Gray skies greeted us this morning, but the forecast was for a partly cloudy day with no rain, so we risked the ride. The air was a lovely cool 74, perfect riding weather. And the neighborhood was extra quiet this morning, not much traffic to deal with during my practice session.
One of the falcons launched itself in front of me as I drove over to the practice street, again a good omen for the day. I started simply with my U-turn practice on either end of the street, remembering to check the cross street on every pass. I then began my stopping practice and was making strong, short stops. I was doing so well, Bill suggested I try my stops with a turn of the bike instead of staying straight and practice starting the stop then continuing on.
As I turned the bike at the end of the stop, the bike lurched to the side I turned the stopping bike toward. If I turned the bike toward the left, the bike would lurch left and vice versa on the right side. I worked on putting my left foot down even when the bike lurched to the right and was successful all but one time. I was fascinated to learn from this practice that I wasn’t afraid of the weight of the bike.
From my first approach to a motorcycle, I held in the back of my head the trepidation of dropping the bike. It happens, and I know it will happen for me at some point. Before I rode my first motorcycle (the Kawasaki Eliminator from the MSF class), I had a theoretical fear of dropping the bike. During the class, the fear abated quite a bit as I was focused on the skills I was learning, only to return when I sat perched upon my beautiful BMW G310 GS, and with a lot less theory.
I came close to dropping the bike once a few months back. And as I practiced the stops with turns, I felt the weight of the bike combining with gravity trying to pull the bike down. It was then that I realized that I am comfortable handling the bike, comfortable but not cocky, as Bill cautioned me. Feeling comfortable with the weight of the bike and my ability to handle that weight allows me to focus even more on the skills I’m training. I am not only confident in handling the bike, I also recognize that when I do drop my bike, I am confident I will be able to pick up all 375 pounds of it.
Since my practice was going so well, we decided to spend a little more time on the neighborhood cruise. I was quickly humbled as I stalled the bike again on the up camber of the road on takeoff, but I managed to get going on my second try. Next week I’ll work a bit more on getting comfortable with coming on stronger on the throttle when dealing with elevation.
We started on our usual route, driving up onto the gravel at Ferry Plantation House. I slipped a little in the gravel because I had not slowed down enough but quickly corrected. We ventured out onto a 35-mph road to access another neighborhood. It was finally my chance to shift up to 5th gear. Because we took this route, we were able to ride on the gravel lot at the Lynnhaven House which had no cars as the house is temporarily closed. We then ventured into the parking lot of the nearby medical facility and did some standing on the pegs riding.
All-in-all a wonderful day of riding and, realizing he needs more time on the seat on the R NineT, Bill plans on joining me for more riding.
Flutterby Biker 