Think about it!
This weekend looks to be great weather wise so I fully expect as many of you as possible to get out and about in the Borders and enjoy some of the best biking roads in the UK. The last couple of weekends have not been great and it's been reflected in the small number of bikes out and about, but with a bit of luck this is the start of the season proper.
Many of the roads are still troubled by potholes from the bad winter, so take great care and if you notice anything particularly bad then go to our LINKS page and use the direct link to the Borders Council Roads Dept. website to report the fault or problem. In addition to the broken surfaces there's the usual problem at this time of year with farm machinery dragging mud and other slippery stuff out of the fields onto the carriageway. With ploughing and sowing taking place all over, you just don't know when you round a bend if there's going to be a pile of mud across the road, just where you want to be, or a slow moving tractor turning into a field which, because you never planned for this eventuality, you can't avoid. Both of these scenarios could mean an expensive repair to bike metal and bits of plastic or a lengthy repair to legs and arms.
It doesn't take much to think about what might be around the corner and to plan for things you might reasonably expect to develop. By giving your riding a bit of though you can avoid most of the situations that cause bikers problems and cause our crash stats to rise. You can go out and have fun on two wheels but you've got to think about what you're doing, anyone can remove their brain when they open the throttle, but that usually ends in tears and I mean tears from family members who are left to grieve. That sounds a bit strong, but it's true, believe me I've been there breaking the bad news. If you think about what you're doing and plan for the worst then you're less likely to be caught out and you won't give yourself a scare. Try planning your ride, set yourself up for corners, position correctly on the road, carefully plan overtakes and practise reading the road ahead. By practising all these things you'll enjoy your ride better, you'll develop skills you never thought you had and the skills you do have will be improved on.
If you want to pick the experts brains then come and talk to us when we're out and about this weekend and throughout the summer months. We'll give you advice and pointers on how to position correctly for bends, how to plan an overtake and how to read the road ahead. The advice is free and the more of you that we speak to the more of you will hopefully go home in one piece at the end of the day.
