Your cart is currently empty!
One of the first mistakes I made as a novice motorcycle rider was realizing that I was coming into a turn a little hot and needed to scrub off some speed. I was trained for this situation, but that didn’t stop what happened.
Learning by Experience.
The recent training I had completed informed my brain that I should first let off the gas, then slowly apply the brakes evenly, or lightly tap the levers, until I have decelerated into a safer, more comfortable speed.
Another critical principle I learned when riding mountain bikes was, “You go where you look.” That also applies to motorcycles, but faster.
What my fear saw at that moment was the curb rushing at me with zero chance to avoid impact. That fear transferred immediately to my fingers as I squeezed both levers in a panic.
The result was a predictable nosedive that all but sealed my fate. While my front wheel did smack the curb soundly, I was somehow able to miraculously save the fall, and more importantly (to me) – my bike.
Experience can be a harsh teacher sometimes.
Unfortunately, things didn’t always work out in my favor when it came to managing my speed. Let’s just say that on more than one occasion, I’m ashamed to say that jamming the brakes resulted in significant property damage. Thankfully, these occurred in my vehicle and I was spared injury.
It took me a while to learn how to manage acceleration and momentum by smoothly operating the brakes while maintaining control of the vehicle.
Tapping the brakes.
I’m excited to be getting feedback from many of you who have made purchases, or are wanting to make a purchase from the SSC store. (Can I abbreviate SonshineSurf.Co yet?) One of the most popular bits of feedback I’m getting is requests for specific products.
The good news is that nearly all of the items you are requesting are already on my product list, so I have had no problems saying ‘yeah – it’s coming!’ The difficulty comes when I then try and make wishes come true, wreaking havoc on the priorities list.
Now the yellow light of experience is starting to flash on my instrument panel. You know that pesky ‘check engine’ light. I’m coming in a little hot and it’s time to let off the gas and slow it down a bit.
So I’m tapping the brakes ever so lightly on creating any more new products for the time being. However, designs that are currently in progress will make it into the store shortly and you will definitely hear of those once released.
UX/UI Improvements
U wat?! One of the things that desparately needs attention at the moment is the UX (User eXperience) and UI (User Interface) on the website.
I experienced this firsthand recently when trying to help my younger daughters order one of our VW BQs Bus tees for a friend on their phone.
I have to admit it wasn’t a great experience. But – we did get it ordered and it was delivered! Thankfully, aside from the ordering process, everything else went swimmingly well.
If you’ve visited the site today, then you’ll see that I’ve already started chipping away at this. Some thanks goes to @josiah-turnquist for his feedback and insight into front end design and dev.
I also appreciate all the constructive feedback on both the website and products that some have relayed to me.
Sonshine Surf Co in the wild!
Have you seen any SSC gear out there in the wild? Thanks to everyone who is sporting their pre-release gear out in public. I will be adding some pics of ‘actual people’ wearing ‘actual’ Sonshine Surf Co gear IRL to the website this week.
If you would like to have your pic posted, then send me a snapshot with your permission to post it. Here’s a couple of pics for now…
‘Eyes up’ riding.
Going back to my Ducati days… ‘Eyes Up’ riding was one of the things we were taught in the Motorcycle Safety Foundation training class that I took as part of my licensing process.
This was the practice of looking up as far ahead as possible when riding. The rookie tendency is to focus myopically on the road down in front of you, which results in not being able to use your peripheral vision to ‘scan’ what’s around you. An important aspect of riding safely is to try and anticipate situations and it’s hard to anticipate what you don’t see. A friend once admonished me to ride with my head on a swivel.
The Apostle Paul echoes a similar principle when he says that he forgets what is behind but strains forward with his eyes fixed on the prize.
Application of the analogy.
Yes, I’m getting to it thank you.
At this point you might be thinking to yourself, “I thought this was a surfing company? What do motorcycles have to do with surfing?’”
Akshually, as you’ll come to realize over the next few weeks and months, Sonshine Surf Co is more of a lifestyle brand that is focused on – but not limited to – surfing. Have you seen our VW bus tee? There’s more of that coming. Who knows, maybe we’ll make some inroads into the motoring industry!
Cars trucks, bikes, boards, gear, equipment, and toys that are a part of experiencing God’s magnificent creation – the pinnacle of which are us humans – will all be tossed into this delicious pot of stone soup.
Looking up ahead (there it is) we can see that there are a ton of opportunities and possibilities for SSC, and we are moving pretty fast along these fun mountain twisties, doing our best to navigate the road while enjoying the ride.
As this journey progresses forward, I want to keep in the habit of preparing and anticipating. Prioritizing even.
Are you in? Stay tuned by subscribing to the website or send an email to newsletter@sonshinesurf.co letting us know that you’re interested in what we’re doing, Until then…
Live Life In The Son
-Leif
- photo is courtesy of Ducati via CycleWorld ↩︎
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.