Sunday 14 January - Where did you ride and what did you practise?

[Donor]

Well, after a couple of weeks out of the saddle, I decided to go for a big ride *cough* out to Waiuku.

I got as far as the end of the road when I heard my phone ringing, and wound up in Takanini doing tech support at a car yard, and charging like a wounded bull for lost time.

Toodled home rather pissed off at lost riding time, then leapt into the wifes car and chauffeured her and the sproglets to town to visit a friend with a cute wrinkly new sproglet of his own.

On the way home, got a phone call from my darling brother offering me a chance to go watch a bunch of dirt track cage racers skid round a go-kart track in East Tamaki, so I thought about it for 0.0036 seconds, realised this was riding time... errr, I mean brotherly bonding opportunity and accepted.

Hopped on the old girl, got off, hopped on the bike, and I was on my way.

Decided that as I had heaps of time, I would pootle along the GSR and practice getting bloody hot sitting at traffic lights.

Got to go-kart racing, got conned into participated, and gave a stunning display of how to race really fast at the rear (a lot like how I ride really...)

On the way home, came back via Redoubt Rd and down Mill Rd, which I had never done at night!

...found hi beam by the way!

Anyhoo, I have been reading up about counter steering, and have been wanting to have a play with it.

Fair to say, almost left the road a few times by applying the counter steer too early. However, kept at it, and soon I was dropping into corners without brakes, then with a bit of steer, and a modest (for a 2 stroke) amount of gas, Daisy was gagging to pull me around the corners - what a buzz!

Looking forward to playing with it some more, but it's now high time for me to bug the kind gentleman I met at the Kentish for a few mentor sessions. I know what I am doing is close to the book, but I want to be sure I've been reading from the right page.

Summary: Try new things, they might go against your instinct, but by the gods they just might also work!

[carver]

i practiced getting a extra 1mm off my chicken strips, which are still 40mm wide.
i also practiced getting into a tank slapper on fresh seal, and trying to keep up with the inverted vertigo (yamaha scorpio) but still go left behind.
i also learnt to lean the bike (when i lean into a left hander i put my right knee out, is this ok) and use the clutch properly.
zero index wasted me on the corners on his RG, oh and i dont use the front brake, cause it sucks, and the rear is much better, especially in mid corner!

[Blondini]

I was watching my baby(4and a lot)on her pushbike and she brakes hard out using the back brakes of her bike and then I remembered..... ahh younger...hahaha I always preferred my front brakes on a bike so I am trying to unlearn something I have done since childhood..To unlearn something that is second nature is more difficult than learning a new thing.So I have to put more effort into this because as a mate said "oh well,you will learn one day when you do a big stoppie in the wet"He meant it in the nicest way but I heard him loud and clear....We get more braking power from the front brakes (fact unless you have no front brakes) but both applied correctly phew THAT is what I have to work on

[_Gina_]

I'm a believer in the psychology of sport and I regularly do this still.

If going on a trip (or sometimes even a biggish Pie & Pint) I create some little "mantra" that I can repeat to myself along the way: "Touring not racing", "Smooth and safe", or a similar little phrase that adresses whatever is perceived as the problem of the moment. On reflection, I think both of those may have been composed to eliminate some marginal overtaking manouvers....

Because we (I anyway) can only concentrate on a few things at a time, I'm only currently working on two things: constantly checking that my elbows are bent (and wrists down), and weighting the outside foot when cornering.

There are two main reasons for the elbows thing, steering corrections from a horizontal forearm are more direct than from an arm at 45 degrees or whatever, and if that arm is also relaxed, unwanted steering inputs from the road surface are not transmitted through the rest of the bike.

Weighting the outside foot makes your body move with the bike as opposed to your moving the bike around underneath you, something that countersteering encourages. It also helps the bike remain stable if the road surface is less than brilliant as is so often the case in this country.

So as the weekend progresses, and in between showers, I'm hopefully beating a track up and down a winding section of SH3 (New Plymouth - Mokau) running in my new bike and cementing in a couple of new elements of riding style.

Ride safe.

I have chosen Pritch008's post for two reasons.

Firstly:
The use of a mantra is something that I use regularly (especially the first couple of rides after a track day > "ride the road Gg, race the track!")

Secondly:
The use of weighting your outside foot when cornering.

[Rosie]

My bike has been off the road for nearly 7 months, due to various problems, but I got it back on Tuesday, and am very excited to be able to participate in the "where did you go and what did you practise" thread for the first time.
The weather was nasty over the weekend, so I didn't get out and about then, but I did go for a ride on Wednesday from Rotorua to Reporoa.

Being the first time I'd been on the bike in ages, I was a bit nervous, and I wasn't sure if my riding ability had deteriorated during my time off. I took my standard route of various quiet back roads (SH 30, Whirinaki valley Rd, Waikite valley Rd, SH 5), and took it really easy, and just tried to relax, and to be aware of what was going on around me, and tried to observe how I was riding, to take stock of where I am ability-wise.

