(Almost) A Great Ride

[dickybeau]

Life is good. The sun is shining. Yesterday belonged to the family. Today belongs to me (no Sound of Music stuff here. Eh!). Muirhead (on the A80 south of Cumbernauld) to Lennoxtown. Lennoxtown to Arnprior to Port of Menteith, to Callendar to Glencoe via Crianlarich. As far as Port of Menteith I was on B roads with lots of twisties. No boys in blue, no cars, no motorcycles 1 tanker which obligingly pulled off the road. Couple of bends with loose stuff. Am I glad I wear brown underpants (boxers of course :D ). Callendar to Crianlarich was busy but good going. Superb scenery, great weather (for Scotland). Crianlarich to Kings House hotel on Glencoe was superb!!! Views +++. Turned around and went home. (much better than phoning my booking don't you think?) Roads busy. My arms were, by this time getting sore. I had my bars on the furthest forward stretch which would have been fine for motorway but not for twisties. Retraced my route back to Lennoxtown. At the foot of a loong downhill (Crow Road) misjudged a bend and was too tired to hold it. Ended up in the ditch on my back. Smashed another!!! indicator lense :bawl: . Picked up by friendly passers by and followed home by a kind Kwackers Rider to make sure that I was OK. No damage all round except for the indicator. Good job I Haven't had the money to paint and I have kept my good rocker covers until I stop falling over in the car park :dunce: . Needless to say, I haven't told this to my wife who would sell the bike forthwith :naughty: and confine me to the garden on weekends :rant: . Explanation to wife - yeah I fell over in the car park :kiss:.

What have I learned; I am scared of bends with gravel on them I need help. Experiment with positioning on shorter rides. Stop more on hot days. :dunce: Oh, I forgot, I should have gone to Fort William to book the hotel ;) . Oh Dear, need to get up there next week :D .

Rubber side down (need to take my own advice)

Ricky

[beemerich]

Hi Ricky,

Glad you had a good day (should have been with you :( ) but sorry to hear about your experience. I'm pleased to hear that you made it through pretty much unscathed. :)

A very kind gent once sent me some stuff for my RS rebuild. There were some indicator lenses in amongst them. If he'd like to let me know, I can send them back!

Must remember the 'it happened in a car park' one!

Rich

[TrevorW]

Ricky,

You're returning to biking after a long "rest" aren't you ? You might want to consider doing some refresher training, as it sounds to me like you could do with a bit of help on cornering technique.

I was fortunate that I bought my first bike (a Honda) while they were offering their 2-day "Motorcycle Appreciation Course" at a big discount for new owners. A couple of days riding with and coaching from an ex-police rider made a huge difference for me.

In the meantime, here's a couple of well-worn phrases to do with corners:

"Slow in, fast out".

"Can you stop safely on your side of the road, in the distance you can see to be clear" ?

[dickybeau]

Thanks guys.

You are right Trevor. I intend to take a training course with a local guy but was trying to get some road experience on the bike. I am slow in and SLOW out at the moment but was (am) plenty tired. If I had gone out the same way but come back by a less demanding route, it would have been fine. I am disconcerted by gravel in the road right where I want to turn in. This arises from spectaculars on my mountain bike on forestry bends. So far on the Beemer, I have experienced only minor rear squirming, which is perfectly manageable until yesterday. Nevertheless, I think it was avoidable.

Beemerich, a front left indicator lens would be perfect if you have one spare :Blush:

Ricky

[MikeH]

Ricky, good to know that you and the bike are OK (minus one indicator). I'll second what Trevor has said. The IAM (Institute of Advanced Motorists) scheme is well worth doing and you'll learn a whole different approach, with the emphasis on safety. Some of the police forces down here in England are running free training courses called "Bike Safe" which last a couple of weekends. You might find something similar in Scotland.

