Korea
25th April 2006, 17:10
…and so February decided to give March a miss and went straight into April.
At last! Spring has arrived and while my kiwi counterparts are enjoying the onset of winter, the bikes are coming out in force from under the ROK (Republic of Korea).
However, with spring comes the dreaded Hwang-Sa; really fine sand blown over from China’s Gobi desert. Allergies are flaring up, students are coughing and spluttering in class, all is covered in a fine, yellow dust and the general populace take to the streets with Michael JacksonTM masks – de rigor if you are a fashion conscious Korean.
Back to riding. Last weekend was spent about 50kms east of Daegu city at the UnMun dam which feeds the waterworks to all the surrounding areas. There, the road twists with big, wide-open sweepers which run alongside the river. While it isn’t a main road, it is wide, well-maintained and smooth. On any Sunday you can expect to see anywhere from 20-50 riders from all over the surrounding areas, Daegu, Gumi, Ulsan, Gyeongju, and as far south as Busan.
All the roads get busy on Sundays and the UnMun road tends to get a bit crowded with cars in the afternoon – so you have to pick your time or deal with the traffic. There are also too many crazy riders that go pretty much balls-out on this road and those guys usually ride like the traffic isn’t even there.
Myself, I have plenty of fun just riding at about 80% so I try to ignore the plonkers and concentrate on riding smoothly.
Shortly after I arrived and was warming up the tyres, some clown on a 636 came blasting up behind me and tried to pass me on the inside, bollocksing-up his line completely and then cut across my line as he went totally wide and headed for the outside barrier. He came within inches of writing himself off but pulled it together at the last minute. I didn’t want him trying more of the same – so I let him go on ahead. Following him, he was all on the throttle/off the throttle through the corners and riding way beyond his ability. People like that are on the fast track to a quick end.
After a couple of runs up and down the length of the river, I stopped at the most famous sweeper where a lot of riders park up to watch everyone practicing going faster and faster until someone falls off – which seemed to happen most weekends last year. So far I haven’t seen any offs, but the season is early.
Got my first glimpse of the new R6 and had a few runs at ‘the corner’ but I’m just not getting the lines right. I’m all over the place in fact - need sweeper practice. (See video – CBR600rr).
It’s an interesting corner, or rather 2 corners, with a couple of small camber changes and a long section in the middle. I might start a thread ‘Teach Korea how to nail “the corner” Please’ with schematics and diagrams. We'll see...
Eventually the wind picked up again and the yellow dust reduced the horizon to a blurry haze so I packed it in early and made it home in time for pizza.
Overall, the UnMun dam is a nice escape that’s close to home.
Take it easy and…
At last! Spring has arrived and while my kiwi counterparts are enjoying the onset of winter, the bikes are coming out in force from under the ROK (Republic of Korea).
However, with spring comes the dreaded Hwang-Sa; really fine sand blown over from China’s Gobi desert. Allergies are flaring up, students are coughing and spluttering in class, all is covered in a fine, yellow dust and the general populace take to the streets with Michael JacksonTM masks – de rigor if you are a fashion conscious Korean.
Back to riding. Last weekend was spent about 50kms east of Daegu city at the UnMun dam which feeds the waterworks to all the surrounding areas. There, the road twists with big, wide-open sweepers which run alongside the river. While it isn’t a main road, it is wide, well-maintained and smooth. On any Sunday you can expect to see anywhere from 20-50 riders from all over the surrounding areas, Daegu, Gumi, Ulsan, Gyeongju, and as far south as Busan.
All the roads get busy on Sundays and the UnMun road tends to get a bit crowded with cars in the afternoon – so you have to pick your time or deal with the traffic. There are also too many crazy riders that go pretty much balls-out on this road and those guys usually ride like the traffic isn’t even there.
Myself, I have plenty of fun just riding at about 80% so I try to ignore the plonkers and concentrate on riding smoothly.
Shortly after I arrived and was warming up the tyres, some clown on a 636 came blasting up behind me and tried to pass me on the inside, bollocksing-up his line completely and then cut across my line as he went totally wide and headed for the outside barrier. He came within inches of writing himself off but pulled it together at the last minute. I didn’t want him trying more of the same – so I let him go on ahead. Following him, he was all on the throttle/off the throttle through the corners and riding way beyond his ability. People like that are on the fast track to a quick end.
After a couple of runs up and down the length of the river, I stopped at the most famous sweeper where a lot of riders park up to watch everyone practicing going faster and faster until someone falls off – which seemed to happen most weekends last year. So far I haven’t seen any offs, but the season is early.
Got my first glimpse of the new R6 and had a few runs at ‘the corner’ but I’m just not getting the lines right. I’m all over the place in fact - need sweeper practice. (See video – CBR600rr).
It’s an interesting corner, or rather 2 corners, with a couple of small camber changes and a long section in the middle. I might start a thread ‘Teach Korea how to nail “the corner” Please’ with schematics and diagrams. We'll see...
Eventually the wind picked up again and the yellow dust reduced the horizon to a blurry haze so I packed it in early and made it home in time for pizza.
Overall, the UnMun dam is a nice escape that’s close to home.
Take it easy and…