Aikido: Pre-Accident Preparation

Aikido: Pre-Accident Preparation

ROUNDUP

CAMRON E. BUSSARD

EVERYONE KNOWS WHAT YOU DO when you fall down, right? You stick out your arms to brace yourself for the impact. But even though you might think that such a reaction is instinctive, it actually is a learned response. And according to instructors of Aikido, a martial art based on non-resistance, it is the wrong response, one of the last things you want to do.

Aikido (pronounced EYE-KEEDOE) is a fairly new form of selfdefense that, among other things, teaches proper ways to fall. David Dye, head of the Aikido Federation of California, believes that by learning a few of the fundamental tumbling rolls of Aikido, motorcyclists can reduce the number and severity of any injuries they might sustain in an accident. In fact, one of Dye’s students, a motorcycle police officer, thinks his Aikido training helped him to walk away uninjured from a recent crash.

Perhaps the greatest benefit of Aikido for motorcycle riders is that the physical aspects of this training can apply directly to riding. The discipline allows you to have a greater mental awareness of your environment, and also gives you better body control. The instructors also try to teach your mind and body to act as one so that the rolling techniques become instinctive.

Mastering three different but similar kinds of rolls can give you a strong course of action in case you fall. The first roll is a low-speed, low-trajectory roll in which you tuck your head and roll onto your back. The second is a higher-speed and higher-trajectory roll, and you slap the contact area with your arm to absorb the shock of the impact, then roll. The third is for even higher speeds and perhaps an almost vertical drop. Here you slap, roll then slap again so that you absorb as much of the impact as possible.

Each of these movements requires practice and training before you can use them effectively. Dye points out that Aikido is first of all an art form, and that it offers more than just tumbling techniques, although the rolls are of particular interest to motorcycle riders. Aikido has no fighting stance, as does Karate, and there is no competition of any sort, so the art does not carry the aggressive fighting stigma of the other selfdefense arts. It is a purely defensive martial art.

Perfecting the technique, together with learning the proper ways to breathe, takes some time; but the instructors all agree that within a few weeks you will have learned enough of the basic rolls to be able to give yourself increased protection in a fall.

More experienced riders, especially those who have spent much time in the dirt, will have already learned many of these techniques— the hard way. Much of Aikido you could probably learn on your own with enough crashing practice, but who likes to fall just to get more experience? Taking a class is not only a way to bypass that hardearned “road experience,” but much safer as well.

Because Aikido emphasizes flexibility, timing and motion, it is a natural discipline for the bike rider. You learn to relax rather than tense up during critical moments, using the principle that it is easier for a rope to be cut or broken when it is pulled tight than when it is loose. Furthermore, the rolls help distribute the force of a blow over a larger contact area, which decreases the impact on any particular spot.

Like any piece of safety equipment or any other method of protection, Aikido is not a panacea or a guarantee that you will not be injured in an accident. But learning its techniques can provide you with the potential to minimize the effects of a crash. And that in itself makes Aikido something worth looking into for just about any rider.

Praise The Lord And Pass The Radar Gun

The Rev. Ray Lombard, a 70-yearold Roman Catholic priest in Litchfield, Connecticut, has a unique way of offering motorcyclists and their bikes an added margin of on-the-road protection: He and two other priests conduct the Blessing of the Motorcycles each year at the famous Shrine Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes in Litchfield. Father Lombard has been overseeing this blessed event for seven years now. and the 1985 running saw a twomile-long procession of bikes and riders file past the priests, who blessed each motorcycle and its occupants by sprinkling holy water and proclaiming, “May the Lord bless you and keep you safe.”

There are official Roman Catholic Church blessings for all sorts of things, including cars, houses and pets, but not for motorcycles; so Father Lombard simply adapted the traditional Blessing of the Fleet used for large groups of sea-going vessels, and inserted the word “motorcycle” anywhere the word “ship” appeared. And in the beginning, the concept of blessing a bunch of motorcycles first

had to be sold to the bishop, who was more than a little puzzled by the idea. But Father Lombard got the green light once he convinced the bishop that “these were good people,” and that he was trying to help counteract the evil image that is so closely associated with

motorcycling.

Like most insurance policies, however, the Blessing of the Motorcycles does have its limits. As one of Father Lombard’s associates in this activity, the Rev. Flavius Gamache. tells each rider. “This blessing is only good up to 55 mph.”

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