16 - 22 May: Where did you ride and what did you practise?

[skelstar]

Yeah spotted ya today BB. On my way down the Rapa side around 2:30pm..

[WarlockNZ]

I'm going to have to agree with chanceyy .. dazza gets my vote

[j-bee]

I've read with much interest how you used to ride all round Stokes Valley on your GN before venturing further, and now I see you got a big bike!!!!! GO YOU!!!!! I started riding at the same time as you Buckbuck but sadly I'm not as brave (terrified actually) and look to any excuse under the sun not to practise....mental block stuff. Can you help me out with some advice on how to just get out there and do it? I REALLY WANT TO RIDE!!!!!

[Terminated]

This post will be copied to the Newbie Update blogg.

Thanks chanceyy and WarlockNZ. Congratulations Daza. Also a big thank you to Bnonn for giving Daza the heads up on the mentoring rides being planned.

I'm going to have to agree with chanceyy .. dazza gets my vote

My pick for this week is Dazza ..

Being relatively new to biking too I also know the practice, practice routine, its good to see Dazza breaking down the riding & look at what needs work ..

also good to see asking for help with Mentoring .. without this myself I would not be where I am today ..

Sat 19th May

I went for a short ride out on the back country road that heads towards Hamilton. My aim was to continue to get used to the buffering winds at 100
and cornering (most of the corners were easy).


Sun 20th May

I went out for a ride late this afternoon, it was overcast and not as windy as earlier. I wanted to continue getting used to riding on the open road and todays focus was on getting used to cornering.

I picked a route on a map that was in the outskirts of Cambridge in the country towards Rotorangi. See here http://www.motowhere.com/maps/route/Roto-O-Rangi-Route
The route had a good mixture of some 45kph S bends, 55kph corners as well as some more wide sweeping ones and one very long straight (a nice long break from corners).

I'm getting more used to the powerband of my bike now and i can tell what gear its in by how much revs i'm pulling when accelerating.
Also I rarely stall the bike on take off now, my new problem is changing out of first into second i keep going into neutral instead and having to change up again! This wasn't a problem initially when i was starting out, funny that. My gear changing (after 2nd) is getting better, but sometimes its a bit rough.

I tried wearing different shoes today opposed to the boots i've been using (but really aren't ideal as they only go up to the ankle and could easily come off in a spill) i have a better pair (remember the melting boots i mentioned in a former post?) getting resoled and they have steel capped toes on them but the shoe repair guy won't be finished for another week! So perhaps a more firm boot will help with the neutral thing, but why wasn't it a problem before.
hmmm..

Da Cornering:
So i find coming up to a blind corner or looks sharp i would back off/brake slowing down to 60/70/80 (depending on how scary it looks hehe) and then turn into it and gradually accelerate out of it, sometimes i would change down a gear into third (sometimes i realized i didn't need to). Alot of corners i realised i didn't need to back off so much and other times they were tight.
I really need to follow an experienced rider and see what lines they are using and the speed you can travel around corners without pushing it. (There used to be a Te Awamutu rider on the mentor list, but not anymore, forgotten his KB name)

My initial plan was find a route that i can ride around regularly and get to know the corners and each time go through them a little quicker until i can get confidence that the bike is going to stay where i put it and i don't
stray across the line on the exit or just as worse- panic going into a corner too hot and brake/roll off the throttle make things worse and eat pavement or grass.

Other things i need to work on:

I need to also practice switching my fuel reserve switch over while riding. Work on my gear changing esp. 1st - 2nd.

Do some more emergency braking. Although i don't know up to what speed this can be unsafe to practice?

I'm actually on holiday at the moment for the next two weeks, so if there are any experienced Waikato rider's who have time free during the week or a weekend that could help me out with cornering, riding lines and any other pointers would be much appreciated.

Daza, there are a few Hamilton chaps who are planning to do a lines & tips ride at some stage, where the better riders will tutor the n00bs. See the Lines & Tips Ride thread.

Heads Up and Enjoy

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I've read with much interest how you used to ride all round Stokes Valley on your GN before venturing further, and now I see you got a big bike!!!!! GO YOU!!!!! I started riding at the same time as you Buckbuck but sadly I'm not as brave (terrified actually) and look to any excuse under the sun not to practise....mental block stuff. Can you help me out with some advice on how to just get out there and do it? I REALLY WANT TO RIDE!!!!!

Contact BuckBuckNo1 via a pm (private message)

He has the patience of a saint and he will come over to help you out...

He started out on a GN250.

Otherwise, if you live in a quiet street just ride up and down for about 1 hour at a time and do all the practise stuff over and over. Or head to your local industrial area in the weekends, as no one is around there then and the ideal time to learn.

Check out BuckBuckNo1 thread that he started on 'Training and learning to ride'

Good luck.

j-bee I will send you a PM and take it from there. My initial reaction is that we will spend several 30-40min sessions in the carpark with cones and some short quiet rides.

Heads Up and Enjoy