That was me. I was coming home from Michigan, hitting some of my favorites on the way--Wildcat, 108, G, J, E, EE .... I wish I could have ridden with you guys for a bit but I had a wife and boy who were expecting me home.
It was funny, I could tell you were MSTA just following you for a few miles. Your speeds were nice and easy in the straights, your turns were smooth and quick, and I don't think I saw a brake light flash once. Funny to just bump into friends so far from home, great minds truly do think alike!
I've been working on perfecting a system for an outside-inside-INSIDE path of travel, and having a fair amount of success and positive response.
A rider much more knowledgable than I looked at it and said an even better way to say it is outside-OUTSIDE-INSIDE.
Either way, your goal is to finish on the inside. Using this method, the apex and exit are nearly simultaneous.
I don't have time to draw a fancy diagram (though you can find one in the book Maximum Control) but the procedure is to stay outside and ride parallel to the outside line until you see the exit ... or know for certain where the exit will be. (This is not as hard as it sounds.) At that point, turn the bike hard and dive across the lane to make the apex/exit.
Essentially, you're changing lane positions from outside to inside, midturn, completing the corner by apexing and exiting in the same place.
Not only is this great fun (lots of cornering forces for any given turn, and a satisfying finish), I've found it to be reliably safe for marked (center and fog lines painted) roads. Not only that, it accomplishes two things: keeps you away from the typical spots for encroaching traffic (at the entrance in left handers and the exit in right handers) and it capitalizes on the fact that most right-handers are followed by left-handers, and vice versa.
If I ever get out on my bike again in a social setting, I'd be glad to demonstrate this type of line. It works well at DCTC, too.
Greg, this is the first thing today to make me laugh out loud. Thank you.
No offense.
As far as I know, no one in the history of the universe brakes for T1.
That's why it's funny.
I could be wrong. The only course there I've ridden is the long one. Are you talking about the short course T1?
I know that doesn't answer your question. I don't believe there are brakemarkers for T1 ... least I've never seen any, because I'm always rolling through there WFO and hoping for more MPH.
In my experience (limited), a new chain -- if installed properly and kept clean -- will need to be adjusted only once or twice in the first 3/4 of its life, and then five to ten times during the last 1/4 of its life. Once it starts to go, it goes quickly, wears exponentially.
My three chains on the VFR I adjusted once at about 15K, once at about 20K, then about once every 1-2K for the remaining 6-10K miles.
Yeah, when it comes to stuff like that discretion is important. You may be totally in the right and perfectly safe stretching out your legs or shaking out your clutch hand, but when it comes down to it, fighting a ticket is a lot more work than not getting one at all.
For example: I"m perfectly capable of making a complete stop at a stop sign without putting my feet down, but when there's an LEO around, I put em down so's just to avoid any confusion over statutes.
I fought a similar BS ticket in Buffalo county and won it. Mine was for "unsafe lane deviation," which, statutorily, means actually deviating from my lane, which I didn't.
My approach was "I did not do what the officer said I did." If you had other riders there for witnesses, have them write up a statement for you of what you did do. Unfortunately, the prosecutor there won't throw out a ticket over the phone, he needs to talk with the LEO, so it'll still involve a trip to Durand.
The prosecutor there is reasonable, and if the statute you're cited under is incorrect, he'll own up to it and dismiss it. YMMV.
There are still a few slots left in the one-day Civilian Motor-Officer courses August 7 and 8.
This is a civilian course adapted from actual police motor drills. The riding exercises are very challenging--this is NOT a newbie course--but it's a ton of fun and the skills you gain in one day are HUGE. Price is $150.
August 7 and 8 are the last two courses we'll offer this year. If you haven't taken a training course in the past few years, it's time to head back to school--and this one is definitely worth your time. Don't miss out!
The deer herd is bigger than it was when the pilgrims landed on the east coast.
We've lost at least four riders to deer so far this year, out of 12 total fatalities we're aware of. We lost about five between 1995 and 1999, a dozen between 2000 and 2004, and about 20 between 2005 and 2009, all to deer. Maybe it's time someone talks to their legislator about herd management.
On the other hand, yes, they are thick and everywhere and all times of day, but really--driving in deer country after dark is like gambling, and on a motorcycle it ain't a good bet.
You live here long enough, you understand what I'm saying: it's not a matter of if, but when.
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