The REAL point of group rides...(well, my opinion anyway)

[Krayy]

Since most of the relavant threads have been hijacked, and I need to make sure the right people see this, I've started anew.

Firstly, big ups to MR and 2S for organising another damn good ride. 40+ bikes is an awesome turnout in anyones books, and I was pleased to be a part of it and meet up with some new and some old acquaintances, which is what I reckon the rides are all about.

I can understand where some of the KB'ers don't want to ride with the pack, and have a need for speed, but just being on the road while looking ahead at 20 bikes, then checking the mirrors and seeing ANOTHER 20 blazing headlights made me feel like standing up and applauding.

Case in point. Whilst riding alone on a motorway, you can sometimes feel quite vulnerable. When I turned up at the Mt Wgtn meet point to take the noobs up to the Autobahn, we got on the motorway and stayed at around 80, but because there was a group of us, no bastard cager could hassle us. As a group, we were larger than a truck in size, and as tail end charlie, I was making damn sure nobody snuck up and got in between us. I didn't make a lick of difference that we were not going 120 with our asses hanging out, splitting and trying to save a minute or two off the journey.

Likewise with the ride itself, I didn't mind going 90 ish if it meant that some of the slower guys felt like they were part of the group as well. MR and 2S had said it wasn't a newbie ride, but from past experience I knew that most people would stop once of twice along the road and wait anyway. So what if it was a few minutes more, it gave you the chance to talk about what bits you liked and whats coming up.

That being said, the way home was even better. I teamed up with Gazzar and MLCrisis for the return run up 22, and trying to stay with a (georgeous) R1 and a (kicking) ZX-6R, made me work the VTR through the corners like it was made to do. It was a great feeling hooking it into the twists and turns, hitting (almost) the right gear and powering out. Then I see the bigger bikes pull away on the straights. Damn. Thanks for the compnay though guys, most enjoyable.

Being able to ride at 80-90% of the bikes ability is a good feeling in anyones books, even if it isn't the fastest bike out there, and when I'm alone I do just that, but when I'm on a group ride, why would you ride alone anyway?

2 cents deposited, touch lighting paper and stand well clear.

[MSTRS]

I'll reply here with an observation or two. The thread that caused all the 'trouble' was commented on in very unflattering terms by a few KBrs who should know better, If you weren't there then you cannot be objective in what you say since it is based on what someone else said they saw, not what you saw. These rides are great for everyone since they teach such a lot to the less experienced in terms of handling & tactics, and the more experienced are reminded of where they came from. None of the vids showed me any deliberate craziness - just inexperience. Nor did the speeds shown seem to be excessive. Anyway, despite negative comments by some (who weren't there) it looked like a brilliant event & I'm sorry that I wasn't part of it.

[bugjuice]

well sad.
I'm absolutely gutted I missed the ride. Won't be missing the next, that's for sure. And it gives me immense joy to see a convoy wave of headlights or tail lights. I remember seeing convoys before I was riding, and even now when I'm stuck in the cage, and all I wanted to do is be stuck in the middle there.. love it.. That's what it's about. Being around the people who share the same interests as you, and talking a language that people know and respect.
damn it, I'm gonna leave work and go out now. Now where did I put my balls...

[Marmoot]

***OFF TOPIC***

For anybody who feels being passed unsafely by a red SP1 on last saturday ride: sorry but I am trying to catch up with something and was not part of the group ride.
(not that I pass unsafely....just in case, y'know?)

But, hey, you all look cool out there. Will join you on the next ride maybe.
:yes:


***ON TOPIC***
you're right, Krayy. Looking at bikes is my point for going on group rides. But I would rather stick to a group within my own pace.
I think last group ride seems to be ok, where people were segregated into separate groups depending on their abilities. (But I wasn't there long enough to know. Simply put, it looks ok to me). Great job MR, and good to see you after quite a long while.

MikeL, great riding with you back to Akl. :niceone:

[Krayy]

As an aside, we did have a slight "incident" on the way back. Mlcrisis ran out of juice 2 k's from a gas station when the R1's computer SWEARS it had 60 k's left in the tank!! :whistle:

Oh dear. Looks like Yamaha NZ might do a recall you think? :D

Any other R1 riders get the same?