The ride went really well, and as I began to relax more, being on the bike started to feel normal, probably more so than it did back in June when I was riding last. Maybe all the time off my bike has helped things to soak into my subconscious.

I stayed the night in Reporoa and got up early to ride back to Rotorua on SH5 before the road got too busy. Being on a larger, busier road I was mainly focussing on identifying the potential hazards around me - the road surface, other road users, the turbulence from big trucks, all those important things you aren't so aware of when you are in a car.

My main concerns are with various small things - I tend to glance at my hand when I use the indicators, my gear changing action could be smoother, and I'm a bit wobbly with low speed manoeuvring. So, my next ride will be getting back to basics, operating all the controls without looking, manoeuvring at low speed and emergency braking.

My current goal is to get myself prepared to sit my restricted licence test.

Rosie.

[paulj]

Well … I’ve held a full bike license for some 40+ years and it occurred to me that there are a few VERY basic things that one doesn’t get told – so here goes:

These comments are oriented towards back country riding but do apply generally and I hope they fit in with the tenor of this thread:-

1) Your Bike doesn’t have a HAND BRAKE – so, if parking on the peg, on a downhill slope, your bike will have a tendency to wander slowly forward, collapsing the peg and falling over – this will happen just after you have sat down in the pub with your first ale and your back to the window. Remember to engage first gear when parking – (3) can apply also. Corollary; the petrol will run out of the tank too.

2) Your Bike doesn’t have a REVERSE GEAR. When out on the trail and approaching a gate, try to determine which way the gate swings prior to stopping – if it swings TOWARDS you, allow enough room for the goddam thing to open – otherwise you will be faced with the job of hauling the bike backwards. This can be easy enough if a) you have a lighter bike, or b) you’re built like a gorilla or c) the ground slopes uphill – otherwise you will be grunting on the handlebars and the chances are a fleet of 4x4 cages will be waiting on the other side of the gate – you’ll feel a right plonker!

If the road slope is downhill (1) above will apply also and this time there WILL be a fleet of 4x4’s!!

3) Your Bike may have ELECTRICAL INTERLOCKS on the starter and ignition – well mine anyway – this means that it won’t start up with the peg down and in gear – conversely if the engine is running and you drop the peg in gear it cuts out the engine. One bike that I know of, will crank over but not start with the peg down. This will happen when one is at the lights and in pole position – true you don’t drop the peg at a red light, but it will have crept down slightly and engaged the interlock switch. These interlock switches are often mounted down near the peg hinge and get fouled up easily, jamming on at that conspicuous moment. Check it regularly and apply a spot of lube from time to time.

4) Your Bike could be AUTOMATIC – some bikes automatically engage the front light when the ignition is on – if you are in the habit of dropping the peg to cut the engine, remember to TURN OFF THE IGNITION otherwise the light will remain on, and, if you have an electric-start-only bike, the battery will go flat fairly quickly – doesn’t happen with a kick start (Murphy’s law).

5) Your Bike has TWO WHEELS and will overbalance when the center of gravity (COG) does not pass through the wheels – and peg if you’re parked up – how do you know when the COG is not right? There’s a crashing sound! The COG can be upset by many things – I made the mistake of parking my bike on the peg at a rural garage – the rear tyre was flat therefore my bike was sitting lower at the rear and the COG had moved outside the wheels!!! Fortunately I was on the other side of the bike checking the valve when the crashing sound was heard!

6) Your Bike doesn’t have a SPARE WHEEL – if you get a flat (tyre that is) you’re stuffed until it can be repaired – don’t be fooled into riding on the flat – it is not easy – the bike steers real weird and it is difficult to maintain an upright stance! You will shred the tube – no biggie – knacker the tyre and possibly the wheel rim. Practice tyre removal/repair at home, carry a couple of small tyre levers, a repair kit and pump – don’t get a gas canister tyre inflator – you’ll use those up inflating the tube to find the puncture and have nothing left to pump it up after the repair – mountain bike shops have great hand pumps that will push 160psi and the only thing to get used up is you!

Never had a puncture? Won’t happen to you? Maybe – consider the sequence of events that must happen if you are out in the back blocks on a nice wee road, sun shining, birds twittering and you drive a 100mm flooring nail into your rear tyre. No repair kit, no transport. Ride’r back? Take wheel off and carry it out? Find a friendly farmer? Get the tyre repaired somewhere (local garage is closed - mechanic is at church!) … on and on it goes – meantime, your precious bike is sitting alone out in the open, just begging to be trashed by some wanker. Check out some of the threads here for puncture happenings.

