The weather was absolutely gorgeous here today. Had to be in the high 60's and the sun was shinin'. Couldn't spend an off day around the house with such nice weather in JANUARY so I called a few folks to try and get a group ride goin'. Since it was last minute everyone except my 6RR bud, Matt, had things goin' on and couldn't get loose.
I posted the meeting time, place, and our planned route on the local forum and we headed out. Nobody else from the forum made it out so we had it to ourselves. The dueling Ninjas...
We got in some good seat time at a sane pace and then headed out for a bite to eat. I didn't take but three pics because we rode more than we stopped, but here's what I ended up with...
The dueling ninjas ready to head out. Look at that gorgeous sky! I was in short sleeves today! (under my jacket of course)
Our rides restin' at the water/pee stop at the halfway point of the ride...
We met up with a couple of cool older guys at the stop. One was on some sort of Harley, the other on a BMW. The older of the two was on the BMW. His tires looked like he enjoys some twisty action on that thing.
We were joined by an unknown younger dude on a yellow gixxer6 for a while. It was slammed and had a little bling goin' on. He seemed cool enough. We also had a sweet blue w/flames R6 join us on the way home. Tons of bikes out today. The perfect weather was bein' enjoyed by all... Man, I wish the weather stayed just like today all year... or just on all my off days would be fine.
Oh, about that slowin' down thing... I lucked out today. Well, I'll start with yesterday since I used up some luck (or grace?) then, too. Yesterday out of the hundreds, if not more than a thousand corners we hit I overcooked one left hander and ran really wide. I stayed on the road by lookin' through the turn and just leanin' the crap out of it. I say I used up some luck because I was lucky that I didn't overcook it to the point that just slammin' it over and lookin' through it wouldn't get me through it. I had scrubbed off some speed before slammin' it over at the last minute. If I hadn't done that I'm not sure the tires would have held the corner bein' kinda cold out and all. Strike one...
Ok, today bein' a holiday and knowin' that LE would be out in force we kept things to a very sane pace and just enjoyed the scenery, seat time, and fellowship with other riders at the stop. After we split up to head home though I still had about an hour of that gorgeous daylight left and couldn't waste it so I took some backroads near my house that I haven't been on in a while. Since I know these roads are rarely, if ever patrolled I picked up the pace a little, but only in the corners.
I ended up on a road that I've been through several times but I haven't been on it since before I sold Train. I was goin' through it and thought I remembered a straight after this corner I was in (it crests a hill so I couldn't see past the hill). Well, I came off of the corner on throttle, crested the hill, and Oh Shid!!! A HARD left hander!!!
I had it stood up straight so I grabbed a handful of brakes and started scrubbin' off all the speed I could. The whole time I'm tellin' myself, "Look through the corner and LEAN!!!". I didn't listen to myself... I target fixated on the dang road shoulder and drove straight off the road... out into a smooth grassy field (thank you again for that field, God!
).
Thankfully I kept it up on two. No damage and no injuries other than the sprained anus muscle from grippin' the seat with my arse, but if there had been a fence, ditch, whatever, I would've been screwed!
Strike two...
The rest of the way home I'm thinkin' over and over... WAKE UP CALL, CHRIS... WAKE UP CALL... SLOW YER BUTT DOWN MAN!!!
I was proud yesterday when I was able to look through the corner, lean, and pull it out. Even though it was a screw up I was glad that I kept my head and looked where I wanted to go even though I wasn't sure I was gonna end up there. Today, I'm still scratchin' my head wonderin' why I couldn't look where I wanted to go even though the only thought goin' through my head at the time was "Look through the turn and lean!". I wasn't thinkin' I was gonna go off roadin' at all. I had scrubbed off enough speed to make the corner and fully intended to make it this time, unlike yesterday when I wasn't sure. I just couldn't pull my danged eyes off of that shoulder.
Needless to say, my confidence took a hit on this one. I putted on home, still hittin' a few more roads, but at a Harley pace. It's all I've been able to think about all evening. In my head I just keep hearin' "wake up call"... So, I'm gonna really slow my tail down and refocus on the basics for a while. I think I've been puttin' so much into bein' faster that I've somewhat slacked on gettin' smoother and more controlled.
I'm just sooo thankful that I was given a field to run off onto instead of somethin' a lot less forgiving. It could have been ugly, but out of grace it wasn't. Since I got into this mess by not listenin' to myself sayin' "Look through and lean!" I think I'll pay attention to myself now sayin' "Wake up and slow yer butt down!". I don't want to see strike three come across the plate any time soon.
