Newbie Ride Sat 7/19/14

[288RR]

What I learned was that Pike's road has some awful bumps in the center of the downhill lane in the twisty section.

Yes yes it sure does,  I think I found all of those bumps.    It didn't upset my bike,  it pissed it off.  Turn into a rear tire slide,  but I was able to recover

[RichVee4]

Lunch break in Grass Valley

[RichVee4]

GM and Tim taking care of business in the pet area

[RichVee4]

This has to be a SSA first!! 

[GreenMachine]

  I forgot you had taken pics there. 

Nice work Rich!

[RichVee4]

Action shots, sort of.   will work on location next time.  Sorry I didn't get everyone.  should have taken video.

[RichVee4]

Here comes our sweeper! 

[RichVee4]

Mel, Daniel and GM discussing our progress

[Mel]

Cool pics Rich!! Thanks for posting them up! GM was a camera hog and had to go back up to get in another shot !


Mel

[nvgixxer]

Wow! Looks like everyone had a really great time, awesome! I decided to go south this morning where I kept high and dry (my bike has yet to see a drop of rain, I'll keep it that way ). Good thing I headed home at 1:00pm though, because according to the news the rain and hail really hit Hope Valley and the Markleeville area hard shortly thereafter. We really got it here in Carson City as well, around 4:00pm.

[GreenMachine]

Cool pics Rich!! Thanks for posting them up! GM was a camera hog and had to go back up to get in another shot !


Mel

But, but, I dropped my wallet and had to go back to retrieve it.

[flamecrow]

I had a really good time today, thanks for letting me join the ride.
Here is a short little clip of my "close call" coming back down from the fire station.
Click me!
I ended up hitting my foot peg, boot, and brake lever, which cracked and bent the brake lever, but still usable. Thanks Greg for stopping and making sure I was alright, I just had to shake it off real quick before going again.

useful info to prevent scraping in the future

[RichVee4]

I see someone has been reading!  Good to read initially to get a basic understating of the technique you are working on then reread after the ride to determine if you met your goals.   After I started to shift my body position to the inside of the corner I haven't scrapped any hard parts.

Pikes road was challenging for many of us.  Pointed out what skills need more practice.  Corner entry speed (slow in then accelerate out), Body position to minimize lean angle like you posted.

[GreenMachine]

Hanging off below the bike..."is not cool." It's not cool?  Then is it nerdy to hang off the bike?  That last statement is a curiosity.

Let me volunteer this first hand about hanging off the bike.  It feels natural and safe.  And it's true, the more I lean off the more upright the bike ends up being, whether I'm all the way down to the ground or just using my upper body.  That's the idea after all.  I'm using my body weight distribution to cause a natural change in direction for the bike, my body (torso) in the direction I want the bike to go.  And what's amazing is the steering  input becomes neutral.  I'm no longer counter steering or forcing the bike's front wheel to do anything; there's no oversteer.   The bike actually wants to go in the direction of the corner, where my body is pointed.  The only thing I have to do now, as Mel mentioned yesterday, is give a little throttle input to maintain falling into or coming out of the corner, depending on the natural layout of the corner.

As for the knee on the ground, if that's the goal, try not to think of it as a fixed position deal; more like an even pressure tricycle wheel.  The idea being that if the knee is in a fixed stiff position, you're going to have difficulty with corner adjustments riding the street.  In other words, if you knee is a fixed object, as soon as it touches down, there's no ability to lean the bike in further if there is a need to, there's only from that lean angle and up.  So knee down isn't a one size fits all.  IMO, knee down is a safety device I use to apply whatever pressure I need to the road surface, in the instance I ride through road debris and the tire traction is upset.  What would I rather have, tires upset by debris while on two points of contact or three?  Two can slide out of control more easily than three.  My knee probably moves upwards of about six inches, side in to side out, while I'm riding the puck.  For me, that was the hardest part to learn and take advantage of, because I've done the fixed position deal and I feel unsafe to it that way.  More control is better.