Au revoir, Chicken Strips
Dallas, you have to ride 211. You have to.
The weather's been so amazingly hot and humid all week. I've been thoroughly sick of commuting with my backpack and arriving drenched in sweat. So when I saw the weekend weather forecast as 75, sunny with a light breeze I jumped at the chance to get out there for a more involved ride. Not that usual weekend jaunts aren't fun, but I've been in my comfort zone on the bike for the last 3-4 months without really trying to take my riding up a notch and get the bike dug into some major corners at speed. This is notable from the sizeable strips on the side of my tires on a bike :-\ So with a view to seeing perhaps what riding is really all about, on Friday I took a deep breath and managed to persuade Crazy J to take me out to route 211 where his crew hang out all the time. I've been dying to go there for the longest time and partake of a healthy portion of sweepers, carvers and generally get my bike leaned over properly for the first fucking time. It's a road of mixed repute, both for its great corners but also for a high squid quotient, and seemed like the perfect place to learn how to really get the bike leaned over.
I have to say, it blew my fucking mind. First of all the ride out there (once J and I got off 66) was really fun, blasting through idyllic country lanes, occasionally fast and meandering, occasionally slow and squirrely. It was immensely helpful to have J take point and observe speeds / lines through the weird bits. I wish I was paying more attention to the route we took rather than riding and having fun as I'd like to be able to head back there on my own. Can't be too hard, I'll grab the route off J on Monday. With the sun beating down on us we carved our happy way to route 211 - J occasionally beckoning me to go faster on the safe bits and holding me off when corners turned into gravel. Lowsiding on one particular hairpin into a feisty-looking tree would not have been fun. A fun spirited ride, a chicken sandwich and a coke later, we were at 211.
We discussed a couple of the corners that I needed to know about before going flailing into them way too hot - in particular one right-hander uphill that had a notable decreasing radius and catches a lot of people out. J then led the way for the first time up the mountain. Quick short ride up to the first corner, touch of brakes, tip it in, make sure to force my head to look all the way around the corner which seemed to go on forever, tip it a bit more, on the gas and hoooolyyyy sheeeeeeeeeeeeeit, keep looking through the corner, keep looking, going on forever, bit less lean, on the gas and FUCK! That's just the first left hand corner!
A breathless 5 minute, wide-eyed ride up the mountain, trying hard to remember everything I'd learned, read, or watched about decent cornering later, we stopped at the top of the mountain for a debriefing. I reckon I just about bowled J over with my adrenalin-fuelled enthusiasm "FUCK man, so THAT'S what riding's all about!". He just smiled knowingly. I felt like I was no longer a virgin. Quick check of the tires, chicken strips already gone after 1 beginner-style wobbly run up the mountain! Nice! Jay took me for a quick ride down the other side of the mountain, where you need to go much faster to get a decent lean on, and the cops are pretty prevalent, just to see this one fuck-off corner that's a tight, (decreasing radius?) right hander with a bit of camber and about a 10-20 foot drop vertically. Pretty amazing to see the way he blasted through it and made it his bitch. Myself I took what I like to call 'the gentleman's line' and took it a little easier :)
After that it was my turn to lead up and down the other side of the mountain, being followed by Crazy 'Eagle Eye' J to watch my technique and offer some tips. I figured he could look after himself so no mirrors for me and I spend 100% concentration on throttle control, picking an entry point, holding a line, and trying to get the corner speed right so I would not need to brake. For the most part this seemed to work pretty well. The hardest part I found downhill was judging my entry speed from the revs of the bike - there's really no time to look at the speedo and if you're doing that then you're doing something wrong. I had it in 2nd gear the whole time so for the most part it's point and squirt. One of the major obstacles I had to overcome on the way down was the body's safety reaction to approaching a sweeping corner at some degree of speed. All my instincts were telling me to haul on the brakes before I made a messy smear out of myself, but if you can overcome them the bike really does everything you ask it to. My bike felt so damn planted in the corners, no dramas at all. You want to change the line slightly while leaned way over? No problem. You want a touch of rear brake to tighten the line as you see an approaching car coming on slightly into your lane? No drama. You want to adjust the throttle up and down while in the corner? Done. I was thoroughly amazed at how easy the bike is to ride as long as you keep your basics tight.
