This weather has got to to let up. I've been able to ride my bike to work one time in the last two weeks... I'm about to take a crash course in wet weather riding...
I feel for you. Don't have too much problem with the weather here. :D
Sunny and 96 degrees here. :lol:
Geof
Sunny and 73 degrees here. Exquisite riding conditions! :D
(http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p163/Chatora_photo/Emoticon%20album/_playintherain__by_CyanSoujiro.gif) :5moped
Evil....
I sincerely think you need to watch the weather this month and when you see tornado warnings, wall clouds, threats of hail, lightning, and 24 hours of bad weather...... go for a long ride . . . head SW of KCMO!!
After about 3 hours you'll have the hang of it!
Hang out at a gas station for a couple of hours.... then decide....
'home ain't comin to me .... guess I'd better head back!
Pull in tha garage .... wipe that silly grin off your face when you walk through the door!
Hehe I think that's what it's going to take!
I've only been riding since late July last year, but I have tried to take advantage of any dry day with a morning temperature of 40deg or higher.
I don't push the bike very hard, so I don't have a clue what it's limits are in any riding conditions.
I have always loved to drive cars. I love knowing what it can do in all weather and all road conditions. When I get a new car, I go out and drive it to it's limits to get the feel for it when I get a chance. I push it when I have a margin of safety. Low traffic, corners with lots of space, parking lots, etc. Usually after I have had a car / truck for a year and have a good coat of rain-x on the windshield I can handle the car at posted speeds no matter what the weather.
The bike is a different story to me. It's not going to simply spin out if I push a curve too hard. It's not going to give me the opportunity to correct it if I loose traction in an aggressive maneuver. It's not going to give me a little thrill and send me on my way when I discover a new handling "characteristics". It's going to make me pay dearly with bodily injury and a heavily damaged bike. So the only way I can think to learn to ride this bike effectively is to take it very slow.
I'm pretty confident in my road riding ability so for with familiar roads such as my daily commute 27 miles each way to work. But I'm not yet comfortable. I find my grip is sometimes too tight on the bars, I have trouble staying loose from time to time, and my breaking and shifting isn't as smooth as I would like it. Then my arse cheeks clench to the seat every time I come to a corner I've not practiced several times. There is that good adrenaline feeling from excitement, but there's also that bad one from the back of the mind with concern of error and road rash. I came home from work one day feeling like I was going to hang a for sale sign on the bike, after having locked the front brake up on the highway when I was caught off guard by a car stopping suddenly in front of me. A feeling similar when your body floods with adrenalin before a an eminent fight that never comes. Thankfully it passed by morning :)
I hope your not reading this thinking "Damn this guy needs to grow some balls or give up riding". I'm not scared of the bike, I just respect it. I'm confident with more riding time my skills will improve, though I hope I'm never as comfortable on it as I have found myself in a car from time time. I don't think ridding those textured lane markers as I snap out of a light doze is something I want to experience on a bike :shock:
I used to live at lake level Tahoe and work in Reno. I rode to work one day in June and had to get back home over a 9000 ft pass. The looks I got in the parking lot of the post office where I get my mail near home were priceless. I got off my bike and a couple of large heavy chuncks of impact ice fell off my shoulders.
Whatever doesn't kill you makes you stronger...or have better stories to tell your kids, or random MC forums, your choice. :wink:
move here to seattle - you will get plenty of wet weather training :lol:
Quote from: "EvilBetty"Hehe I think that's what it's going to take!
I've only been riding since late July last year, but I have tried to take advantage of any dry day with a morning temperature of 40deg or higher.
I don't push the bike very hard, so I don't have a clue what it's limits are in any riding conditions.....
IThe bike is a different story to me. It's not going to simply spin out if I push a curve too hard. It's not going to give me the opportunity to correct it if I loose traction in an aggressive maneuver. It's not going to give me a little thrill and send me on my way when I discover a new handling "characteristics". It's going to make me pay dearly with bodily injury and a heavily damaged bike. So the only way I can think to learn to ride this bike effectively is to take it very slow.
I'm pretty confident in my road riding ability so for with familiar roads such as my daily commute 27 miles each way to work. But I'm not yet comfortable. I find my grip is sometimes too tight on the bars, I have trouble staying loose from time to time, and my breaking and shifting isn't as smooth as I would like it. Then my arse cheeks clench to the seat every time I come to a corner I've not practiced several times. There is that good adrenaline feeling from excitement, but there's also that bad one from the back of the mind with concern of error and road rash. I came home from work one day feeling like I was going to hang a for sale sign on the bike, after having locked the front brake up on the highway when I was caught off guard by a car stopping suddenly in front of me. A feeling similar when your body floods with adrenalin before a an eminent fight that never comes. Thankfully it passed by morning :)
I hope your not reading this thinking "Damn this guy needs to grow some balls or give up riding". I'm not scared of the bike, I just respect it. I'm confident with more riding time my skills will improve, though I hope I'm never as comfortable on it as I have found myself in a car from time time. I don't think ridding those textured lane markers as I snap out of a light doze is something I want to experience on a bike :shock:
Folks should respect your honesty here. Too many pretend they are better than they are; few recognise their limitations. In our bike club we run courses for all skill levels to help improve survival rates. A "Slow riding" course may sound boring, but the guys that run it make it fun and challenging. Everyone I've seen do it leaves with much improved confidence manoevering at slow speed.
In the UK we also have the Institute of Advanced Motorists (IAM) who are volunteers who - having met the IAM instructor qualification - run courses for all levels for the cost of the instructors fuel. Yes, they do it for the love of it. True bikers :wink: