My first (bigish) ride :)

[sefer]

Well after spending the past week or so doing some general maintainace stuff on my bike I decided I really wanted to go for a half long ride, as I'd only been up and down my street (about a Km long).

I really enjoyed myself, I went around a few back roads where I knew there'd be bugger all traffic and slowly build up my confidence with riding with traffic by heading to slightly more populated roads, and then I hit the road to Lincon (about 14K from my place, mostly 70-100k zones with a few 50s).

On the whole I think I did pretty well, only one moment of 's*** I'm going to fast for that corner' (which I probably wasn't, but I'd rather be sure), but I handled it well, didn't panic, just eased back on the throttle a bit and I was fine.
Also I seemed to excape the 'biker curse', not one person pulled out in front of me or did any other silly thing to make me nervous, worst thing to happen was a van that was a little close behind when I was following a truck going 50 in the 100 zone, but I passed the truck when I could (woo hoo, I'm flying ) and that was all cool

A few things I have come to realise on my ride, I thought I'd share them for the other newbs around:

1. Wearing jeans in 10 degree weather going 50-100k is bloody cold
2. I really should at least try to avoid the potholes/manhole covers.
3. Bikes need gas to run.

That last point is perticularly important I feel, I was lucky as I got within 200m of my house before the bike started to miss, then die... I thought 'Oh s*** I killed it somehow..' and since it wouldn't start just pushed it home, got there and tried to figure out what was wrong untill my father said 'has it got gas in it.........??" Oh well I'll know to check how far I've gone next time

[Bonez]

A few things I have come to realise on my ride, I thought I'd share them for the other newbs around:

1. Wearing jeans in 10 degree weather going 50-100k is bloody cold
2. I really should at least try to avoid the potholes/manhole covers.
3. Bikes need gas to run.

3 valuable lessons learnt,well done.

[HDTboy]

Sounds like you had a blast, that was me 6 months ago. A small point you forgot to share which will help you too:
Shiny side up

[DingDong]

My first road ride was about 6hrs around Tauranga and the Mount at age 13 on a CG125... That was the greatest fun I've ever had, "FREE at last"

Passing on the left, doing burn-outs, donuts and smoking weed ... I dont smoke weed these days, learnt the road rules and tyres cost money too, dam-it!

I envy you, give anything to feel that again...

[sefer]

I think the best thing was how quick you can actually go on a bike, I didn't go any faster than 100, but I could move up to that speed in no time. Passing that truck felt great too, took me less than 5 seconds to get around it

I do have a couple of issues to work on thou. Steering would be the big one I think, everyone I've talked to says be sure to use mostly your bars to turn, with a little leaning, but my bike just doesn't seem to respond to that, if anything it's mostly leaning with a little bars.

[inlinefour]

What, the bike had neither a fuel gauge or a reserve tank? Never mind, if it does not have either of those, then ditch it (although I'll be surprised if it does not). Also once you ride the bike for a while, you'll get a feel for when its time to full up. Somehow these days I do either one of two: either full it up just before its due to run onto reserve, or actually run into reserve and have to limp to a petrol station before I can feed it the fat again. Good luck dude, sounds like you need to do it more often.

[LB]

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Well done on the three lessons!

Re the gas: I always set my trip meter to zero when I fill up, gives me a good idea of when I need to start looking for a gas station.
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[Smorg]

Well done that was me 9 months ago, only thing is my first bike was a 600 took a bit more time to grow the balls and the brains in order to ride it safely but got there in the end now i'm almost fully confident although i still tend to have those "am i going to fast for this corner moments"
Good Luck

[XTC]

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Well done on the three lessons!

Re the gas: I always set my trip meter to zero when I fill up, gives me a good idea of when I need to start looking for a gas station.
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Me too. Always have.

Sefer - you are aware that your bike does have a reserve position on the fuel tap are you not??

[Flyingpony]

worst thing to happen was a van that was a little close behind when I was following a truck going 50 in the 100 zone, but I passed the truck when I could (woo hoo, I'm flying ) and that was all cool

If you feel you're being tailgated, let them go past. Put on left indicator, move over slightly and slow down.

Don't let others pressure you into doing something you're either not ready for or not prepared to do.

Ride to survive.

[TonyB]

Good on ya Sefer. Jeans would be a tad cold at this time of year.
Something must be wrong with your bike, as everyone knows that they always run out of petrol as far as possible from home or the nearest petrol station.....

As for the steering thing- at low speeds (say 20k or below*) the bike will want to steer like a car- ie push on the right hand bar and it will go left. Above that speed it will countersteer- ie push on the right hand bar and it will go to the right. It's very important that you get your head around this. On your bike it will require a very small push.
* the exact point varies from bike to bike

[sefer]

ah hem... well yes my bike does have a reserve position, but I was already on it when I left, I just didn't really pay attention as to how far I was going, also I'd not planned on going quite as far as I did

Tempted to go out again today, but since it's a little windy atm I think I'll sit in. Best to deal with one thing at a time.

[zeRax]

but today was nice atleast it was in blenheim

[sefer]

Was actually pretty good in Chch too, just left it a bit late I think.