Throughout the whole day I only had one moment of absolute all-out, white-knuckle, I'm-going-to-fucking-die pure terror on the way back down the mountain for the first time. I came up to a tight left-hander on the right hand side of the road, ready to tip it in. On the road here, the tarmac is a little messed up in one area, which tends to draw your eye. Unfortunately I made the rookie mistake of fixing on that for a second too long in order to avoid it (look where you want to go, not where you don't, Smith!). When I looked up I was going into this corner way too hot, looking at the inside guard rail, not leaned over and not ready to turn at all. Instead of leaning in which would have been the right response, my instinct was to grab brakes - though as I did so I remembered all the advice I'd ever been given. If you're ever in a tight spot with a corner, don't grab a handful of brake or you're toast, just lean further and you'll make it out ok. So with my heart pounding in my ears, I let off the brake, made a conscious and huge mental effort to force my head away from the guard rail and all the way through the corner. Tipped the fuck out of the bike and swoo-oo-oop, around we went. No time to assess the fear factor as immediately you're on another corner and need to have your head in the game. From that one corner alone I learned an amazing amount about improving my abilities, and what the bike can do for you when you really ask it. Discussing it with J at the bottom seemed to back up my theories, as he passed along the same advice with a wry smile "Yeah you were into that corner pretty hot, and looking at the inside corner. I noticed you stab the brakes but then you did everything right to correct your errors- looked through the turn, and tipped the bike in". Hooray for being alive!
We did about 3 (4?) more runs before turning and burning for home. It was without a shadow of a doubt the most fun day riding I've ever had and I felt like I learned so much that I'm still processing it one day later, analysing the corners in my mind. I felt that I did pretty well for a first-timer. Didn't get passed (by anyone except for J :P) and passed one dude on a Ducati 749. HA! Thanks and huge props to J for the tips, for the trip and for being a fast, but solid lead rider. I appreciated the way you didn't just burn off and get your jollies instead taking the time to ride with me, push me a little and help me analyse the mistakes. Solid.
I feel like I've been for a real ride now, and that my bike is smiling at me from the apartment parking lot. A secret, knowing smile that's just between us. We've bonded, we've had some moments and I'm in love all over again. A secret knowing smile that hints at untold pleasures should I get my skills on a par with what she's is capable of. A secret, knowing smile that we'll be sharing while I wash and polish her this afternoon.
I'll be glowing all week long.
The weather's been so amazingly hot and humid all week. I've been thoroughly sick of commuting with my backpack and arriving drenched in sweat. So when I saw the weekend weather forecast as 75, sunny with a light breeze I jumped at the chance to get out there for a more involved ride. Not that usual weekend jaunts aren't fun, but I've been in my comfort zone on the bike for the last 3-4 months without really trying to take my riding up a notch and get the bike dug into some major corners at speed. This is notable from the sizeable strips on the side of my tires on a bike :-\ So with a view to seeing perhaps what riding is really all about, on Friday I took a deep breath and managed to persuade Crazy J to take me out to route 211 where his crew hang out all the time. I've been dying to go there for the longest time and partake of a healthy portion of sweepers, carvers and generally get my bike leaned over properly for the first fucking time. It's a road of mixed repute, both for its great corners but also for a high squid quotient, and seemed like the perfect place to learn how to really get the bike leaned over.
I have to say, it blew my fucking mind. First of all the ride out there (once J and I got off 66) was really fun, blasting through idyllic country lanes, occasionally fast and meandering, occasionally slow and squirrely. It was immensely helpful to have J take point and observe speeds / lines through the weird bits. I wish I was paying more attention to the route we took rather than riding and having fun as I'd like to be able to head back there on my own. Can't be too hard, I'll grab the route off J on Monday. With the sun beating down on us we carved our happy way to route 211 - J occasionally beckoning me to go faster on the safe bits and holding me off when corners turned into gravel. Lowsiding on one particular hairpin into a feisty-looking tree would not have been fun. A fun spirited ride, a chicken sandwich and a coke later, we were at 211.
We discussed a couple of the corners that I needed to know about before going flailing into them way too hot - in particular one right-hander uphill that had a notable decreasing radius and catches a lot of people out. J then led the way for the first time up the mountain. Quick short ride up to the first corner, touch of brakes, tip it in, make sure to force my head to look all the way around the corner which seemed to go on forever, tip it a bit more, on the gas and hoooolyyyy sheeeeeeeeeeeeeit, keep looking through the corner, keep looking, going on forever, bit less lean, on the gas and FUCK! That's just the first left hand corner!
