14th May '05 - SH22 ** PICS AND VIDEOS

[Zapf]

OK! YOU NEED TO RIDE 22. IN THE DRY.

I was a newbie back in August last year. I got my VTR250 delivered to my house and I didn't even know how to ride it up the drive way.

With 22 is that there is so many corners that you can't read very far ahead, so you have to improve your corner reading / riding / self control skill.

Best is to actually ride by yourself but knowing that in a few mins time you'll have support if you need it. That was my 1st experience with SH22. I had stopped to do up my helmet strap as I had forgot, and by the time I had finish I have lost the guys. I got instructions from a trucker about how to get on SH22 and pretty much ride by myself until I hunted down the group resting on a stop.

Because by riding yourself you have time to read the corner and think about your riding. where as if you where riding group and trying hard to keep up with the guy ahead, all you are doing it thinking about the bike ahead, hence you are reading the bike ahead and not reading the road. Which sheepdag (sorry hope you don't mine) can be used as an example today, as he followed the faster bike ahead of him off the road.

The key is to ride to your OWN speed and not follow the speed set by someone up ahead.

ok.... enough from me

[Motoracer]

Hmmm, dunno what to say, specially after a few beers, some tequla and going without any sleep for 22 hours... but here goes:

I got up early this time as I had a few things in my mind (non M/C related), so I got out of bed and got ready to go at a leasurely pace. Sure enough when I reached the Autobhan, I was the first one there. Wooohoooo! That's gotta be a first!

One after another they rolled in and parked outside the cafe. After a bit of catching up with the people I already knew and introducing myself to the new people, me and T.S. got things started.

As per the plan, all 40 bikes (yes 40+!!!) took off, one by one and got on the motorway. Due to the large numbers and vast differences in paces, there was a bit of a confusion so, after missing the turn off, I lead the 3 other guys who were riding at about 80kmph through a shortcut to head towards Tuakau to meet up with the rest of the group. I don't have a speedo or anything but I estimated my self going at about 1/3rd of my regular pace and the guys were kind of getting a bit left behind. Oh crap. What to do, what to do? In one hand I have people like Zed, Speedmedic, Twosmoker and in the other hand I have the newbies who are going at about 1/3rd of the pace of the leading guys. I stopped on the side of the road and asked if this was their regular pace or if they were just shy. Once they confirmed to me that this was their regular pace, I offered to esscort them back to the closest main road to head back to Auckland. I know, real stink thing to do but this wasn't going to work if we kept at this pace.

The noobs were still keen on the ride and they insisted that they'll come for some of the way then turn back if they were holding back the main group. That sounded a bit stink for the n00bs but hey, in the interest of the majority of the people, it was fair enough.

So we got to Tuakau and finally met the rest of the group. Since the main group had gone around the longer way we were pretty much right behind them, so it was a good start. Everyone was still together, we had left the SH1 behind us and the glorious SH22 welcomed us to come play in her wonderfull play ground.

Johnsf1980 said that the main group was going a bit too fast and he'd rather stay back and lead the n00bs. Since he was an experienced rider and he was happy to stay with the n00bs, I was very greatfull and I was able to take off to check on the rest of the group.

Everyone was riding at a nice flowing pace and I was going past them to check what the guys up front were doing to see that everything was OK. At this point I may have created a few concerns regarding my passing manuvers and I appologise for that, however it may not have seemed so in your eyes at the time but I was in 100% control of the situation and thoes manuvers were calculated in my brain, which already had the safety of everyone else and my own in consideration. I think the speed and the small margine I worked with comes from track riding and I probably shouldn't have done that when riding with everyone on the road, as it might have given a few of you a bit of a scare but I really needed to get an idea of what the guys at the front were doing so I didn't waste any time. People who've riden with me for a while are used to this by now

Anywhoo, with no other dramas, we got to our second main stop. Everyone took of their lids and had a good yarn with each other as we all waited for the rest of the gang to catch up. After a bit of waiting the guys arrived and I was a bit relived as I really didn't want to loose the n00bs since we were now well into SH22 teritory and I don't think anyone of them had done it before. That moment of relife didn't last very long as a crashing sound suddenly took my attention towards Danb's pride and joy which was now sliding on it's side on loose metal, crap!. This is crash #1. All that happened was he was coming to a stop, didn't see the gravel, front locked up under brakes, over the gravel and the front tucked under. I think he would have been going at about 10-20kmph so it was no biggie but still very anoying for Danb as the bike got a fair bit of gravel rash. After we all checked out his bike and him, we were all set to go again.