[FEINT]

Nice meeting you again Krayy at Autobahn! I like group rides too, preferbly if they are slow. I am a slow rider.... :D

[Quasievil]

I certainly made my share of "unflattering comments", I wasnt there, and yes 25 years of biking Im very experienced...... BUT

I stand by everything that I said and I wont make much of an apology for it either.
It was ALL caused by speed, the rider in question falled to take the corner why? did he fall asleep ?, NO ,he was going to fast for his abilities thats all there is to it.
the fact that many of you have gone wide on a corner is completely irrelevant, the only thing relevant in this is this particular situation and how we as bikers deal with it, did they deserve a bollocking ? damn right they did, and if I was there I would have given them a better one, not because I think I am superioir or have a right to do it but because I do actually care about those in this community and from this perspective yes Im entitled, if anyone has a problem with that I dont really care.

I have personally pm'D the chap who I gave a hard time and offered a apology for the "egghead" comment and also asked him if I can have the opportunity to "adopt him" to give him a bit of guidance, I havent yet heard back, but Im sure I will.

for my other comments read here http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=12056&page=8&pp=15

I am bloody committed to helping new riders and anyone else for that matter so dont slag me off :no: (please )

[bugjuice]

I am bloody committed to helping new riders and anyone else for that matter so dont slag me off :no: (please )
if you do, he'll throw you in the tank of sharks with fricken lazers attached to their heads.. muhahahahahahaa

[Quasievil]

if you do, he'll throw you in the tank of sharks with fricken lazers attached to their heads.. muhahahahahahaa

YEAH PRETTY MUCH, EITHER THAT OR RECONFIGURE YOUR FEMBOT
(DANG CAPS I WORK ALOT IN CAPS, ONCE WRITTEN i CANT BE SHAGGED RETYPING YOU KNOW HOW IT IS RIGHT, NEXT TIME i WILL TRY BETTER OK)

[MSTRS]

I certainly made my share of "unflattering comments", I wasnt there, and yes 25 years of biking Im very experienced...... BUT

I stand by everything that I said and I wont make much of an apology for it either.
It was ALL caused by speed, the rider in question falled to take the corner why? did he fall asleep ?, NO ,he was going to fast for his abilities thats all there is to it.
the fact that many of you have gone wide on a corner is completely irrelevant, the only thing relevant in this is this particular situation and how we as bikers deal with it, did they deserve a bollocking ? damn right they did, and if I was there I would have given them a better one, not because I think I am superioir or have a right to do it but because I do actually care about those in this community and from this perspective yes Im entitled, if anyone has a problem with that I dont really care.

I have personally pm'D the chap who I gave a hard time and offered a apology for the "egghead" comment and also asked him if I can have the opportunity to "adopt him" to give him a bit of guidance, I havent yet heard back, but Im sure I will.

for my other comments read here http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=12056&page=8&pp=15

I am bloody committed to helping new riders and anyone else for that matter so dont slag me off :no: (please )

Good comments. I was not singling out anyone in particular for criticsm, just making an observation re the tone of some peeps comments in view of their not being on the ride. Also good point about the 'speed' - it is real easy to see/hear the word & envision tyre-blistering rates of forward movement, when in fact the rate of kph is quite sedate yet beyond the conditions or rider's skills.

[Paul in NZ]

For my comment on group rides...

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?p=239604#post239604

Cheers

[Ixion]

I'll reply here with an observation or two. The thread that caused all the 'trouble' was commented on in very unflattering terms by a few KBrs who should know better, If you weren't there then you cannot be objective in what you say since it is based on what someone else said they saw, not what you saw. These rides are great for everyone since they teach such a lot to the less experienced in terms of handling & tactics, and the more experienced are reminded of where they came from. None of the vids showed me any deliberate craziness - just inexperience. Nor did the speeds shown seem to be excessive. Anyway, despite negative comments by some (who weren't there) it looked like a brilliant event & I'm sorry that I wasn't part of it.

Well, I wasn't there. But I don't need to be to know what happened. People crashed. That's enough , isn't it? Crash = bad. The technicalities of why they crashed I do not know , nor particularly care. I just don't want motorcyclists crashing .

If experienced guys crash, well that's one thing. They presumably know their limits,and their bike's. If they still crash then either they were deliberately pushing too hard, or one of those Act of God, shit happens, things happened that can happen to anyone.

