31March - 1 April: Where did you ride and what did you practice?

[Terminated]

The KB community is asked to post a few short lines of 'where did you ride and what did you practise?'. Humour and photographs are welcomed, however please keep in mind the general spirit is to enlighten us all about riding practice.

By all means ask questions about your riding and technique etc, and I am sure a mentor or senior experienced rider will be only too happy to touch base with you in the forum or by PM personal message.

Monday evening Rosie and Chanceyy will chose an entry each from this thread. These selections will thenbe copied across to Lissa's weekly update The Mentor - Newbie Training Update.

Heads Up and Enjoy

[Steam]

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.

[Terminated]

Today, Saturday Bull has written a fine ride report:

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=47161

For me the emphasis was on harnessing the overall step up from the 250cc to the 650cc. In a nutshell, I have said it numerous times "respect".

The ride today was good from two aspects 1) Being in a small group, and 2) Being aware that we had a newbie rider in our group.

For my part I enjoyed leading down the Rimutaka Hill to Featherston [I had been down the hill yesterday and it was good to do the ride today again] I reflected on the whole technique of setting up the corner and throttle control. When we pulled up at Featherston I talked with Mick, our newbie rider who was following me, and asked him how many times did he see my brake light on....then I touched on bike suspension and how it is better to have a smooth transition approaching the curve, and also not to have to scrub off speed etc etc.

My DeeFAP moment [Discipline Focus Attention Personal] occurred in Martinborough - taped up the side of my visor then put the helmet on, then looked at what I was holding in my hand [my glasses] hmmmm. So took off helmet, undid tape, put on helmet, put on glasses, Bull taped up my visor. Had helmet on for rest of ride out around the back to Carterton then back up Rimutaka Hill, where I had to get it off for some fresh air. The other moment was, having sorted the helmet issue out, then getting on my bike starting up, and realising I hadn't put my gloves on. Gloves were in backpack, go to get off bike, forgot to put side stand down, grabbed bike, grabbed bike, Delta Lima was safe. [Message being, we can get distracted very easily....or is it just me...??]

A Safe Rider Quality:

Patience - as the two lanes reduce down to one again, don't be in a rush to pass that last vehicle before the lane finishes.

Elapsed Time 2days
Riding Time 2days
Distance travelled 380km
Distance since 29 March 2007 380km

Heads Up and Enjoy

[yungatart]

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...

[Lucy]

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...

Great to hear you are back on the bike!

[chanceyy]

this weekend had three firsts ..

wind, rain, & hill ..

never having ridden in gusty winds before found that a bit of a challenge to be buffeted around, so back off the speed & tried to remain loose in the arms conscious of if my arms got tired where were my knees ..

rain well it was a brief beefy shower but took the advice and rode very slowly, following my mentor .. found it distracting with drops on the visor limiting vision but am guessing you get used to that

Hill, went over the track .. after a oops moment on the first sharp 25k bend & straying over the centreline concentrated on making sure that i was in the correct gear & taking the corners a lot more cautiously to stay in muh correct lane

also had a moment coming off the saddle road on a sweeper, lost concentration through the corner & car coming thinking about it was starting to fixate on the car, cut speed bike wobble .. shifted focus speed on, all good .. need to keep that focus & concentration on getting round the corner, noob mistake both of them & being aware of those mistakes, definately not repeating them ...


thanks to the guys that I ride with, makes it easier to instill confidence when I am with the group, no pressure to keep up, & I know they are up the road waiting for me. Being able to follow them around corners helps my lines, also knowing I am not riding alone having u4ea doing a fantastic job of covering my rear (keeping cars off my butt) till I get comfy on the road again sure does help

[Paul in NZ]

I fecked about with my 'other' gas tank for the Triumph when I should have been doing other stuff and tried to paint it when I knew it was too humid. Eventually it came out OK but it's kinda drab looking after the orange / white one so it's days are numbered. However - considering what these 68 to 70 slimline tanks sell for and what I paid for one that was bashed beyond recognition - I'm stoked with the results.

I'm going to gussy up the other tank over winter (I suppose)

Anyway - having filled my lungs with paint thinners I went for a fang over the Paekakareki Hill rd, arounf the inlet and back over the hill the other way. Just on dark, not too much traffic and a huge amount of FUN FUN FUN - feck I love that bike. I didn't practise anything except whoopin' and hollerin' and grinning like an idiot.

[Rosie]

I rode to Tauranga and back, via SH 33 and Tauranga direct Rd.
I concentrated on doing obvious head checks (for my restricted test on Wednesday :shit: ), using my mirrors regularly, and being aware of the road condition. It's been a bit wet around here, and it's autumn, so, watching for surface water, slippery leaves in the middle and edge of the lane, accelerating and braking carefully etc.

The end of May last year was when I started having engine trouble with my bike, and it didn't get back onto the road for any length of time until January, so this is going to be my first full winter riding.

After my ride I went into work to do a bit of slow speed practise - hill starts and u turns mainly. Also did some emergency braking practise from 50km/h. Emergency braking practise makes me nervous, so it's something I really need to practise. Telling myself "I can do anything for 15 minutes" I did 3, 15 minute blocks of practise over the afternoon. I got the back tyre feeling kind of light and squirmy a couple of times, which I guess is a good level of braking to be at. Will start to ramp it up to higher speeds in the future.

I played around with the braking practise, sometimes coming to a complete stop, sometimes accelerating away, glancing in my mirrors to check I wasn't about to get rear ended etc.

[Kinje]

Just practicing being nice and relaxed and smooth. Moving weight across bike into corners and smooth roll on the throttle at the apex and out of the corner.

Rode over the takas a couple of times this weekend, paekok hill to the lookout and back.

All the trips felt like I was relaxed and the bike would happily do what I wanted it to do. Had one moment coming back from lookout towards haywards on a 25?km right hand corner. The surface was worn a bit and unsettled me during set up for the corner. Decided I needed to scrub off some speed (had been comfortably doing all the other corners with nothing more than a gentle roll off the throttle) and ended up braking a bit hard and a bit late, but managed to quickly pull it back onto a line and got round the corner. Stayed within my lane but it was pretty ugly.

Good luck with license test Rosie

[Hitcher]

Where did I ride? Martinborough/Water tower hill circuit.

What did I practice? Blipping. While I still believe that this is practise is totally onanistic, it sounds really cool when one has a bike recently fitted with a pair of TBR mufflers. Whoar.

[DMNTD]

I did the Toy Run down here first. Practiced low speed pillioning which was a first for me. Got better as the run went on too so happy there.

Later went up and over the Kaimai's,through to Okororie(sp) Pub for lunch and moisture. Practiced late braking into tight down hill corners. Have achieved exactly what I was after...more faith in my front tyre in damp conditions :yes:

[Hitcher]

Practiced late breaking into tight down hill corners.

Unless you mean braking, that could have been painful.

[DMNTD]

Unless you mean braking, that could have been painful.
I have no idea as to what you are referring to :innocent:

[chanceyy]

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

[Rosie]

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...

[Terminated]

Thank you Chanceyy and Rosie for your selections, and congratulations Steam and Yungatart on your practice last weekend.

I will copy these posts across to the 'The Mentor'.

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=46674

Heads Up and Enjoy