Anyway, I hope everyone else had a safe and happy New Year's Day. I wish you all could have had the weather I had to ride in. Better yet, I wish most of you could have been here to ride with me today. Man, I can't wait for spring. Prolly won't be many days like today for a while...
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I posted the meeting time, place, and our planned route on the local forum and we headed out. Nobody else from the forum made it out so we had it to ourselves. The dueling Ninjas...
We got in some good seat time at a sane pace and then headed out for a bite to eat. I didn't take but three pics because we rode more than we stopped, but here's what I ended up with...
The dueling ninjas ready to head out. Look at that gorgeous sky! I was in short sleeves today! (under my jacket of course)
Our rides restin' at the water/pee stop at the halfway point of the ride...
We met up with a couple of cool older guys at the stop. One was on some sort of Harley, the other on a BMW. The older of the two was on the BMW. His tires looked like he enjoys some twisty action on that thing.
We were joined by an unknown younger dude on a yellow gixxer6 for a while. It was slammed and had a little bling goin' on. He seemed cool enough. We also had a sweet blue w/flames R6 join us on the way home. Tons of bikes out today. The perfect weather was bein' enjoyed by all... Man, I wish the weather stayed just like today all year... or just on all my off days would be fine.
Oh, about that slowin' down thing... I lucked out today. Well, I'll start with yesterday since I used up some luck (or grace?) then, too. Yesterday out of the hundreds, if not more than a thousand corners we hit I overcooked one left hander and ran really wide. I stayed on the road by lookin' through the turn and just leanin' the crap out of it. I say I used up some luck because I was lucky that I didn't overcook it to the point that just slammin' it over and lookin' through it wouldn't get me through it. I had scrubbed off some speed before slammin' it over at the last minute. If I hadn't done that I'm not sure the tires would have held the corner bein' kinda cold out and all. Strike one...
Ok, today bein' a holiday and knowin' that LE would be out in force we kept things to a very sane pace and just enjoyed the scenery, seat time, and fellowship with other riders at the stop. After we split up to head home though I still had about an hour of that gorgeous daylight left and couldn't waste it so I took some backroads near my house that I haven't been on in a while. Since I know these roads are rarely, if ever patrolled I picked up the pace a little, but only in the corners.
I ended up on a road that I've been through several times but I haven't been on it since before I sold Train. I was goin' through it and thought I remembered a straight after this corner I was in (it crests a hill so I couldn't see past the hill). Well, I came off of the corner on throttle, crested the hill, and Oh Shid!!! A HARD left hander!!!
Thankfully I kept it up on two. No damage and no injuries other than the sprained anus muscle from grippin' the seat with my arse, but if there had been a fence, ditch, whatever, I would've been screwed!
The rest of the way home I'm thinkin' over and over... WAKE UP CALL, CHRIS... WAKE UP CALL... SLOW YER BUTT DOWN MAN!!!
I was proud yesterday when I was able to look through the corner, lean, and pull it out. Even though it was a screw up I was glad that I kept my head and looked where I wanted to go even though I wasn't sure I was gonna end up there. Today, I'm still scratchin' my head wonderin' why I couldn't look where I wanted to go even though the only thought goin' through my head at the time was "Look through the turn and lean!". I wasn't thinkin' I was gonna go off roadin' at all. I had scrubbed off enough speed to make the corner and fully intended to make it this time, unlike yesterday when I wasn't sure. I just couldn't pull my danged eyes off of that shoulder.
Needless to say, my confidence took a hit on this one. I putted on home, still hittin' a few more roads, but at a Harley pace. It's all I've been able to think about all evening. In my head I just keep hearin' "wake up call"... So, I'm gonna really slow my tail down and refocus on the basics for a while. I think I've been puttin' so much into bein' faster that I've somewhat slacked on gettin' smoother and more controlled.
I'm just sooo thankful that I was given a field to run off onto instead of somethin' a lot less forgiving. It could have been ugly, but out of grace it wasn't. Since I got into this mess by not listenin' to myself sayin' "Look through and lean!" I think I'll pay attention to myself now sayin' "Wake up and slow yer butt down!". I don't want to see strike three come across the plate any time soon.
Anyway, I hope everyone else had a safe and happy New Year's Day. I wish you all could have had the weather I had to ride in. Better yet, I wish most of you could have been here to ride with me today. Man, I can't wait for spring. Prolly won't be many days like today for a while...
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