to have all the techniques and all the

Like a shark: information, I’ m sharing them with you.

Back-and-forth Headwinds slow you down and tail motion within winds speed you up. They’ re easy peasy. your lane mentally The major challenge with wind is when and physically it’ s pushing sideways on us. Below I’ ve prepares you for generated a list of key areas I focus on heavy wind gusts. when faced with the back-and-forth tugo’-war that crosswinds create.

Speeds: I’ ve heard people say that you should slow down in windy conditions, and if I was a lawyer representing a training company, I might agree. However, in my experience, more momentum means more stability, so if I can safely increase speed to help make me a more stable package, I will. This includes freeways, long multilane roadways, and areas without intersections and cross traffic. Where I do not employ increased speed is in canyons or otherwise winding roads. This is because an ill-timed gust of wind coupled with increased speed has the potential to push me wide in a curve. Given that most canyon roads are twolane affairs, I’ ll either end up heading into oncoming traffic or onto the shoulder. So in these situations, I slow down a

Story by QUINN REDEKER / Photos by KEVIN WING from traffic lights, but due to the complex variables presented by urban areas, I keep my speed otherwise normal.

Lane position: My vanilla answer here

IT WAS A SUNDAY afternoon in late August 1985.“ Maneater” by Hall & Oates was swirling into a set of Sony Walkman when you find that you are no longer in Kansas anymore. I don’ t

is to stay in the middle of the lane, as it allows some movement

speakers I somehow managed to hotwire into my helmet, and just stiffly drone down the road; I move like a shark and“ hunt” my black and red Honda Nighthawk S was tracking through a bit in the middle portion of the lane via side-to-side motion Malibu Canyon like a puma. Remember when Maverick rolled in preparation for the gust. Why? Watch a tennis player waiting into Fightertown on his 900 Ninja? It was just like that. But then, for a serve, and you will notice they are not just standing frozen. without so much as a subtle tap on the shoulder, a massive Instead, they shift side-to-side anticipating the ball to come at gust of wind blew my motorcycle off the road and right up them. This helps keep them mentally and physically fluid and against the concrete barricade that stood between me and a takes the“ hard edges” off when the action starts. I do the same 200-foot cliff. Not great. thing on my motorcycle, and it works fantastically. Luckily, I managed to ride the railing and ricochet back on Situational awareness: Riding in the wind requires an even the road with minimal scrapes and bruises. But from then on, higher level of awareness, reaction time, and focus than we already employ while on our motorcycles. I’ ve encountered tires,

I vowed that if I was going to continue riding on the street, I had to come up with a process that kept me safe when the wood beams, coolers, tree branches, trash cans, and more. winds kicked up. And 40 long years later, I think I’ ve finally got While it’ s never fun, the good news is that most of the obstacles are predictable, because the wind tends to push them in a it dialed enough to share.

Today we’ re going to jam out to a little yacht rock and linear trajectory and at a generally consistent speed. Unlike a discuss ways we can mitigate the negative effects of wind driver who might cross your path only to realize it suddenly and while on the motorcycle. We’ ll focus on street riding only, as slam on their brakes, an item blowing across the roadway can’ t off-road and racing environments have their own challenges stop, won’ t stop, but will keep moving. The key here is tracking and solutions. Please understand these suggestions are just it and getting your timing right. Yes, some obstacles will be the ones I use. They are not“ correct” or better than anybody stationary and directly in your path, like a downed tree, but else’ s, but because I believe you should challenge yourself those are typically visible from a good distance off, so you can

62 / JUNE 2026 / RIDERMAGAZINE. COM