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Dedicated to the memory of our Mentor, Uncle B.

Congratulations to Chanceyy and WarlockNZ for their entries this week and thanks to Minnie and gijoe1313 for participating as selectors.

Chanceyy and WarlockNZ will be your selectors next week 16-22May Where Did You Ride and What Did You Practise?

Originally Posted by Minnie

This week my pick is Chancey, its important to know how your bike handles and be wary of the power, and not just take it for granted. proper setup and being smooth thru the corners is a skill that takes lots of practise to get to come naturally but oh so fun when you get it right. good on you and keep up the good work!!

Originally Posted by chanceyy

well its been one of those full on motorcycle weekends ..

Needed to take Betsy for a good run to see how she would handle after the auto electrician fixed the bad earth wire

always said that she was forgiving of the slight mistakes that I make .. well its time to change that attitude .. Betsy is in fine form & now I understand why everyone was telling me to be wary of her powerband .. its there in full fine form at the moment


.. overcooked a few corners esp not used to the new throttling that Betsy has, but from the lookout down I was in front with everyone behind ... worked on being smooth & trying to take notice of where i was each corner & where i wanted to come out of .. still overcooked it but sure had a huge smile when we caught up with Grub & nasty .. ..

Originally Posted by gijoe1313

For my choice this week, WarlockNZ for bringing up the issue of Hazard recognition and avoidance. As riders on two wheels, we've all contended with hazards that cagers wouldn't bat an eyelid at

I often put my toes on my pegs every so often to remind myself to "keep on my toes" and continue with the practice of the 12 second horizon (as per BuckBuck's post), checking for my exit paths and paying attention to my biking radar (that feeling you get and always listen to it! Slow down, beep your horn, weave, etc. to forestall any idiots!)

Ride safely out there and keep your head up!

Originally Posted by WarlockNZ

There are a lot of skills required to ride a bike, one of my favourite quotes from my father (who's been riding since before i was born) is "Any fool can go fast in a straight line son, but it the corners that separate the men from the boys" and he's right, cornering is one of the vital skills that we as bikers must possess.

Another one is Hazard Avoidance, to quote my farther again "Son, everything and everyone out there on the road is trying to kill you". and once again .. he's right, i hate it when my fathers right, but when it comes to riding .. he knows what he's talking about.

Hazard avoidance is a skill that has to be learned and if you don't learn it or think that it's not important, have a search through the forum and see just how many threads there are out there about people coming off because some bastard in a cage pulled out in front of them.

So what's a hazard and how can i avoid it i hear you ask ... well .. that's the easy part, everything is a hazard, its the avoiding part that is difficult.

You need to recognise a hazard in order to avoid it, one of my favourites my not seem like it, but it is.

Consider this, splitting through traffic, it's slow as it always is, there a car sized gap about 4 cars in front of you, is that a hazard?? .. you bet your ass it is, one flash of the indicator and a car could drop in on you like a shark on a seal and your screwed.

It's a simple as paying attention to what's going on around you and being focused on what your doing. something as small as a cat running across the road could be enough to cause you to come off and coming off is not why we ride.

I practice hazard avoidance everyday and everyday i find something new. Focus, Attention and Recognition, these are the skills you need to stay alive.
And anything that can kill you, hurt you or scratch your bike is a hazard.

In addition to the above I would like to include Kinje’s report into the RRRS riding course at Napier last weekend:

Originally Posted by Kinje

Sat- Rode to Napier for RRRS course on Sunday.

Sun- RRRS course. What a day. We started with a classroom lesson then on to a nearby carpark for some practical lessons.

Slow speed stuff has not been a strong point of mine- I can barely do a U-turn. However, after a couple of drills and some tips from the instructors, I now feel a lot more comfortable with that.

Countersteering at 40km/hr through the tennis balls down the road Just like riding through Carterton round all the manholes and potholes (sorry elle)

Some more classes after lunch then avo practical- an excercise on late apex cornering, must stay wide longer until I can see through to turn in (more practice needed on that one)

And finally emergency braking- was quite aprehensive about this one, but discovered I can stop quite quickly.

A big thanks to the instructors (Micro, Stranger, R6 Kid) and the organisers (Yungatart, MSTRS). Was a valuable course and highly recommend it!

Then Sunday night rode home- tried to practice the late apex cornering. Was pretty tired so took frequent stops, had a drink bottle on me so that was good, then a feed in Danniverk saw me home.

Thanks Kinje and to all pariticipants this week in Where Did You Ride and What Did You Practise? Thread.

Heads Up and Enjoy