Risk Management Magazine

To be honest, I haven’t always been the poster child for riding safely. I’ve been fortunate enough to survive my experiences and learn from them, but not everyone is so lucky.

p>Every environment has its hazards, and a route recon is an effective tool to identify them. When I took the Motorcycle Safety Foundation’s Basic RiderCourse, my instructors told me to apply this same practice before riding an unknown route. Two events opened my eyes to the importance of that advice.

While in Afghanistan, every Thursday night I would get together with three friends and watch “Sons of Anarchy,” a television show about the exploits of an outlaw motorcycle gang. After about six months of watching, we decided we all needed to buy motorcycles when we returned home.