AWNMR - Wednesday Night Mentor Ride (March)

[Fub@r]

Cheers for organising the ride guys..........had a blast. The fish and chips at Kaiaua makes it all the more tasty

[Chisanga]

Thanks guys for a good ride and to Deathstar for demonstrating his "special" motard cornering skills on Twilight Rd.

Didn't realise you guys were heading off to Miranda so I burned off up the other road to get home. Hope you all enjoyed your day

[Black Bandit]

Cheers for organising the ride guys..........had a blast. The fish and chips at Kaiaua makes it all the more tasty

I'll second that. Cheers for organising a good day out guys and girls.
Special mention to Kittyhawk and Disco Dan for riding point and TEC.

Crashe you were right - about bike fitness that is - and other things too, I'm sure. I feel absolutely nackered.

Quasi that bike of yours is quite an intimidating presence in one's rear view mirrors, and the sound of her ... yum.

[The Stranger:Me]

I enjoyed the ride, hope some people got something out of it. To the guy on the CBR250, nice bike, but I really hope you know what to expect if you go for a slide at 50k wearing light jeans, a sweat shirt, sneakers and no gloves. You can look forward to the doctors removing bits of clothing from the friction burns and months of recovery, infection and skin grafts etc. Good luck.

Thank you to MacTheKnife for last night. a lot of thought went into that. Top stuff, I found it quite a challenge, but enjoyed it, even if some thought it was a bit tough.

[Kittyhawk]

Was a good day yesterday. Perfect riding weather. The best thing of all no one binned!!

Thanks to everyone who came along!!!

Also special thanks to The Stranger and Macktheknife for the exercises last night. Threw me a challenge with the road cones which I really enjoyed.

[Disco Dan]

Well what a day! After finishing work at 7am, catching a few hours sleep... slept through my alarm to wake up an hour before the ride started! A quick dash around the house to get everything ready and arrived at westgate. Those that saw me saw how tired I was! a quick sandwich and an energy drink later and everyone was all ready to gear up and go.

I led the group along the mway, off at Panmure. So far so good. Approached roudabout with the group of bikes behind me when i realised the meeting place was left at not right at the roundabout... a few confused cars and bike sprawling across all lanes of the four lane roundabout and we all got there safely!

Kittyhawk gave everyone an excellent briefing, ensuring everyone knew the pointer system, the route we were taking and other mentors chipped in with some very helpful advice on group riding. The rides safety rules were reminded to everyone and we geared up.

As tail end charlie for this ride I could see the entire group and was very pleased with how everyone stayed together through the suburbs. Out onto the open road and the real riding began! Some wonderful roads, great scenery and Kittyhawk kept a good pace for everyone. The pointer system was working well and the mentors kept a close watchful eye on everyone. There was only one turn where the pointer left too early and I had to direct a couple of bikes around the last turn before our first stop. A quick smoke stop and a chance for feedback on the pace etc.

We all continued and the roads started getting even more exciting, some tight corners and lots of long sweepers kept everyone concentrating hard. Everyone seemed to be fairly close together and I could smell the unmistakable odour of 2 stroke - thats good I thought, as that means no one is having dificulty with the pace and lagging behind. We continued on, saw a couple of other bikers make their way through our group. Suddenly a very large and intimidating black ZX14 appeared behind me... ehh-up.. better get a wriggle on... I had no chance of making any space between us and let the rider pass at the next straight... as the black blurr past me a cought a glimpse of the plate... it was Quasi ! ...then he was gone. Making his way through the pack. We made another stop by the beach, and was a apportunity to see the ZX14 without risk of neck injury! He even sold some gloves from his back pack! Good on you!

We all arrived at our major stop (not sure where we were after we left the roundabout!) for some fish and chips and a good chin-wag. I casually mentioned I was getting low on petrol and had aprox 20-25 miles before I hit reserve... the gas station had run out next door. We were what seemed like in the middle of no-where and thoughts of me pushing my 210kg bike was not a pleasant one. We geared up, after splitting the groups up and sending them off at ten minute intervals with their mentors. I left with the last group and we went through some very nice roads, very open and we could see the road for at least a mile ahead!

We arrived at our last stop by a castle and I was able to bring the needle on my petrol guage off the red line! A toilet stop and a quick chin-wag and we departed, heading for the motorway back to westgate. People started to trickle into westgate, and I found i could no longer stand still... the large amount of energy drinks I had consumed and my immense fatigue was taking it's toll!

