THIS Is How It's Meant To Be!

[Slim]

I've been a bit disillusioned by motorcycling lately. There's a much higher police presence on the roads these days, forcing me to stay within 10kph of the speed limit for fear of getting another ticket and more points on my licence. So this weekend, with the weather looking only occasionally dodgy, I headed out on the bike on Saturday AND Sunday.

Saturday I spent circumnavigating Hamilton on all the good back roads I could find, with nary a cop in sight the whole day. I rediscovered the fun of speed-without-guilt and returned home with the biggest grin on my face. Just about a perfect day, if I discount the d*ckhe@d at the café in Te Awamutu who happily carried on an entire conversation with next to no input from me.

Sunday presented blue skies and sore inner thighs (for some odd reason - perhaps this riding lark is a better workout than I originally thought), but a couple of cigarettes and a cuppa tea saw me out on the bike again, heading for Tauranga and a catch up with Ricamortise. I found a lovely little detour which was barely better than a sealed gravel road, not wide enough for 2 Volvos to pass without one of them having their wheels in the ditch, and which I took at a gentle pace, not having the usual visual aids like white lines and stuff. Beautiful. I had been musing on what the instructor had tried to get me doing on the track training day I did a couple of years ago, ie: "Put your toes on the pegs and move around on the seat!" so by the time I got to the Kaimai Ranges, I thought, "What the hell…" and tried sticking my knee out on the first corner. This produced an interesting effect. I relaxed, for one. My bum shifted a bit on the seat, then my spine adjusted and my weight shifted a bit, and I was leaning further over than ever before and carrying a lot more speed through these corners I'd travelled a hundred times before. I was passing everything in sight. Interesting. So I kept practising and got faster, having to shift up a gear finally, and not needing to touch the brakes at all. Excellent!

I couldn't talk Ricamortise into joining me (being in the process of shifting in a new flatmate), but made him very jealous! Then I headed north to Waihi (pretty tame roads, with too much risk of cops) and then on to Whangamata where there was plenty of opportunity to practise moving around on the seat. I actually had a couple of moments where I thanked the designers for such a forgiving bike, since on two occasions I caught up with a vehicle mid-corner and had to shed speed and change lines quickly! And then home from there through the Kopu-Hikuai road, with the only things slowing me down being a bit of traffic and the lowering sun making approaching corners disappear in shade/light changes.

And then back to the tame old 110kph all the way home.

What a weekend.

[MikeL]

Faith and enthusiasm restored!!
It was a great weekend for riding, at least in Auckland. My wife was in Tauranga on Saturday and said it poured down. So sometimes Auckland doesn't get all the shitty weather!
A bit frustrating for me - had the possibility of two long rides on Sunday and had to pass on both of them (grrrrr), but occasionally the need for domestic harmony has to take precedence. Still managed to get out on Sunday afternoon for a couple of hours.

[bikerboy]

Just last night on the news was a story of how short handed the police are, so crime etc. isn't being fought as it should.

Then on the roads this weekend they were EVERYWHERE. Genereally not on the secondary roads but more and more they are poping up.

Where is the money coming from to pay for this and who has authorized this increased expenditure?

Still managed to have a great weekend of riding but becoming more and more paranoid of TICKETS!. I guess I'll have to get a radar detector but that just reduces the odds, not eliminate them.

On the way home on 17 I noticed it has become almost entirely80kph and double yellow lines When did this happen and why is it suddenly unsafe at 100kph?

Sorry

[Antallica]

I'll still trying to fit in the time to get some balls with the cornering . Good on ya mate

[Coldkiwi]

Good on ya Slim for getting into it! Having a good reliable technique is a definite starting point for enjoying any ride. My ride for the weekend was only a short one with a first time pillion passenger on the back (loop from howick-whitford-maraetai-clevedon-howick) but  had a great time. I needed to be nice and gentle on the gas and brakes for the pillions sake (I'm here to encourage motorcycling not freak people out and confirm their worst fears) but it meant I approached all the corners in a nice controlled manner and probably went through them faster (?) and smoother than I normally would've in my 'lets try and tear the tarmac from the road' type attitude! loved it (and so did she!)

if you guys want to sort your cornering technique out, I'd recommend coming out to Pukekohe next time theres a track day on. it lets you worry concentrate about your technique and not about cops, traffic or dead possums/chasms around the corner. you don't need to be going super quick to develop a good technique but i've found it a really helpful environment to find out just what muy bike and I are capable of and its given me a great deal more confidence on the road.