I singnaled everyone to take off and they did. To my surprise, my old mates vladi and Marmoot turned up! Great, now we can have a bit of fun. n00bs are taken care of and ahead of us and Twosmoker, me and vladi were all set to go.

As we took off and took the very first few corners, we saw a few bikes parked on the side. Hmmmmm.... odd.... Since this was just a couple of hundred meters away from the place where we had stopped, I thought they must have been taking pictures of the group or something, so I thought photo time! I gave them a wave and went around the corner right past them. Only later on, did I come to know that this is where crash#2 had occured. FFS! Another one? Anywho, the outcome was not bad although it could have been VERY bad if he wasn't so lucky! I don't know the details of this crash as I never saw it.

It was a great little ride after that. Me, TS and vladi went for it and all of us had a great time riding with each other all the way through to Narawahia. I was testing the new new Knobblie tire on the XR600 and from riding with vladi and TS, it really wasn't upto scratch. After I looked at it later on, I found out that it was some russian made knobblie tire which was hard as fuck and really had fuck all grip. It was good training for me for racing for sure with the lack of grip but had it been wet, I would have been stuffed cause the damp paches on the road in the shady areas was like having the road smothered with KY (fuckin nerve wrecking! But still, it was good practice).

After the Narawahia stop, we were 20mins away from our lunch stop so a few people decided to split up and do their own thing. Since dss3 lives in Hamilton, I asked him to lead everyone into Mc'Ds in Hamy through the back roads while I waited for the n00bs who were still coming. After a bit, the n00bs came and I regrouped withthem again and took them down to Hamilton via some back roads as well. I however took them through a more direct set of back roads with mainly straights and open sweepers so that we would have hassle free ride down to Hamilton to our lunch stop. I rode at what must have been 80 or 90 and I saw that the n00bs were still falling behind as they must have been trying to follow the 70kmph max rule. OK fair enough, the roads were straight so I didn't think I needed to stay with them doing 70-80kmph as well so I went along at about 100-110 all the way to Hamilton. Chickenfunkstar road with me at this stage so we were just waiting on 3 other bikes to turn up . We waited then we waited, then Johnsf1980 came, then we waited and we waited some more. Then came the 2 bikes. I showed my thumbs up to them as an indication of asking if everything was cool, then one of the guys was nodding his head "no". Ok... now what? After a bit of chat, this anonomous (how the fuck do you spell that? hey I think I am sobering up now... anywhoo, more to the point) person had come off again, yes again! THis was crash #3. This crash happened while the rider was overtaking a truck then was surprised by another on comming truck. After not knowing where to go, he decided to go onto the grass/gravel which was a better option than meeting a truck, head on!

Holly shite! This was just lunch stop, meaning this was just half of the ride and already there was this much drama?? This was not what I had in mind for simple blat down SH22, but it had certainly been interesting to say the least!

We then had lunch at Mc D's then more people split up from the main group. When we were just about to leave, we had a slight drizel and clouds hanging over our heads leaving us praying to the weather gods to be kind to us. A few guys had other commitments back home in Auckland and the n00bs had enough of SH22 so a bunch of them went up SH1.

Now the group was a lot smaller and a lot more managable with the pace more closer together, which was great!

We basically had a good blast back up and dss3 road back some of the way but then turned back to Hamilton after that. Then me and Twosmoker finally got the chance to have a head to head battle! My underpower XR600 with shit tires with his hugely underpowerd but better handeling RG150 were almost perfectly evenly matched. So we had a close battle just training ourselves up (which doesn't inlude anything dangerous as we were well within our limits + the bikes we were riding maxed out at 160kmph) That was really the highlight of the day for myself.

After riding for a while with Twosmoker at a pretty quick pace, we both stopped on the side of the road to let everyone catch up. While we were waiting we had a yarn and 10mins had gone by. After that, I knew it... I said to TS, aaahh fuck! Someone else has come off. We aren't that fast compaired to the other people! So suspecting the worst, we headed back. Sure enough after going back a few Ks Sure enough there were 3 other crashes!!!

Non of these riders were newbies and I hardly think they were trying to keep up. Something happened which made the chain crash occure however I am not allowed to disclose any further info regarding the crash. If the people who crashed wish to disclose the info, that is their wish and only they can do it.

