This is the debut post of what is obviously going to be a very, very, very long series of posts.

One tough thing about riding on the left side of the road after you’ve spent your whole life riding on the right, besides the whole holy-crap-I’m-going-the-wrong-way-on-the-freeway-again thing, is turning.

Now I’m not talking about your run of the mill turn right or left at an intersection type of turns, but your tight-and-slow-u-turn kind of turns.
Think of how often in the USA you make a u-turn by turning clockwise - never, right? Such a simple maneuver, but it’s ALWAYS in one direction. The simple muscle memory and bio-mechanics of making a slow clockwise u-turn on a hillside where you have to lean uphill a bit don’t exist.

Now, the KLR motorcycle I am riding is not that heavy (350 lbs or so in stock condition), but rides relatively high, and when fully loaded with a out-of-shape American, a ton of loose gear, and a rush half-assed packing job for going “only a few miles,” the center of gravity shifts around faster than a coked-up rabbit.

So mix these two factors and what do you get?

SLAM.

Bike down on the same street, going into the same tight parking spot, in front of the same cafe, three days in a row.

Don’t be like me.

The final tally: 1 re-adjusted hand guard, 1 slightly scraped saddle bag, 1 embarassed American, and 4 head-shaking South Africans.