All riders understand the importance of good braking skills. I'm talking about our breaking skill – knowing when to stop and take a break. This is a skill that often gets taken for granted. It's one that doesn't always get practiced as frequently as it should. Most of us, I'd like to think all of us, stop under the heavy urge of nature's call. We are also pretty good at taking a break when the vapors in our gas tank start getting into the fuel lines. But is that enough?

Riding from gas stop to gas stop is a riding strategy many employ for their trips. After all, the sooner we get "there," the more fun we can have while we're "there." If we can hold off paying the rent on the coffee, or other beverage, until the next gas stop, we might get away with this riding method, especially early in the day.

"Because it happens slowly, we may not even recognize this degradation of our riding skills."

But can we maintain that as the day wears on? What about when our riding environment changes? As we pound the highway for hours at a time, we tend to get fatigued. Our mental skills start to lose some of their edge and our reflexes dull a little. Because it happens slowly, we may not even recognize this degradation of our riding skills. This is when our breaking skills become important.

Perhaps we are riding early in the season or we're trying to push the impending winter hiatus of the Northern climes. The sun drops low in the sky and dusk sets in sending the mercury to pool in the ball of the thermometer. This adds to the fatigue and our riding skills erode even more as we concentrate on the frosty feeling in our fingers, toes and cheeks. This is when our breaking skills become important.

Or perhaps the sun is high overhead burning down on a midsummer's ride causing the mercury to squirt from the top of the thermometer. The heat and the wind suck the moisture from our bodies as we roar down that ribbon of asphalt slowly sapping our bodies and mind of their strength. The effects of dehydration become our riding partners reducing our skills as we bake in the sun. This is when our breaking skills become important.

Or maybe it's started to rain and the oils and residue left on the road between washings has begun to rise up out of the pores of the road coating it with the normal early rain slickness. Or maybe traffic has suddenly closed us in as we ride through that metropolitan area as people are rushing home from work. This is when our breaking skills become important.

We have to remember that we ride because we enjoy it. We want to have fun. We have to remember it's the journey, not the destination, that's important. The destination is just the reason for the journey. We have to remember to use our breaking skills so we can enjoy our ride and avoid a different kind of break.

Ride Smart! Ride Safe!