Good luck and take it easy! ;)

[beemerich]

Ricky,

I'll look through my bag 'o bits this afternoon. I'm pretty sure that's the one I've got spare.

rich

[dickybeau]

Mike,

Saw the bikesafe article in BIKE magazine. There was only one contact for Scotland. I phoned twice with no reply. I'll try the local traffic police and see what they know.


I think 200 miles mostly on twisties was overambitious. :dunno:

Ricky

[lorazepam]

I may get some arguments here, but It does require a bit of fitness to ride twisties for 200 miles. I think that riding the RS the way God and BMW intended requires strong back and abdomen muscles. A regimen of situps/crunches, and leg lifts every day will help you to be a better rider. I will also make SWMBO happy when she sees that belly start to shrink.

In the areas where I live, gravel is definately an issue, as well as deer. Just remember, if you are in a turn and slow or brake, you will change the weight distrubution of the motorcycle and lose the ability to control it. I try to "see" possible gravel by looking for it's sources when entering a curve. If you see a driveway, assume there will be some gravel, and steer more towards the middle of the turn. I will at most just back off the throttle just a bit when encountering gravel, because I would rather take my chances with a low side than a high side crash.

[dickybeau]

Thanks Lorazepam

Our gravel, or at least the stuff that concerns me tends to appear in the middle of my lane leaving two tracks either side. I need to cross that gravel to get the turn in to the bend. Up until the corner, it appeared to be a less worn ridge in the middle of the lane which was coarser. On the corner the gravel appeared. Almost like erosion on the corner. Made more difficult by the dappled effect thrown out by the overhanging trees. Trevor had it right, I think, Slower in to strange bends. The thing is, I could see round the bends so the road was clear (at least over the fencing). 200 miles was too much. My arms are tired today. Particularly the lower forearms and wrists. Much tireder than 300 miles of Motorway in the 1 day. I also am beginning to question my choice of Contiforce tyres. Anyone running these? If so, what pressures. They seem slow to fall over for turns.

By the way, gym session organised ;)
Ricky :eek:

[lorazepam]

I have about 3000 miles on a set of ContiForce tires. They are a vast improvement over the Macadam 90 tires that were on the bike new. I used them at a track day and found them to be as sticky as my courage allowed. I run 38/40 in them.

Something that happened to me when I first started riding the RS is very similar to your symptoms. The tired forearms and wrists. I started making a concious effort to relax my grip when in the twisties. I was nervous as I learned the new bike, and tended to grip way too hard. Since you didn't get the sensation from motorway riding, I suspect that would be the cause. Take it easy, and remind yourself that you don't heed a "death grip" to be in control.
In fact you may have less control, since tense muscles are not fluid, and relaxed muscles are. Hope this helps.

[Bald Eagle]

Ricky,



Just to add and not to dwell - fitness and training are important, but one other thing to remember on a long trip is to drink water and take in some food (complex carbohydrates). Dehydration is a sure way to lose concentration.

BE

[dickybeau]

Bald eagle

I use the same regime for Mountain Biking as for Motorbiking. Camelback (3 litres) with water, Cereal bars, bananas and Cake and coffee whenever I get the chance. :D . By the way, recommend Maggies Tearoom in Strathyre for Afternoon Tea. :lick:


However, since its been mentioned, Being fat doesn't help.

Ricky

[JimVonBaden]

Bald eagle

IHowever, since its been mentioned, Being fat doesn't help.

Ricky
Hey, I resemble that remark!:naughty:

However, it's not an automatic that you can't do long rides. I did two 15+ hour rides in a row this weekend with little ill effects other than sore hands.:moonie: And a bit of a numb butt!

Jim:cool:

[beemerich]

Hmmm, not sure about the use of the 'fat' word. I prefer to use the phrase 'well built' :D , being on the 'comfortable' side of skinny, myself!

Ricky,

Indicator lens on its way. Should be with you tomorrow.

Rich

[dickybeau]

Rich

E-mail is back up and running. Got the lense today :Bow: Thanks.

Ricky