What a great afternoon, lots was learnt and confidence was increased all round. With only one rider spoiling it for the rest of the group.

....now, better have something to eat! Carpark practice soon!

[Disco Dan]

Everyone arrived at westgate and introduced everyone, off we went to our practice area in Albany.

"oh my" as we pulled in and saw what was in store for us!

A see-saw, ladders, fire hose and a rather large row of cones! Wow!

Mack gave everyone a great briefing on the evenings events and The Stranger gave us a demonstration for each task.

Afterwards we headed down to the pub, for a good chin-wag and a rather disturbing array of 'goat' and 'camel' jokes...

I arrived home to find I had locked my cat inside... although I had also left the electric blanket on high... so at least she was happy!

A big thank you to all who came, all that helped out and for all your advice throughout the day/evening!

[Disco Dan]

On a sader note:

I wish to inform everyone that Deathstar has now been banned from attending future AWNMR sessions and related events.

It was not a desicion that I made lightly, but one that I put much thought into and discussed with those concerned.

His riding on the day ride was in mine and others view dangerous. Despite being told on several occasions throughout the day his behaviour continued to put others at risk. This continued to the point where he had to be removed from the group on the last leg and actually escorted by a mentor.

I want to assure everyone that attends the AWNMR that this sort of behaviour and dangerous riding will not be tolerated. I would not like this to be discussed on this forum, because as far as I am concerned this is the end of the matter.

I hope now, those people that were put at risk and those people that complained to me will not be put off attending future sessions and events.

Disco Dan.

[Quasievil]

Excellent stuff guys n Gals, good opportunity to get some newbies on a road ride to learn from other people.
If I can be so bold as to point out a couple of things.
I think whilst valueable information was shared I think the riding group was set up wrong.
For a newbie learning ride you need to set say ideally one mentor with one rider, not always possible ,so stretch it to say three to one mentor, they need to leave in their small groups 5-10 mins apart from the next group.
As it was everyone was riding very slowly in one big long line, following the line of the other rider in front and concentrating to much on the other bikes around him as opposed to a focused and educating riding session, also when there where stops it was potentially very dangerous given other traffic tyring to get past 15-20 bikes all pulling over on a small spot all at once, with smaller groups you wont have this situation.
Also I think for a newbie ride its good to send a few minutes checking the bikes over and discussing tyre pressures etc, offering help and advise.

For the guy wearing no gear mmmmmm I would have told him to go home personally.

Thats it really, take it as constructive critisism and keep doing these rides as its a awesome thing to do for newbies , BIG UPS !!!

[Disco Dan]

Excellent stuff guys n Gals, good opportunity to get some newbies on a road ride to learn from other people.

Thank you for your feedback Quasi, much appreciated. Taken on board and I will incorporate your advice into future sessions and events.

Disco.

[Hidalgo]

thumbs up for everyone, it was really a great expereince and confidence booster. Special thanks to all mentors for passing words of wisdom on safe and great riding. mostly due to tight schedule i am not able to make up everytime, but will keep on trying to come and learn from all seniors out there.
Keep up the good work.

[Karma]

On a sader note:

I wish to inform everyone that Deathstar has now been banned from attending future AWNMR sessions and related events.

I would not like this to be discussed on this forum, because as far as I am concerned this is the end of the matter.

Funny, looks to me like you've just started a public discussion to me.

[Black Bandit]

Rats! Sounds like I missed out on a great night of slow, skilled riding . Had to get home though - tinted visor and all . Ended up riding with the visor up eventually as the sun disappeared praying for all kamikaze bugs to avoid my eyes.

Ladders, see-saws? You folks gearing up for a Trials event? These AWNMRs sound intriguing - must make a point to attend another in the near future.

I think Quasi has some great points on the group riding thing - there were stretches of the ride that I felt "held up" and clostraphobic. But you guys made a great effort.

[Kittyhawk]

Yup and thanks to everyones feed back we know what to work on and improve for the next upcoming ride!!!

Being the first ride for this particular group there are things which need improving on so the next one runs more effectively..

[Kittyhawk]

If anyone is interested in coming along, Im doing the Kaiaua route again on Saturday....why? coz I love open road riding hehehe.


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