The First 100...a Newbie's Tale (now 200....now 300)

[ruxpin76]

So today, I crossed the 100 mi. mark on my "new to me" 2002 GZ250. Some of you will recall my previous tale of copious work to get it rideable just after purchase...Suffice it to say that it's been good thus far...

Three consecutive days of riding, near perfect weather.

The first day, I rode back toward the dealership on backroads, little traffic. I noticed that several minutes into the ride I was "keyed up", and told myself to "relax", and proceeded to have a better ride. Note that I didn't lessen my alertness level, just told my body to relax muscles for better (and quicker) response if needed, and less fatigue. I found two niggly issues, "mirror vibration" and "bug splatter on faceshield" distractions. I did recall not to try to wipe bug splatter off faceshield as it just smears and gets worse... Luckily it was on periphery, so not too bad... I stopped once for 5 minutes and did some parking lot practice. Then back home and took and posted that video and pics...

Day 2, left 6:30pm to ride to a friends' house near dealership. Stopped to fix mirrors in a parking lot, then continued. I'm convinced that adjustments (other than a critical one) while driving is a invitation to crash. Or get run into because you inadvertantly crossed the centerline or hit that pebble you didn't see 'cuz you were distracted. More relaxed, but by the time I left friends' house, dusk as approaching. Cooler air, decided to take it easier on the way home because tires are still new and traction limits on road and tires are unknown. Stopped for first gas fillup -- 1.4 gal / $4. Not bad for 90 mi. total. Made it home with no negative events, though partway into ride I felt a "panic sensation" for no discernible reason. I forced myself to concentrate and stopped soon after at friends' house. No such sensation on way home. Seemed random, as I don't get those senstations while racing my kart or other challenging activities, and never have before.

Day 3, quickie 30 mi. ride. Went a new route, but still chose backroads around my house, known for little to no traffic. Had a good ride, anticipating curves by slowing down, esp. in cases where the radii were unknown and could be decreasing. Concentrated on holding lean angle parallel to bike with my upper body. Noticed that a mirror-check that yields awareness of traffic behind me causes a mild anxiety, not that I feel anything bad will happen, just that I now know the road isn't empty and there's more potential threats. Halfway into ride, saw darker clouds approaching, so found a convenient side road and turned back for home, toward sunny clear skies. Battled some wind gusts, but I'm used to it from bicycling on the highway, so not a huge deal. Another good ride.

Some observations:

* SOME bicycling knowledge transfers, particularly awareness drills of checking for traffic, covering levers in uncertain situations, and dealing with wind. Motorcycle is more fun - less effort. BUT I did notice....

* The tendency to countersteer in an emergency IS NOT intuitive, and must be built into muscle memory. I do some swerve drills on straight open road occsionally to build muscle memory of countersteering vs. direct steering. The sensations on a motorcycle are WAY amplified compared to a bicycle... I also try to envision bad scenarios and plot avoidance maneuvers should they arise...

* I don't know what I don't know. That's the quintessential definintion of a newb, I think. I know from high speed kart racing that emergency maneuvers MUST be practiced and you must be so familiar with your machine that you just act, not think. It must happen at the subconsious level or you're in trouble. The problem for newbs is that some maneuvers simply can't be practiced easily. As a consequence, we ride along thinking we're gods of the road while a fog of ignorance clouds our self-perception. A MSF course will help, I'm sure, but experience must be built through time on the road, and surviving that time.

* I've become more "settled" on the bike. That is, I've freed a certain percentage of my attention to focus on things like what the bike sounds like (misc. sounds I used to be too focused to notice.) As noted before, "settled" doesn't mean less alert, simply more aware, since more attention is available. It's like when driving a manual transmission car becomes subconscious -- you can just do it without thinking about it. I'll have to be careful not to build bad habits into my subsconsious, however.

* Time to buy a high-vis armored riding jacket -- my black helmet and black leather jacket aren't so good at night, on a black bike. I'll be getting a new helmet too, in a lighter color. I'm trending toward dayglo yellow...FirstGear Mesh looks good and a good price point. What do y'all do for extra visibility? (I'm not adding an orange bicycle flag on the rear.... )

That's it for now...Here's hoping the next 100 mi. goes as well as this did...

[BillInGA]

Before I bought my GZ I did a LOT of research on riding technique and motorcycle safety. One site I found was a treasure trove of knowledge: http://www.msgroup.org/

One thing I always do is deliberately put myself into "motorcycle mode" while I warm up the engine and put on my helmet and gloves. It's my time to put everything else aside and focus on riding.

There are a lot of things to pay attention to and remember while riding. Do your research, take it slow and develop good habit patterns.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by ruxpin76

* I don't know what I don't know. .

A truly wise man knows that he knows not. :biggrin:

The two hardest things, I think, for a new rider to master are:

Target fixation. It can be your friend or a deadly enemy. After you master the most basic of riding skills, which only takes a few hours and a few miles........your body will automatically make your bike GO where you are looking. That can be helpful during tight turns and other similar manuvers but it can make you run into obstacles too if you can't train yourself to look where you want to go instead of at the obstacle.

Trust the lean. When running wide in a curve, the natural instinct is to stomp the brakes and slow down; WRONG thing to do. That will cause you to stand the bike up and you will go even straighter.......right OFF the outside of the curve. The right thing to do is maintain about the same speed and lean/counter-steer more. This is hard to do because it is scary; not as scary as runnning off the road though.

Sounds to me like you are doing just fine.
Keep up the good work.
All of us probably could benefit from more practice.....even if it is just avoiding potholes by NOT looking at them.

[Water Warrior 2]

Ruxpin, you seem to be doing well and making good observations. Bright gear is eye catching and probably will help keep the cagers at bay. Some or most of the better products also have reflective surfaces for night riding. Find the most comfy gear and enjoy it. A bright eye searing helmet is wonderful and they are getting more popular all the time. I bought a HJC modular in Pearl White as it was the best choice at the time. 2 vertical lines of red reflective tape adorn the back of the helmet now. Both sides at the lower edge have brilliant white reflective tape. Also did the top edge of the face shield with white as a sun visor, seems to work well for me. Will do some pics for you shortly.[attachment=1:1dwkvloi]2010-03-01 Don's Ural 013.JPG[/attachment:1dwkvloi]

Hmm. Not bad for an old guy who can't see worth beans. Colors are washed out due to the flash but the tape is very noticeable. Wally World sell 3M tape ane that is what I use. Have some on the bike too, seems to be almost as good as the really high $ stuff I bought for 10 times the price.

[BillInGA]

I like the tape across the top of the visor to block the sun - I'm going to do that.

[BillInGA]

About target fixation: I practice consciously looking for escape routes in case something bad happens and I repeat to myself "look to safety". It takes some effort at first, but after a while it becomes automatic.

The funny thing is, many of my riding habits carry over to when I'm driving (a car). Now if I can only get my Jeep to lean in a turn.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by Water Warrior

2 vertical lines of red reflective tape adorn the back of the helmet now. Both sides at the lower edge have brilliant white reflective tape.

In "Motorcycle Handbook" it says that some states require this as something ALL riders must have. (It doesn't say which states) Anybody know if this still applies? :??:

[zenbutcher]

Hey ruxpin.... Does this look familiar?

I also recently bought a used 2002 GZ in black.

[ruxpin76]

Yeah, mine looks similar...Hope you had better luck on initial purchase than me!

[BillInGA]

What happened to your battery cover?