How to ride faster than you ever have before

[DMNTD:Me]

Crashing.................anyway, get your arse in gear Chris could you will have to leave soon to get to Whangamata by 11.........

2 crashes in 19 years riding,both road surface related and low speed...I'll go with that lad
LOL...we're leaving here at 9:30am and going the long way there.
BTW...mint weather



Hijack over

[Grahameeboy]

2 crashes in 19 years riding,both road surface related and low speed...I'll go with that lad
LOL...we're leaving here at 9:30am and going the long way there.
BTW...mint weather



Hijack over

1 Crash in 27 years laddie..............hit and run.

Anyway, you can smell me later for being cheeky..............will be good to catch up and take care buddy.

[busaman]

If slikchick is not frightened pillioning while the pilot is chasing down a gixxer then from what I have seen fear is not an issue.

Sell the Busa, buy a 1098 [cos you can!], keep the 250 just in case motivation is found or for a track bike.

Good to meet you yesterday SixPack, enjoyed chasing you round what would have to be some of the best roads I've been on. Hope to cate you out there By the way, I think the CBR as a track bike could be a plan.

[SixPackBack]

Good to meet you yesterday SixPack, enjoyed chasing you round what would have to be some of the best roads I've been on. Hope to cate you out there By the way, I think the CBR as a track bike could be a plan.

Was lotsa fun huh?.........I swear the Busa is 10 feet wide when trying to get past, I laughed my arse off watching speedie trying to get past.
Roll on the next ride

[klingon]

I'm the maverick petrol drainer
Been trying to find ways of getting Slikchick out on her bike but I'm obviously not pushing the right buttons. I think the other problem is we just have too much fun when we are out riding together on my bike.

Might sell both bikes and just get me one really cool bike (Ducati 1098 should do the job), what do you think?

Hiya, busaman :spudwave: So you're the maverick petrol drainer!

My point is that having a partner who is a much more experienced and skilled rider can be pretty intimidating for a new rider. I have a pet SV1000-rider who has been riding for thirtymumble years, and has no idea what it's like for me as a learner.

So maybe you're not the right person to either teach her or motivate her? I reckon she should find a riding buddy who's also a learner, to go out and practise with - like me for example!

[idleidolidyll]

1 Crash in 27 years laddie..............hit and run.

Anyway, you can smell me later for being cheeky..............will be good to catch up and take care buddy.

last race crash in 92,
last road crash in 86

95%+ of my crashes have been racing

................touches head...............

worst race crash, cbr600 Bay Park I think. Braking duel on the last lap, 2nd to last corner for the podium. Lost the front end and highsided. Paul Gee managed to miss me and I ripped my skin off and rolled up the bank amongst the spectators, coming to rest beside a guy with a coke; i took my helmet off and asked him for a drink then looked down at all the blood..........adrenaline is the BEST painkiller anywhere!

worst road crash, cagiva allazurra; t-boned an old lady in a land crab as she pulled a U turn on the open road: ping goes that achilles, crutches and a year to get over it.
my mates back at the motel (BEARs meeting), were pissed I'd smashed all the beer i had onboard.

[Bob]

I've been thinking about this.

It sounds like you need to build up confidence before going out on the road.

So - do you have a car park near you - preferably one that does not get used at the weekend? Then if so, can you ride (or if that is too nerve-racking, can you get your partner to ride the 250 there - maybe with you on the back?) there and use it to do some gentle practice?

What I have in mind is simple start up and ride forwards in a straight line.
Then when you are OK with that, try turning gently.
When that is OK, ride in a circle.
When that is OK, ride in a circle, practicing changing from 1st to 2nd and back again.
Once that lot comes together, you can use the paint lines on the ground for a little more advanced stuff:
Ride slowly along the long white line which marks the end of the car bays.
Then try using the lanes between the car bays to practice riding up to the end of a road, stopping at the end and then turning into the main road.
Then, how about using the width of the car bays to practice gentle U-turns - and if that is fine, then try tighter turns by using the lanes between the car bays.

If you've got all that lot covered, then time to try something a little more advanced, like using the car bays to practice riding between markers (cones would be ideal, but if you don't have cones, then you can use the lines of the car bays as markers).

You can also use the white lines as your stopping markers as well. Starting slowly, brake gently, aiming to stop just before the line. As you get more confident, you can (very slightly) up the pace a little.

With all that lot in place, treat the lanes between the car bays as the road, with the car bays as buildings - so you practice your left and right turns, aiming to avoid crossing the white lines - as they'd be a little harder in real life!

If you have all that lot together, then you're going to be much more confident and ready for the road.