[Slim]

CK - trackdays (note the plural) are definitely on the agenda for me this summer! I did a training day at Taupo a couple of summers ago, in an effort to regain confidence in my bike and the Azaro tyres on it (which I did, but the Azaros then let me down the first time it rained again), and once I'd gotten over the shear terror and done a couple of laps, really enjoyed myself. As you know, though, Taupo is mostly LH corners, and it's my RH cornering technique I could really do with sorting out, along with downhill cornering (uphill is great).

I'm also considering doing some advanced on-road training with that guy down here in Hamilton, hopefully this summer too.


BB - you've described exactly the problem I was having. What you need to do is find some really good back roads to have fun on, like I did. Head down to your local AA and get some of the AA maps - they show every road, much better than the Wises maps. Then get exploring.

[MikeL]

Originally posted by Coldkiwi
loved it (and so did she!)

Yes, but what did your g/f say?

[SPman]

[I've been a bit disillusioned by motorcycling lately. There's a much higher police presence on the roads these days, forcing me to stay within 10kph of the speed limit for fear of getting another ticket and more points on my licence. So this weekend, with the weather looking only occasionally dodgy, I headed out on the bike on Saturday ]

Me too - but I got as far as Red Baron and decided to take the orange thing out for a flick ( Kawasaki Z1000)

What a blast! I'm in love with a bike again! Stick yer sports bikes with bent over riding pozzies. This thing is like a Super Motard with 120 horses on tap. Comfy more upright riding position with a slight forward bias, small, agile - flicks into corners quick as ....no fairings but - so touring could be a bit a a pain, but 195 on the clock was reasonably OK...........

Hmmmmmmm....

Get behing me Satan.......

 

[RiceBurner]

Top stuff.

Relaxation is deffo the key to being smooth - which is the route to being quick.







(ctrl-c, ctrl-v )

[wkid_one]

Originally posted by SPman
[I've been a bit disillusioned by motorcycling lately. There's a much higher police presence on the roads these days, forcing me to stay within 10kph of the speed limit for fear of getting another ticket and more points on my licence. So this weekend, with the weather looking only occasionally dodgy, I headed out on the bike on Saturday ]

Me too - but I got as far as Red Baron and decided to take the orange thing out for a flick ( Kawasaki Z1000)

What a blast! I'm in love with a bike again! Stick yer sports bikes with bent over riding pozzies. This thing is like a Super Motard with 120 horses on tap. Comfy more upright riding position with a slight forward bias, small, agile - flicks into corners quick as ....no fairings but - so touring could be a bit a a pain, but 195 on the clock was reasonably OK...........

Hmmmmmmm....

Get behing me Satan.......

 

 

But its ORANGE?????????????????

[750Y]

Nice one, sounds like a good weekend alright.

[SPman]

Originally posted by wkid_one
 

But its ORANGE?????????????????

Exactly!

[fergie]

sounds like there was plenty of good riding  to be had over the weekend, but spare a thought for the poor bastards that had to work all weekend( me) i finally get my days off and it's pissing down.

 

sod it! i'm going for a ride anyway!

[DeanOh]

All this talk of "Tickets" and speed makes me feel rather bad for you northerners.
Yesterday I pulled away up Lambton Quay at a reasonably quiet pace, behind a 4-wheel drive that slowed to 40kph to make sure everyone noticed his new car. All the way up the motorway onramp towards Petone. My impatience finally got the better of me, so I hammered it past him straight across (safely) 3 lanes to the fast lane....30 seconds later I was looking for a place to pull over to recieve my ticket. the bastard was waiting under the bridge before the onramp.
Anyway, after the usually checks for outstanding fines etc. asking me how long I need to indicate before changing lanes and pointing out that I changed 3 lanes, which is 6 seconds, not 1 second, and telling me i was doing 140kph, he gave me a warning and buggered off to find a donut shop.

Phew....100kph all the way home.

Some Wellington coppers are so....

[Firefight]

If you see him again, ask if he want's a transfer to Jaffa land