Ride Hard, Ride Smart is a practical, hands-on survival guide for the average motorcyclist. It takes up where the Motorcycle Safety Foundation's Guide to Motorcycling Excellence leaves off. That very successful book is aimed at beginning riders, and as such outlines the most basic strategies of motorcycle riding. This book provides more advanced survival and safety strategies. The vast wealth of knowledge and information developed by the motorcycle safety industry is bound into one chapter and one simple concept - the "three degrees of separation" - that sets the stage for the rest of the book. The three degrees of separation are riding strategies, training and skills, and protective gear-the things that separate the rider from death an injury. Hahn rates motorcycle risk and riding on a scale of one to ten, ten being mere moments away from certain death, and one being home safe in bed. Every motorcycle ride falls somewhere in between. Using the three degrees of separation, a rider can get the risk level down to a controllable level, creating the safest possible situation on a moving motorcycle.