Big thing is to take this as fun. Don't think of it as work, more getting ready to enjoy yourself in a safer environment.

In the UK, we have to do this stuff before we are allowed out on the road - and we have to pass a riding test on the road as well to make sure we're OK with road riding. And as we've been taught the basics of machine control, by the time we ride onto the road, we know enough about machine control to let us concentrate on the ride.

Give it a go and let us know how it works out.

Hope this is useful,

Bob





Just a thought - is all this talking about crashes really a good idea when we're dealing with someone who is nervous about riding on the road?

[Dodgyiti]

Motivation?
How about reducing your environmental footprint by using a more ecologically sound means of transportation?
Or reducing the strain on motorways and city parking (or is it just Auckland)?
What about inspiring other ladies, seeing you out and about, that they can do that too?


Good stuff bob.

Klingon- I am no use to my lady learner for the same reasons, doing it so long I forgot why, lol

[BarBender]

Tell me what motivates you to get out and face the fear and just ride.

Two personal observations:

a)I dont need motivation to ride. Riding motivates me to live.
Either I want to ride or I dont. Personal experience has taught me that when I force the issue the ride is shit or something happens...

b)Fear and bikes dont mix. I dont start a bike or ride in fear and certainly dont go looking for it when I ride. There's no emotional or mental energy expended to get on the bike, start it up and in your words...just ride.

In your case - work out what the barrier is: competency or confidence or both. Then get someone to get out on the road with you to get you along your way.

[Stirts]

Hey Slikchik....totally get where u r coming from....still in the process of getting my first bike....done my BHT YAYE.

100% agree with BarBender it's a competency/confidence barrier, for me anyway....so if you need someone in the same headspace, quite happy to tee up and practice to smash those barriers

[Lissa]

What motivates me? I'm a mum of three kids, who has never done anything remotely scary in my life. Bikes don't scare me, as long as I am comfortable with what I am riding and know my limitations. I love the feeling of going out there and doing something for ME. Accomplishing the little things, like riding the Rimutakas, or scrapping my boot on a corner or just tootling down the road as the sun comes up. Its a feeling that motivates me. Cant wait to have the feeling on a bigger bike though.

[peasea]

Every now and again I take my bike to work.. I get there wide eyed and bushy tailed!!

Yup, it sure livens up an otherwise dull day, or makes a great day one to really remember. When you've clocked up a few k's, several circumnavigations of both islands and more besides you'll get the picture. Every ride is different, every ride will have memorable moments. The motivation to ride is in the garage, in your head, in front of you in the form of the road itself. Take a camera with you and use it; in years to come you'll be thankful that you did. I have a pic (taken by a mate) of me on a beach taking my first ride; that was 1973. The albums (and my life) are based on that first ride.

[Quartermile]

OK so the title was more of an appertiser than an advise column. What I really want to know is well I actually have a 250 thats parked in the shed and had been for a wee while and my partner who thinks hes a maverick wants me to drain the petrol out of it, and Im quite sad about that, so to help me get over the draining petrol state, I need to get my ass into gear and ride the bike (AND I really want to) um whats my motivation people???? Tell me what motivates you to get out and face the fear and just ride.

Take it for a very small ride something you feel comfortable with like 100m up your street even 50m and a will form on your face and you will never look back, hell I started by riding a scooter 20m

[Sanx]

Went out for a "spirited" ride out to the local forest roads (for anyone who has ridden in Essex in England, I'm talking out to Abridge, Theydon Bois, through the forest in the direction of Woodford, then towards Epping but on a whim changed direction and to Loughton then skirting the edge of Debden back round to Chigwell) and then past home and over to the cheap fuel at Tesco Beckon... then on to the main A roads for the old docks between Essex and East London and back via the A12 to home again.

Don't tell me they've actually finished digging up the A12 and erecting revenue cameras every 300 yards through the roadworks?

Anyway - if you like riding through that area, try heading out towards Finchingfield (about ten miles north-east of Bishop's Stortford). From there, you can carry on up towards Long Melford or Haverhill and on up to Bury St Edmunds. Twisty back roads all the way, and if you go early enough on a Sunday morning - not a cop in site.

Or - if you like some challenging bends, head down to Burnham on Crouch. Ten 90 degree bends in the space of about 3 miles all on a damn good road surface. A few good pubs at the end of it and one or two decent fish and chip shops too. Oh ... and if you see a guy in his late fifties in a power-ranger set of leathers on a red VFR800, wave hello. It's probably my dad.

[Mrs Busa Pete]

go and do the corses that teach you confadence