The Mentor - Newbie Training Update - Lissa

[Lissa]

As Buckbuck has stood down from his Newbie Training Update he has asked me to take over from him. Thanks again Guy. :sunny:

I'll just start my opening post with the person who really pushed me into getting a bike. And that was Uncle B. When I first meet him I didnt have a bike, and was only thinking about it, but with his encouragement and him constantly telling me I HAD to do it before the summer ended or I will regret it, I got my bike. "Elvira" whom he named for me. I was thinking more on the lines of calling the bike Fred, but nevermind :)

I am a Mum of three kids, so any riding time I get to have is pure joy, and the fact I cant take the kids with me, is a bonus (although I love them dearly). Biking is something I have always wanted to try, and came to a point in my life (at 32) where I needed to at least try it, and well of course I got hooked.

I am currently on my Learners and will be going for my restricted in May. Then I would like to hurry my full along to get it by August so I can upgrade. Upgrade to what I am still not sure about but I do love the SV1000's. :)

Anyway any help/advice is always appreciated.

Mel

[Terminated]

Heads Up and Enjoy
Regards
Guy

[biggles1]

Go Mel
Uncle B would very proud of you.And a big round of applause to Guy in taking the mantle that Bruce had left for someone to pick up. Well done both of you.

[Macktheknife]

Go Mel
Uncle B would very proud of you.And a big round of applause to Guy in taking the mantle that Bruce had left for someone to pick up. Well done both of you.

Can't say it much better than that really.

[Lissa]

Well... I have alot of stuff going on in my life atm, which is going to make it difficult to post very often, and I don't really think I am going to be as good as BuckBuck anyway..

Since getting my GN250 I have rode 6000kms. Which probably isnt much in 5 months. But I have learnt a great deal in this time. I have gone from being absolutely petrified of riding to getting peeved off with the lack of accelleration of my Bike. I was seriously considering buying a more powerful 250 but as I can probably get my full in about 4-5 months time, I dont think it is worth it.

I went for a short blat today. Rode from Masterton to Greytown and back again... as I wasnt sure what the weather was going to do (overcast). I had my very first experience with the cops.

Just pulled out of the driveway, and the mufti car coming towards me put its lights on. I pulled over and waited for them to stop behind me. My first thought was, why on earth would they be stopping me? My second thought was OH SHIT I forgot my license and I have no L Plate on my bike.

Anyway, the guy cop starts talking to me.. I take my helmet off. I think he was surprised I was a girl. Asked me for my license and then proceeded to tell me he use to ride a GN as well. I told him I had forgotten my License and he quickly said Thats Ok, have a nice day and left... Whoo Hoo! That could have cost me alot. They arent all bad are they? Maybe it was the fact I was riding a GN, or that I was female, not sure.. but a good day anyway. :sunny:

[Trudes]

Good one Mel! Maybe it was your bum?!:mellow:

[Ronin]

You also snobbed me on the way up high street as I was walking to the Dairy :angry:

[Lissa]

Good one Mel! Maybe it was your bum?!:mellow:
Oh yea could have been.....will have to make sure I work out more, incase I get pulled over for speeding... (Tee hee on a GN!)

Oh shit Ronin, I looked down your driveway... but I didnt see you walking!!!

[Ronin]

If I had a dollar for every time someone had looked up my driveway......


At home with crook kid :sick:

[Trudes]

If I had a dollar for every time someone had looked up my driveway......




You'd have a dollar.

[Ronin]

You'd have a dollar.


0.75 cents.... She would have been speeding. :scooter:

With her "get out of Jail Ass and all"

[Lissa]

Excuse me... this is not the thread to talk about my ass... will start one up in PD for that!!!

btw I knew you were home looking after your son... I know ALL!!! tee hee

[Ronin]

Excuse me... this is not the thread to talk about my ass... will start one up in PD for that!!!

btw I knew you were home looking after your son... I know ALL!!! tee hee

It's not your ass anymore. It's the Immunity Idol :innocent:


Hmmmmm, crook kid or coffee with Jean..... I win.

[Ronin]

With pictures?

PM me
:dodge:

[Terminated]

From last weekends riding and practice posts:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=47178

The following selections have been made:


my pick this week is steam .. getting used to a new heavier bike & feeling like you are starting over ..


I rode to and from work, no time for fun this week as I have been working too much.
BUT... I had three bikes to choose from, so that was nice. I rode a bit on each, they are quite different.
Oh I suppose I did practise, the heavier CX400 is forcing me to do everything like I have just learned to ride, so I am picking my cornering lines more conciously, braking different, accellerating faster, and generally being more careful on the new more expensive bike.
This coming week I have two half-days, so I may try to find an empty car park on Monday or Tuesday and do some practising of various things I have done before on the GN but not the CX.