When a novice crashes it's another matter. I don't want to see young motorcyclists crashing, I don't want to have parents/partners/spouses get a message that someone they love is in hospital or worse.


Sorry, I don't accept that because someone wasn't there at the crash scene then they have no right to be concerned.

When a motorcyclist crashes they risk injury or death. That affects ALL motorcyclists.

I've seen motorcycling go from being an perfectly normal, accepted means of transport, to being something that the country in general regards as stupid and aberrational.

Every reported crash in the newspapaers confirms that opinion.

I suppose most of us have encountered the problem of parents/spouses/letc being opposed to us riding. More deaths and injuries reinforces that sentiment

Moreover, it only needs a few well publicised tragedies for politicians and LTSA to start cracking down on bikes even harder. There's plenty of people out there would really like to see motorcycles banned. That may not be a flyer at present, but tougher licensing rules would be. OK , you guys with full licenses already may not care about that. But think about this. Making it harder to get started means fewer riders as time goes by . As rider numbers dwindle it becomes ever easier to put more restrictions on them

70kph max speed limit for bikes ? It's not an impossibility. If everybody except us considers motorcycling a stupid dangerous waste of time then it would be very easy. Lifetime ban for certain offences? There are people in power who would jump at that. Governors on bikes so you CAN'T Exceed 100kph (for your own saftety of course). The technology is there , all it needs is public antipathy to bikes.

The best way to rehabilitate motorcycling in the eyes of the world is to make sure that we keep crashs (and stupid highly visible hoonish behaviour) to a minimum . There'll always be some. The most perfect experienced rider in the world can (maybe, if they carry on long enough , will) crash. But avoidable crashs by young riders are very "newsworthy". And emotional. Which makes them a good weapon to prove that motorcycles are dangerous, stupid, and should be heavily restricted, in our own interests.

So I don't think I have to be at the scene to say that a lot of crashs on a ride is bad news for all motorcyclists. Without even going into the issue of how we'd all feel if another young rider died.

However, despite the crashs I agree that we should not forget that for almost everyone concerned it was a really good day, and lots of fun was had. And I don't think anyone is disputing that.

[MSTRS]

You miss my point. Which is - what right has someone (who wasn't there) got to call anyone a 'stupid cunt' (for example). These were young guys riding in what seems in the video to be a sensible manner, but through inexperience had some issues. WE ALL DID/DO THAT at some stage. Does that make us all stupid cunts? I think not.

[Ixion]

You miss my point. Which is - what right has someone (who wasn't there) got to call anyone a 'stupid cunt' (for example). These were young guys riding in what seems in the video to be a sensible manner, but through inexperience had some issues. WE ALL DID/DO THAT at some stage. Does that make us all stupid cunts? I think not.

Well, I know I was when I was young. Now I'm a stupid old fool instead. Though I'd never use that language to someone whose only fault was inexperience.

However, I'm not really too interested whether the crashs and near misses were due to stupidty (FWIW, I don't think they were) or inexperience or bravado or whatever. I just want people at risk to slow down, take it easy, not pass where it's not safe, go more slowly through the corners, do whatever they need to do to stay upright. If those who had Interesting Moments know why they got crossed up, then hopefully they'll learn from the incident and be more circumspect in future, until skills catch up with ambitions. If they don't understand why it went all lavender, then please guys, ask . (Don't ask me though cos I probably know even less than you)

Black squishy bits down, pink squishy bits up, always.

[Krayy]

As an aside, there were soem experienced people on the ride who were riding in an extremely dangerous manner.

An example: We're coming into Tuakau, I'm about 6th in line, we hit the 50km/h area. Now Tuakau is notable as a speed trap, so I slowed to around 60, and there was a car in front of me tha the leaders had blown by before. I'm happy to stick behind the car, so I don't mind when 4 or 5 others go past me and the car, fair enough. Now here comes a bloke on a TLR1000 in a highish gear, so his engines barely ticking over, but there is a car coming the other way. Does he speed up and nip in behind the others? Hell no, he holds his line on the wrong side of the road and forces the oncoming car to head for the curb as he splits between them. Now I'd have been slightly concerned if he'd come a cropper if the oncoming car stayed where it was and din't move, but the fact that he would have skittled into 3 or 4 other bikes if he'd been punted across the road put the wind up me.

It ain't just noobs who do stupid things.