Basically that's where the ride ended for everyone. Most of us waited till Death_Inc got to the scene with his trailer. Thank you Death!!! Then we all said our good byes and headed back to Auckland. Sorry for a crap ending but I am getting really sleepy now! lol

[Motoracer]

Quick sumary:

Cheers for coming everyone, you n00bs as well !! Thank you to the majority of you for riding safely and not bininnig it. To the people who binned. You are all VERY lucky. If I think there is a need for me to say something to someone regarding the bins, I will PM them as it would be more appropriate to do so.

I reckon this is the last of the "Ride for all" ride. From next time it will definetly be a good idea to plan rides bassed on skill level and pace levels. Variation is definetly good for people to learn from but if there are vast differences, problems may arise. However I don't think I could have avoided the crashes that happened today with better planing. Crash #1 and Crash#2 were very slow speed crashes and all of us Me, Two smoker, vladi etc etc were BEHIND the n00bs anyway for crash #2, so they weren't trying to catch up!!!! The bend was tricky and I think he didn't know what to do in a decreasing radius turn due to lack of experience and overshot it. Typical n00b mistake. There has been pleanty of great advises put up already about how to avoid such mistakes again, so I won't repeat that here.

Also there were so many riders so it's hard to say who was doing what but the n00b of the day award goes to Jeremy on the GN250!

[Fart]

I did remember asking on Friday before the ride if this was a slow or fast ride. Hope all will learn from this and ride at their own pace next time. Anyway, it was good to meet some faces behind the posts.

[ricksta]

fuken hell!!! just got up, turn on the computer, feelin nice and happy, was looking forward to see what people has to say about their experience... and all i see are posts about me and my crash! i'm sick of your stupid comments. All i see is "noobs trying to keep up", "this is not a race!"...

i wasnt trying to keep up for fucks sakes! we were about half an hour behind... average speed? 80Km/h.

i'm a noob and noobs make mistakes! u guys are talking like i'm all experienced... i was dissapointed with myself and i dont need u guys to make comments like you were there and know what was going on... for your information i did learn a lot from that ride, leaning isnt as easy as it sounds... its scary (laugh all you fukin want) if you dont want to have me in this community thats fine, i'll leave... no need to call me a...

fucken egg !!!

This is what i said before deciding wether to go or not...

i'm still not 100% sure wether i'm coming or not...

i've talked to Feint and Limmy about this route and they both said that its very twisty and not recomended for noobs... i wont try to go fast and match the experienced riders though, i'll ride on my own pace with other slow riders... just wondering if theres anyone who knows the way around and willing to ride with us... so we wont get lost? i dont want to ruin anyone's weekend though... only if u feel like taking it slow.

i'll let the east boys know tomorrow if i'm still coming.

So for one last time... i wasnt trying to impress anyone, i never tried to keep up with the fast boys and i was riding on comfortable speed.

So this is what i get for misreading a corner? thanks u guys you're real nice. You have no idea how i feel right now.

anyways, even though the day didnt go as smooth as i wanted, i had a great time meeting new people and learning new skills (believe me i did). Thanks Krayy for all the tips u gave me and to Jeremy, DanB, and John... we had fun didnt we? i'll see u guys when i see ya.

goodbye

[SlashWylde]

Same goes for you, get some skills and slow down egghead.

How is it that on one ride two riders ended up on the wrong side of the road with one crashing ? I will tell you why because
1/ you dont have the skills to match the speed your stupid fucken brains set you at
2/ you thought it was a race

for christ sake wake the FUCK up, you could have easily ended up in a box !!
its not a game, why do you think it is .

I reckon I will get some flak for my last two posts, but you know what I couldnt give a shit ! I am sick of hearing about Bins, close calls and the like from guys who think they can ride a bike, you cant !! you have no idea what the hell youre doing and if you dont change you will die or end up a cripple at that will be the end of it.
idiot

No mate I fully agree with you on this one. People are biting off more than they can chew on the roads lately.

Public roads are are very uncontrolled environment. Each corner is a new corner and different to the last one. You have uneven road surfaces, surface water, gravel, cow poo etc. All in all very hazardous. And if you do make a mistake and cross the center line there is the potential to hit an innocent oncoming vehicle.

For gods sake people the roads aren't a race track so don't treat them like one.