My pick for this week is yungatart, for getting out on a road she doesn't like, taking the time to learn about good cornering techniques, and having fun along the way. :rockon:


I rode up to Lake Tutira, with Jim2 along to give me advice and tips on cornering techniques. We had a couple of stops along the way for evaluation/discussion purposes. Jim2 not only explained to me how to 'read a corner', he actually showed me, as we walked through a couple of corners. He talked about the limits of the corner rather than the vanishing point, and we did some Fawlty Towers type over exaggeration stuff - like aggressively setting up lines and pointing head/shoulder towards the apex in the corners, which must have looked hilarious but had the added bonus of making me laugh, so I must have been more relaxed -another of my issues...
This is a road that I seriously dislike as I find it too much like hard work, today I learned more about this cornering stuff and actually enjoyed myself!
That was fun, when can we do it again Jim?
Will be practicing my new found skills, when I don't have to fight hXc for my bike...

Thank you Chanceyy and Rosie for participating and your selections.
Yours selectors next week will be Steam and Yungatart, congratulations on your practice last week.

Heads Up and Enjoy

[Terminated]

Yungatart and Steam were your selectors and they each chose Rosie and BuckBuckNo1 respectively. Thank you for participating in this weekly riding awareness thread.


My choice this week is Rosie!
Well done for riding in less than ideal conditions, whilst still maintaining your focus on being smooth and relaxed., and being aware of your surroundings.
Don't worry about trying to increase your speed, that will come naturally when you are more comfortable.


On Saturday evening I rode to Taupo. Concentrated on riding to the conditions - it was a little windy, was getting dark, and there were a few passing showers. Nothing too bad, but not conditions I've been riding in for a while, so I was trying to be relaxed and smooth, and keeping an eye out for what was going on around me.

Bright and early Sunday morning I headed out to do a lap of Lake Taupo. Focussing on keeping my speed up to 100-110ish on the main highway sections, and, keeping an eye on the conditions.

Pretty good ride down SH 1 to Turangi. SH1 isn't a terribly exciting road, but didn't see much traffic. The rumble strips on the road verge scare the hell out of me. Are they ok to ride over? (Say if I wanted to slow down and pull over and let someone past).

Past Turangi it got windy and clouded over. The road was wet most of the way along the lake, and I had a few brief showers. The wind was tiring at first, but it was fairly steady, so I settled into it fairly well.

I was still tending to ride at 95 ish along the straighter highway sections, I'm working on riding a little bit faster than I'm comfortable with, aiming to be able to sit at a similar speed to other road users, rather than being a little bit slower than average. It may be psychological - my speedo reads 140 when I'm doing a little under 110, which makes it seem quite fast, but is about the same speed I'd drive my car on the same roads.



I choose you BB, because you are da thinking man.



Ride on Saturday:
A beautiful morning up and over the Rimutaka Hill and down to the twin bridges at the bottom and return.

The V Strom has a long wheel base and you do sit fairly high up. My focus was smooth cornering from very slow in crawling traffic going down the RH. Fuel tanker and truck pulled over to let traffic move on. And then cornering, while coming back up the hill maintaining good throttle and gear selection.

The other aspect was recognising current gear selection, correlating speedo reading with tachometer, finding 80kph at 5000rpm tells me 4th gear is selected. Over the RH I found 3rd and 4th used most often and the occasional downshift to 2nd for some tight hairpins.

Sunday:
A great day and turn up for the newbie ride, a pleasure to lead the cruisie newbie crew over the hill and down to Featherston where the local hotel had been alerted, thanks to Mr and Mrs Kendog, a fine lunch was enjoyed by all. After lunch it was a small loop ride out towards Martinborough and turn off to loop back to Greytown SH1 over the RH and home. Focus on this run was down shifting, accelerating and upshift, here the torque of the engine was readily apparent.

Heads Up and Enjoy


I look forward to reviewing the Ride and Practice thread each week, and in particular, to seeing the training and practice approach taken now that we are moving into the winter conditions.

Heads Up and Enjoy:yes: :scooter: :yes: :scooter: :yes:

[Terminated]

By Rosie:
I chose Mrs Kendog, for taking the time to make sure her suspension is set up properly, and for mastering the non-peg-scraping cornering technique. And having fun, of course.

Originally Posted by Mrs Kendog
Washed the hubby's bike and mine too yesterday, so no ride. Today spent the morning arseing about with tyre pressures, chain adjustments and suspension, so took the bikes for a spin to the top of the hill and back. I had to stop several times to 'Tweek' my suspension a little until I got it feeling right.
Practiced: keeping relaxed arms and bent, especially under brakes, weighting outside peg and outside knee firmly pressed into tank upon cornering, coupled with bent arms and shifting my newly clad in leather arse off my seat to lean me and not my bike into corners to avoid scraping pegs.
Mission accomplished, had fun!!

By BuckBuckNo1:
My choice this week is Daza, he is out there working on it and asking the questions and thanks for the feed back to him.

From his posts this week I extracted the following:

Originally Posted by Daza
I then went for a tiki tour practicing cornering and stopping at intersections everywhere. I even ventured further out, getting more confident and feeling more natural riding. I'm changing gears better i think, not letting it rev too high before changing since i'm just cruising around at 50k.


Heads Up and Enjoy