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I’m a flatlander. Born and bred. Practically every day of my 53 years of riding has been on rifle-barrel straight and level roads. I love to ride through peaceful scenic country and that has always been my main joy in riding.
I’ve had friends tell me to come to their neck of the woods so they can show me some interesting roads. They don’t understand when I tell them that I’ve already got Interstate 10 which is an interesting road. Matter of fact, 3 Eagles recently related a factoid that the closest thing to a curve in my area is a freeway on-ramp.
I occasionally ride curvy roads with friends but not on a regular basis, and I’ve never ridden them long enough to become accustomed to it.
Imagine my surprise when during my recent Northwestern Swing trip with 3 Eagles, ssncob, and 1 Big Skeeter I found myself white-knuckling the handlebars because Jeff, our ride planner/leader routed me onto some mountain roads. It was kinda sorta fun until we got on a road going to Mount Rushmore that I swear was filled with 540º uphill off-camber decreasing-radius switchbacks with drop-offs on either side.
Anyway, we rode enough twisty roads that I eventually lost some of the fear of leaning the bike. I enjoyed Chief Joseph and Beartooth. Jeff eventually led us Lewiston, Idaho where he had mapped out the “Spiral Staircase”, a 7-mile road climbing up the tallest hill in the area where it ended in a great scenic overlook.
I was following Jeff, who is an admitted corner-carving adrenalin junkie who occasionally drops Murgie’s name just to intimidate me. Jeff’s 2018 and my 2012 are both Traxxioned, and I decided to try to keep him in sight. I figured that as long as I could mimic his lines and speeds I should be OK. I’m pretty sure that he took it easy on me, but I had a blast! I found that the Traxxion-equipped 2012 has a lot more ground clearance than did my former 2006, and I was able to lean MUCH farther! I drug the pegs only 3 or 4 times both up and down that hill.
I had read and heard many times- Trust your tires, and if you think you are going in too hot, lean harder and gas it. It seems counterintuitive, but so far so good. However, I won't be doing this again without adult supervision.
Now I get it. This was fun! I don’t have the experience to be able to ride a strange road at speed by myself without an experienced rider to follow, but it was fun while it lasted. Now I’m back in Texas, but I’ll give those interstate on-ramps hell.
I’ve had friends tell me to come to their neck of the woods so they can show me some interesting roads. They don’t understand when I tell them that I’ve already got Interstate 10 which is an interesting road. Matter of fact, 3 Eagles recently related a factoid that the closest thing to a curve in my area is a freeway on-ramp.
I occasionally ride curvy roads with friends but not on a regular basis, and I’ve never ridden them long enough to become accustomed to it.
Imagine my surprise when during my recent Northwestern Swing trip with 3 Eagles, ssncob, and 1 Big Skeeter I found myself white-knuckling the handlebars because Jeff, our ride planner/leader routed me onto some mountain roads. It was kinda sorta fun until we got on a road going to Mount Rushmore that I swear was filled with 540º uphill off-camber decreasing-radius switchbacks with drop-offs on either side.
Anyway, we rode enough twisty roads that I eventually lost some of the fear of leaning the bike. I enjoyed Chief Joseph and Beartooth. Jeff eventually led us Lewiston, Idaho where he had mapped out the “Spiral Staircase”, a 7-mile road climbing up the tallest hill in the area where it ended in a great scenic overlook.
I was following Jeff, who is an admitted corner-carving adrenalin junkie who occasionally drops Murgie’s name just to intimidate me. Jeff’s 2018 and my 2012 are both Traxxioned, and I decided to try to keep him in sight. I figured that as long as I could mimic his lines and speeds I should be OK. I’m pretty sure that he took it easy on me, but I had a blast! I found that the Traxxion-equipped 2012 has a lot more ground clearance than did my former 2006, and I was able to lean MUCH farther! I drug the pegs only 3 or 4 times both up and down that hill.
I had read and heard many times- Trust your tires, and if you think you are going in too hot, lean harder and gas it. It seems counterintuitive, but so far so good. However, I won't be doing this again without adult supervision.
Now I get it. This was fun! I don’t have the experience to be able to ride a strange road at speed by myself without an experienced rider to follow, but it was fun while it lasted. Now I’m back in Texas, but I’ll give those interstate on-ramps hell.