7) Your Bike has no CAGE – protecting you from stones, insects and other things that fly around in an aberrant fashion. Let’s say you’re traveling at 80kM/h and a wasp is traveling towards you at 14kM/h – total closing speed = 94kM/h. At this speed, the wasp, impacting on your bronzed, hairy chest (or if you’re a girl, your wonderful globular clusters), will not break its neck … it will get severely pissed and take it out on the nice warm body it now finds under it.

In my case (I don’t have a bronzed hairy chest BTW, or globular clusters for that matter) it managed to get around to the inside left back of my jacket just out of reach and then proceeded to sting the shit out of me – now, the wasp is stinging away, I’m lashing out with my right hand – yes, the one that operates the brake! trying to mash it against my strong muscular back (truly) – the result? Agony and a bloody dangerous situation. To really rotate my crank, when I managed to stop and get my jacket off, the bastard thing casually flew away! Yes I should have been zipped up to the neck, but it was a nice warm day and … you know the rest.

Now imagine a large fat blowfly, well fed on fresh dog turd, flying into your air intake - I have only heard about this. Revolting! Keep your mouth covered or closed! And while you’re at it, take a look at the splattering on your visor or goggles and note the forces that make this happen – your unprotected eyes won’t stand a chance.

8) Your Bike is a MACHINE – it does not have emotions, but you do. Between your legs is a device capable of giving immense pleasure but it must not dominate you and this is down to your attitude - and stop being cute, - I’m referring here to your BIKE – what you were thinking of is not ever under your control and definitely dominates you!

9) Your Bike wants to travel in a STRAIGHT LINE - so do cages but they have four wheels and are steered AT THE TIME. You and your bike must be aligned and balanced PRIOR to the corner or whatever – I bet ALL of you out there have been at that awful moment when your bike is heading off the road and into the water table and you’re off balance and unable to lean it over to turn? Learn to read the road/track ahead and plan for it – if you get caught napping there’s nothing for it but to ‘ride it out’ and if possible, force the bike to take the hiding, leaving you shaken but OK.

10) Your Bike is DANGEROUS – any can-off is going to hurt you somewhere – at best a bruise, at worst, death. The best rider in the world cannot plan for a 4x4 on the next corner - take care, watch what is happening around you – by the time it is happening to you it’s too late.

11) Your Bike is FUN – enjoy yourself.

12) ?? – anything else - ??.

How do I know this stuff?? – it has all happened to me at one time or another.

[kiwifruit]

Great read paulj

[Chisanga]

Nice write-up Paulj - definately interesting (and amusing) reading

[Steam]

Just had chance to pop out for an hour yesterday afternoon, went up the 'takas for the first time (quite a change from my usual commute into/out of Wgtn, it's only the second time I've been out on a weekend!) - practised being smooth on throttle and looking through the corners, without worrying that I never got near 100k's!

Had a can of coke at the cafe at the top, said hello to a couple of bikers (although most were doing a good impression of ignoring the geeky noob!) and set off back home again - harder work on the way down, practiced braking early and settling the bike around corners - then got caught up in traffic and watched a couple of bikes fly past me - nearly decided to follow, but then decided I'd rather get home in one piece than try and keep up with the ZX14 biker dude!

Matt

I choose Matt because um... he's a learner and he's learning lots and going on first long rides, and he's not concerned with going fast or being cool, instead developing skills.

Yeah, those cool bikers on top of the hill sure don't talk much to noobs eh?
I really found that when I went there. Maybe we are just freaks.

[Chisanga]

Yeah, those cool bikers on top of the hill sure don't talk much to noobs eh?
I really found that when I went there. Maybe we are just freaks.

I have found the same thing in various petrol stations around Auckland. Displaying an L-Plate isn't the social door-opener that I hoped it would be

[Steam]

I have found the same thing in various petrol stations around Auckland. Displaying an L-Plate isn't the social door-opener that I hoped it would be

ACE RIMMER!
You are now #1 cool guy on this site, so says I, yes I do.
Smoke me a kipper, skipper...

[Chisanga]

ACE RIMMER!
You are now #1 cool guy on this site, so says I, yes I do.
Smoke me a kipper, skipper...

...i'll be back for breakfast

P.S. I can't be cool - I have an L-Plate remember

[Donor]

Ace: "Now look here, Arnie.. you can say what you like about me, but I won't hear a word against Skipper here."
Rimmer: "'Skipper'?"
Ace: "A man like him deserves a nickname. I thought 'Skipper' sat rather well."
Rimmer: "'Ace' and 'Skipper'?!? You sound like a kid's tv series about a boy and his bush kangaroo.

[Terminated]

Many thanks for your posts this week. Also thank you girlygirl and steam for your selections this week.

I am not long in from this evenings ride and will do the Newbie Update tomorrow and send out PM to next weeks selectors.

Heads Up and Enjoy