When am I experienced?

[EDBANGER]

Inspired in the other thread. When can you consider yourself experienced?? Is it merely the amount of time you've spent on 2 wheels or is there more to it than that??
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If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, you are the sucker.

[cLaTTeReD]

im sure advanced training and trackdays will add to experience

no substitute for time on the bike i suppose

[EDBANGER]

But lets say you've ridden 20 years on a cruiser without a single accident. Are you then an experienced biker??
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If you can't spot the sucker in your first half hour at the table, you are the sucker.

[Bendy]

I reckon you're heading in the right direction when you've got a broad range of experiences under your belt... riding in all sorts of conditions, all sorts of situations, and you've learnt things from them. Of course, you can be experienced in one area of riding and a total newb to another one, anyone watching my feeble offroading performance could attest to that!

I'd say it's when you feel confident that you could be put in any situation, on any bike, and have a decent shot at dealing with whatever comes your way. But that confidence has to come from things you've learnt, not just blind 'I'm a god' confidence, cos that usually ends in a mess.

[cLaTTeReD]

if you have ridden only the cruiser for 20yrs you are experienced yes - but only on that bike. if you jumped onto a zx10r then to a certain extent you would be a novice

[Hex]

Driving a car provides a different kind of experience as well, as you get the other side of the coin as it were and realise that on a bike you really are invisible in some situations.
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Monkey hanger, Born and bred
My little photo portfolio

[stinkwheel]

I think it is when you find yourself in a position of nearly having an accident but find yourself reacting to it reflexively in a calm and collected fashion.

Like the other day when someone chopped lanes on me on the motorway and missed my front wheel by about 6". I had been watching carefully because there were brake lights on the motorway about 2 miles ahead, I saw him, braked hard, locked the front wheel, came off the brakes just enough to undo the skid, reapplied the brakes not quite so hard and crabbed the bike over in the lane to give me more space.

All this happened at 80mph over the course of no more than 2 seconds.

Now I would consider that incident the actions of an 'experienced' rider because:
I didn't have to think about it.

I got away with it (which say five years ago I might not have)

and (big point)

I was calm and calculated about what had happened. A few years ago I would probably have been shaken up and had to pull over somewhere to calm down.
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“Rule one: Always stick around for one more drink. That's when things happen. That's when you find out everything you want to know.”
I did the 2010 Round Britain Rally on my 350 Bullet. 89 landmarks, 3 months, 9,500 miles.

[UKRobT309]

[Walloper]

Quote from:

"Motorcycle ROADCRAFT police rider's handbook to better motorcycling"

Chapter 1

What makes a good rider?

Good riders have a quiet efficiency in their actions and this derives from:

a good level of concentration

accurate observation

matching the machine's speed and direction to the situation

awareness of the risks inherent in particular road and traffic
situations

acting to keep identified risks to a minimum

awareness of their own limitations and those of the machine and the road

skillful use of the machine controls

attitudes that contribute to road safety."


I'm quoting without permission but it's road safety so I might not get nabbed.
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W-ireless A-rtificial L-ifeform L-imited to O-bservation P-eacekeeping and E-fficient R-epair