For what it's worth Quasi, I'll give ya +ve rep points.

[saiko]

Mine... all mine!!

Is a bit difficult to keep up with the nimble sports bikes on it tho.

Nice bike - don't worry about keeping up, just think how comfy your seat is on a long ride, when the others have sore butts.

[justsomeguy]

fuken hell!!! just got up, turn on the computer, feelin nice and happy, was looking forward to see what people has to say about their experience... and all i see are posts about me and my crash! i'm sick of your stupid comments. All i see is "noobs trying to keep up", "this is not a race!"...

i wasnt trying to keep up for fucks sakes! we were about half an hour behind... average speed? 80Km/h.

i'm a noob and noobs make mistakes! u guys are talking like i'm all experienced... i was dissapointed with myself and i dont need u guys to make comments like you were there and know what was going on... for your information i did learn a lot from that ride, leaning isnt as easy as it sounds... its scary (laugh all you fukin want) if you dont want to have me in this community thats fine, i'll leave... no need to call me a...


This is what i said before deciding wether to go or not...


So for one last time... i wasnt trying to impress anyone, i never tried to keep up with the fast boys and i was riding on comfortable speed.

So this is what i get for misreading a corner? thanks u guys you're real nice. You have no idea how i feel right now.

anyways, even though the day didnt go as smooth as i wanted, i had a great time meeting new people and learning new skills (believe me i did). Thanks Krayy for all the tips u gave me and to Jeremy, DanB, and John... we had fun didnt we? i'll see u guys when i see ya.

goodbye

Hey Ricksta....

Take it easy matey, it's just that a mate of ours called Flyin died very recently in exactly the same accident that you could have had if you didn't miss the truck.

So everyone here is a bit worked up, scared, confused, angry, sad that it *almost* happened again. At KB we all really like each other and all of us want to give each other the most amount of support and learning.

I apologise for those that were a bit short with you. But you must understand that these are life and death situations.

None of us want to be the one explaining to your Mum and Dad what happened.

Don't worry mate. We all have had similar experiences. First we all laugh about it. Then when we get older and wiser we realise the actual risks....(oh shit what if I lose my job, I had an important meeting with my client tomorrow, who's looking after my kids at the moment, will I ever be OK again, what's my future gonna be, oh no, oh no, oh no........and sometimes serious post traumatic stress)

So please take a few deep breaths, relax and thank God that you are fine.

It is very encouraging that you have learnt from your experiences. I'm sure you will be a better rider now than you were 2 days ago.

So chin - up big guy. Keep at it and one day you'll be our next race star

But BUY SOME PANTS TODAY. You risk injuries similar to 3rd degree burns if you don't.

[saiko]

You should always analize your crashes and learn from them... Ive done it the hard way and ive had a few crashes... I dont like seeing other people doing it the hard way...

Top advice - I don't know a hell of a lot, but I think it's important to analyse what happened, and learn from it.

[SlashWylde]

Ricksta mate no one's accusing you of trying to keep up or impress anyone. The point is some other bikers get pissed off when they think someone is making light of a crash especially in light of some who have died recently.

The ride yesterday was, I think, too advanced for new riders. It was long in terms of hours on the road and there were quite alot of corners to gudge and handle in a variety of surface conditions.

Considering that last weekend you weren't confident about even riding on a strainght motorway up to Westgate I think this ride was beyond your current riding ability.

Give yourself tiem to learn, do the BRONZE course and buy some armoured pants and decent boots. They'll only cost you around $400 each. Thats cheap compared to the injuries you could sustain the next time you come off.

Last of all don't leave the site. We do want you here and there are a lot of friendly folks here to make friends with and learn from.

Take it easy.

[Hooks]

No mate I fully agree with you on this one. People are biting off more than they can chew on the roads lately.

Public roads are are very uncontrolled environment. Each corner is a new corner and different to the last one. You have uneven road surfaces, surface water, gravel, cow poo etc. All in all very hazardous. And if you do make a mistake and cross the center line there is the potential to hit an innocent oncoming vehicle.

For gods sake people the roads aren't a race track so don't treat them like one.

For what it's worth Quasi, I'll give ya +ve rep points.

