Riding at Rallies

Get ready for the season ahead with these tips for navigating events with your Harley-Davidson^® motorcycle

With the Euro Festival fast approaching and the European H.O.G. Rally just around the corner, let’s take a look at the different strategies for riding safely at rallies. Are there really rally-specific strategies, you may wonder? Well..

While rallies serve up some of the best experiences available for motorcycle enthusiasts, they also come with their share of unique challenges. It’s inevitable that thousands of motorcyclists arriving in a single town or region (especially one they’re unfamiliar with), and experiencing new roads, new laws, and unexpected situations, heightens both the excitement and potential dangers of a major rally.

Having the right mindset, practicing a few skills and safe riding strategies, and being aware of the ground rules will maximise your safety and the amount of fun you’ll have.

Whether it’s a planned excursion with friends, a huge, organised parade, or the impromptu accumulation of unrelated riders that naturally occurs at big events, riding in large groups is a near certainty at most rallies. It’s going to happen. But don’t fret: it’s also one of the greatest experiences to have at a motorcycle rally and following some basic advice easily minimizes the risks.

Perhaps the most important general advice is not to get too caught up in the excitement. No matter where you ride, always do it within your own comfort zone, ride at your own speed, make your own decisions, don’t blindly follow the person in front of you, don’t assume the people around you know what they’re doing, and always stay calm. In short, just ride your own ride.

There are some special situations during a rally that can be extra challenging. For instance, most big Harley-Davidson and H.O.G.^® events offer a number of well-attended activities, such as concerts and parades. If you want to avoid the traffic congestion that occurs when these events end and multitudes of people try to leave all at once, a sensible approach is to time your departure to avoid the rush. Such advice sounds simple and obvious, but the nature of groupthink has a peculiar way of turning individuals into lemmings. Take the road less travelled when you can!

While there’s safety and virtue to taking the road less travelled, beware the potential challenge of riding the roads never travelled – in other words, those roads and regions you’re experiencing for the first time. New places and roads can be exciting, but they can also be distracting and unpredictable. If it’s your first time at a particular rally, be especially careful about getting around until you become familiar with the layout of the event. Chances are, you’ll miss a road junction or an exit or at some point. When it happens, don’t force an erratic manoeuvre or attempt a U-turn. Instead, take your time, go to the next junction or exit, and revise your route accordingly.

It’s also important to be even more vigilant about utilising these common safe-riding strategies:

• Ride at a speed that you can easily slow down or stop from
• Search aggressively within the visible sight distance
• Always position yourself to have an escape path
• Cover your brake and clutch controls to reduce your reaction time, especially when approaching an area with limited visibility or complexity, like a road junction or intersection
• Pay heightened attention to road signs

It may surprise you to know that one of the most common accidents at rallies is the slow-speed tip-over, and there are several reasons why they’re common. Many popular destinations encourage street parking where motorcycles are parked in parallel and close together along each side of the road, maximising use of the parking space available. Add to the mix the commotion of so many riders and pedestrians, very slow speeds in such areas, and the added pressure of being watched by hundreds of peering eyes, and you have a recipe for tipping over.

The best way to avoid tipping over in parking situations is to practice riding slowly. Find a parking lot, preferably one with a crowned, asphalt surface that replicates most roads, and begin by practicing slow riding. That is probably the most important skill, but it’s also worthwhile to practice the steps of actually parking, especially backing into a spot. Do this a half-dozen times before your trip, and you’ll be a pro when doing it later on in Medulin or Faaker See in front of a thousand riders!

Another useful tip is to park like you’re planning to leave in a hurry – with the rear wheel to the kerbside and the front wheel pointing toward the middle of the road. Use gravity to assist backing into the spot and leave an open, usually uphill, path forward to pull out. Always park in a spot where your bike’s jiffy stand provides optimal balance, and bring a puck or pad to place underneath the jiffy stand to help avoid tip-over due to soft asphalt or an unstable surface.

While practice and smart strategies can minimise the chance of a tip-over, it may still happen. If it does, don’t panic. It is, of course, embarrassing, but remember it happens to almost everyone at some point, and the worst thing you can do is to rush the situation. Instead, take a moment to evaluate yourself and your motorcycle. For example, if you tweaked a knee, don’t make it worse by trying to wrestle your bike upright by yourself – recruit help from nearby. Then make sure nothing is broken on the bike, such as the control levers. Gather your wits and calmly return to whatever task you were performing that resulted in the tip-over. And of course, when you can, always offer to assist a fellow rider who’s tipped over – it’s good biker karma!