A breathless 5 minute, wide-eyed ride up the mountain, trying hard to remember everything I'd learned, read, or watched about decent cornering later, we stopped at the top of the mountain for a debriefing. I reckon I just about bowled J over with my adrenalin-fuelled enthusiasm "FUCK man, so THAT'S what riding's all about!". He just smiled knowingly. I felt like I was no longer a virgin. Quick check of the tires, chicken strips already gone after 1 beginner-style wobbly run up the mountain! Nice! Jay took me for a quick ride down the other side of the mountain, where you need to go much faster to get a decent lean on, and the cops are pretty prevalent, just to see this one fuck-off corner that's a tight, (decreasing radius?) right hander with a bit of camber and about a 10-20 foot drop vertically. Pretty amazing to see the way he blasted through it and made it his bitch. Myself I took what I like to call 'the gentleman's line' and took it a little easier :)
After that it was my turn to lead up and down the other side of the mountain, being followed by Crazy 'Eagle Eye' J to watch my technique and offer some tips. I figured he could look after himself so no mirrors for me and I spend 100% concentration on throttle control, picking an entry point, holding a line, and trying to get the corner speed right so I would not need to brake. For the most part this seemed to work pretty well. The hardest part I found downhill was judging my entry speed from the revs of the bike - there's really no time to look at the speedo and if you're doing that then you're doing something wrong. I had it in 2nd gear the whole time so for the most part it's point and squirt. One of the major obstacles I had to overcome on the way down was the body's safety reaction to approaching a sweeping corner at some degree of speed. All my instincts were telling me to haul on the brakes before I made a messy smear out of myself, but if you can overcome them the bike really does everything you ask it to. My bike felt so damn planted in the corners, no dramas at all. You want to change the line slightly while leaned way over? No problem. You want a touch of rear brake to tighten the line as you see an approaching car coming on slightly into your lane? No drama. You want to adjust the throttle up and down while in the corner? Done. I was thoroughly amazed at how easy the bike is to ride as long as you keep your basics tight.
Throughout the whole day I only had one moment of absolute all-out, white-knuckle, I'm-going-to-fucking-die pure terror on the way back down the mountain for the first time. I came up to a tight left-hander on the right hand side of the road, ready to tip it in. On the road here, the tarmac is a little messed up in one area, which tends to draw your eye. Unfortunately I made the rookie mistake of fixing on that for a second too long in order to avoid it (look where you want to go, not where you don't, Smith!). When I looked up I was going into this corner way too hot, looking at the inside guard rail, not leaned over and not ready to turn at all. Instead of leaning in which would have been the right response, my instinct was to grab brakes - though as I did so I remembered all the advice I'd ever been given. If you're ever in a tight spot with a corner, don't grab a handful of brake or you're toast, just lean further and you'll make it out ok. So with my heart pounding in my ears, I let off the brake, made a conscious and huge mental effort to force my head away from the guard rail and all the way through the corner. Tipped the fuck out of the bike and swoo-oo-oop, around we went. No time to assess the fear factor as immediately you're on another corner and need to have your head in the game. From that one corner alone I learned an amazing amount about improving my abilities, and what the bike can do for you when you really ask it. Discussing it with J at the bottom seemed to back up my theories, as he passed along the same advice with a wry smile "Yeah you were into that corner pretty hot, and looking at the inside corner. I noticed you stab the brakes but then you did everything right to correct your errors- looked through the turn, and tipped the bike in". Hooray for being alive!
We did about 3 (4?) more runs before turning and burning for home. It was without a shadow of a doubt the most fun day riding I've ever had and I felt like I learned so much that I'm still processing it one day later, analysing the corners in my mind. I felt that I did pretty well for a first-timer. Didn't get passed (by anyone except for J :P) and passed one dude on a Ducati 749. HA! Thanks and huge props to J for the tips, for the trip and for being a fast, but solid lead rider. I appreciated the way you didn't just burn off and get your jollies instead taking the time to ride with me, push me a little and help me analyse the mistakes. Solid.
I feel like I've been for a real ride now, and that my bike is smiling at me from the apartment parking lot. A secret, knowing smile that's just between us. We've bonded, we've had some moments and I'm in love all over again. A secret knowing smile that hints at untold pleasures should I get my skills on a par with what she's is capable of. A secret, knowing smile that we'll be sharing while I wash and polish her this afternoon.
I'll be glowing all week long.
posted by CatSpit at
8:44 AM
When are we going back up?
http://www.exit3dc.com/images/211_051504_album/
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