Quote Originally Posted by 53driver View Post
ALWAYS a great idea to bust some rust on your skill set before venturing forth.

There were LOTS of Bike Week riders who had obviously put their bike in the trailer and brought it down - first ride of the year was on the streets of Daytona....

Some things to think about and practice:
- give the bike a serious preflight
- let her warm up a bit to get oil where it has fallen from over the winter
- reacquaint your muscle memory with the friction zone - it shouldn't have moved, but recalibrate your left hand
- practice slow turns in the friction zone - specifically the mechanics of counter weighting and head turns. Sometimes we get lazy during hibernation and forget that our neck does turn pretty far. You should be able to to do a complete 180 degree turn inside a 20' width (two parking spaces)
- practice threshold braking from slower speeds, building up to real world speeds. Calibrate your right hand to squeeeeeeeeeeeeeze that lever with a nice consistent pressure - no grabbing!

Above all, HAVE FUN!
Cheers,
Steve
Excellent advice.