Entering the wild and wonderful world of motorcycles is not for everyone, sometimes it's not for those who have passed the tests and got a bike either. But if you think it is for you here are 5 tips to help you in your journey to fucking awesomeness.
1: Don't be a pussy.
Bikes, like dogs, can smell fear. They aren't as unsafe as many might like to inform you - mostly people who do not ride bikes might I add - but they are unforgiving despite the modern aids such as ABS and TCS. The trick with a bike is to grab the bull by the horns so to speak. If you are intimidated by it, it will know, it will throw you. Why?
Here's why; when you're scared on a bike you go rigid at the controls or fall into target fixation mode or both. Which is a great way to eat shit because no other form of transport is so intimately controlled by the pilot. You have direct input to the steering, your weigh from side to side and front to back influences how the bike behaves and no matter how good the ABS is it won't stop you from flying into a corner too fast and face-planting a wall. So grab that bitch by the horns, stay relaxed, stay in control and your bike will respond how you want it to. Act like a bitch and it'll respond by lobbing you in a hedge. 2: Ride fast
No other pass time in my opinion is like biking for fun thrills and good times. But if you want to improve your skills as a biker you have to push outside your comfort zone.
Riding fast does a clever thing to your brain, it forces it to work faster - though it takes time and practise. If you're used to riding fast when you're at regular road speeds everything will be so damn slow that you'll see situations long before you even need to react to them and this in turn will keep you safe. In the beginning 40mph through town might seem like light speed in the beginning but as you get used to it 60mph will seem like walking pace. Learning to ride fast properly will also massively improve you braking, cornering, and your general acuity and bike handling skills. Fuck all every happens at 30mph that can really teach you anything, so do trackdays, go out and burn some B-roads, get that blood pumping and that brain working.
But, take it one step at a time, practise braking, practise cornering, ride faster, ride as slow as you can keeping balance. Never be afraid to push the limits of your skills, you never know when you may have to call on them, keep them sharp and it'll keep you safe and having fun.
3: Get your feet wet
Many riders spend thousands on riding and bikes and gear only to never ride. If you want to become the truest biker you have to get out and actually fucking ride. 3000 dry miles a year? Don't even call yourself a biker. That's like painting one room in your house and calling yourself a decorator.
Get out there on the bike, sweat your ass off in the summer, freeze your ass off in the winter, get soaking wet in the autumn - or at any time of year in the UK. Riding in different conditions will teach you so much about riding and help to improve your skills. If you can ride fast and well in the wet winter imagine how fucking excellent you'll be when summer comes back around.
Don't shy away from riding in all conditions at all times of year. Do road trips, go on biking holidays. There is not such thing as the wrong conditions for riding, only the wrong mindset.
4: Play in the mud
Road riding is one thing but nothing teaches you more about bikes than expanding your knowledge to other types of riding and one of the best experiences is riding dirt. Whether
What's more is that because it is so unlike road riding or track it will force you to learn things you never knew you never knew. Dirt and trials bikes demand completely different skillsets and ways to tackle the obstacles they're designed to take on. They force you to balance at slow speeds, to get the rear end loose to make a turn, to do wheelies to get over things, to fine tune your clutch and throttle control and it's a fucking great work out. The only gym member ship you'll ever need is a dirtbike.
Short primer on different dirt riding
Motocross:
Fast dirt tracks, backing it into and out of turns, mental wheelies and big jumps, not for the faint of heart.
Risk of serious injury if you fuck it up; quite high.
Enduro:
Technical and long tracks, lots of different obstacles and terrain to overcome, amazing scenery as lot of Enduro takes place well off the beaten tracks in mountains, valleys and forests, moderately low speed sport.
Risk of serious injury if you fuck it up; pretty low
Trails:
Very slow and technical riding, all sorts of obstacles and challenges, kinda like motorbike chess, bikes are cheap to buy and keep, great community and great for all ages.
Risk of serious injury if you fuck it up; Almost unheard of.
Greenlaning/trail riding:
Riding local byways and dirt tracks, pick your own pace and group of friends to ride into hedges with, super fun for a day out, take your mind off the drudge of life, get back to nature and all that.
Risk of serious injury if you fuck it up: Depends how mad you are.
5: Welcome to crash city. Population: you.
We all crash, it's part of biking. The only riders who never crash at the posers who never fucking ride their bikes. On a bike you take your life in your hands alone and sometimes you'll get it wrong and find yourself sliding up a bank or down the road thinking... well that didn't go to plan.
Get over it. Sometimes shit goes wrong on a bike, like you hit some shit on the road, you over cook a corner, or some fuckwit pulls out on you and you grab way too much front brake. If you can get up and walk away afterward, take the bike back, fix it up and get back out there. If you have a stay in hospital afterwards, well, sometimes shit happens. Get recovered, get well and get back on. Bikers are tough, we're out there in it, we fall off sometimes but any real biker can't wait to get back on and start riding again.
If you fall off, and you will, it's your choice if you wallow in your biking insecurities or get the fuck back on and get back to it. If you can't ride again after a crash and it't not due to a debilitating injury well, perhaps biking wasn't for you after all.
We are a tribe
The world over bikers understand each other because we're all on two wheels, race, religion, gender, it doesn't matter. Except those elitist hiviz 'POLITE' jacket wearing judgemental pricks who don't belong anywhere near a fucking motorbike. The rest of us, we're cool. I have mates in other countries who I connect with via biking, some stunters and squids, others racers and road riders on everything from commuters and cruisers to superbikes but we all understand the passion. Some of the best mates I've made have been through biking. 
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