Yeah Quasi I second those comments !! Some of these guys are getting on their bikes with now real idea on what to do when hitting a corner !! ... If someone is out on the road ... with traffic coming towards them or not ... they should be able to control their vehicle ... car or bike !! If they can't then they should stick to small surburban roads and get used to going around corners in a safe manner ... maybe picking roads with lots of different corner shapes to help gain experience.
What I saw in that crash vid gave me the shits .... feet down .. no control .. there was no real attempt to even get around the corner FFS .... if not a car coming the other way then a pushbike or hitchhiker would have had him in trouble .. !!
I'm sorry guys ... but you obviously are NOT ready for the open road and all it's perils .... I'm no speedster anymore and I have too much respect for my friends & family to push the limits as I once did .... but I can tell you ... after not being on a bike for so long and then getting back onto my beast ... I was amazed to how badly some people do ride in traffic or just on the open road ....

Rickster ... I am sorry you have copped the flak you have ... but you are not ready for the type of roads that you were on ... the corner didn't need reading .... it needed to be ridden !! you didn't ride it ... it rode you ... right off the road !! ... So get some K's under your belt on easy roads at safe speeds and get to know your bike .... ride it in the gravel even ... learn it's characteristics and feel it .... then go out and ride the open roads ... but most of all ... ride to live ... then I will happy ... maybe we will have saved one from the fate that was Flyin's ... I don't care if you take offense even ...as long as you live ....
I am done with this rant ... finally ....
*Sits back and waits for the slings and arrows .....

[MikeL]

I had another very enjoyable ride yesterday. It was enjoyable for various reasons: the weather gods smiled, I met many old friends and made some new ones, I didn't fall off...
But seriously, falling off is the crux of an issue that yesterday's ride and all of the subsequent comments posted here have highlighted.
FWIW this is what I think:
Before the ride there were the usual concerns expressed, and reasurances given, about and by inexperienced riders. We all know the theory. But in practice group rides ALWAYS predispose towards accidents, because the ego constantly nags away at caution. If we take a corner slower than we could have, riding solo, we shrug our shoulders, make a mental note for future reference, and that's that. In a group, we look behind and see others getting closer, and ahead, and see them getting further away, and the ego takes over. It takes experience (including, in many cases, painful experience...), maturity and a lot of self-discipline to override an almost universal and very powerful psychological impulse.
I had had very little experience of group riding until a few years ago, when I joined Ulysses. I had some very lucky escapes. My accident on SH22 last year would probably not have happened if I'd been on my own. And I am one of the more mature members of this forum, supposedly with wisdom and judgement and common-sense
Group rides give inexperienced riders opportunities to improve their skills but unless this is in very tightly controlled circumstances the risks outweigh the advantages. I would suggest that any new rider who contemplates doing SH22 or a similar difficult road should do it solo first, without pressure...

[Blakamin]

ok... as a kiwibiker I think people should ride at their own pace... If your new, relax and take it easy... if you're fast... dont invite new people on your ride... MR, if you wanna do what you do, keep it on the track or keep it with you and who-ever.... DON'T call it a KB ride and then bitch when "n00bs" turn up! it is a hi-way... and there are always other road users... get over it!!


N00bs, if you cant ride and learn, dont.... stay away from much faster riders... it's better to be alive and slow than trying to be "da man" and being fuckin dead!!


ps... about to watch vids now....

[bugjuice]

Mike, agree with you on your comments.
Reminds me of the other month coming back from National Park/Taupo weekend event (still fukin rocks), and I was (to my amazement) up there with the 'big boys' such as WT, dss3 and a couple of others (but I forget) and they were off. I managed to keep on their tail for a few mins, well in sight, then I realised properly what I was doing. I wasn't leaving any room for error. I was riding it on the edge, and I didn't even know the road. It was that point I made the concious desicion and said fuk it. Those guys are good, I'm not at that level. I'm just gonna enjoy the road and the ride. So I backed off. It wasn't a sub-consious deisicion to keep up, more like an ego run, to see if I could. I found myself a little out of depth for a while, so just backed it off..

My point is, sometimes you have to really think about what you're doing, and make sure it's the right thing..

No one wants people to leave the site. As I said earlier, there's a wealth of unmatched knowledge and experiance. Turning that off is quite possibly the worst thing to do.

[Blakamin]

and another thing.... you realise that your being quick might be getting a "n00b" killed?????

ya wanna ride with ya mates, call it a private ride.... we dont want another another memorial for someone that "tried to keep up"


you have no idea how pissed off i am right now...