about 8 to 9 bucks on just the mechanical part of our riding, shifting, clutch and throttle management, working the brakes and judging speed and more. If you add in anything else like what's for diner, you don't have much left to spend on the traffic and the other things going on around you. The more experience you have the less you spend on the mechanics and more on scanning traffic and using your developing sixth sense to stay out of trouble.

Myself I have been riding motorcycles since I was 15 years old, the odometer in my head has long stopped working and I have no idea of the total miles I have ridden. When was I experienced enough to move up to a larger motorcycle; when I could afford to pay for it. Over the years I have learned you never stop learning and you never outgrow the need for practice...

So I guess the answer is you're never experienced enough.

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