GROUP RIDE SUCCESSFUL, MISSION COMPLETE! wooo!

I know you guys don't want to know about every ride, but since this is my first one, i'll just share this.

I won't bore you guys with our routes and all that stuff, but if you guys wanna see pictures, checkout my page- www.myspace.com/danielzien and I got them all uploaded in one of my folders.


Alright, so it was a pretty fun time today for me, even though I was about the only sportbike there, aside from an older 600RR and a Yamaha FZ1, the rest were tourings, cruisers, and motards. It was still a lot of fun, but freaking long and somewhat painful ride, even though everyone was alot older than I am. We left our starting point at 11am-ish, arrived for lunch in Tracy at about 1215pm-ish. Left lunch stop at about 130 or 200. Cruised some more twisties (as we hit the twisties, i found that i said to myself a few times...SHE CORNERS LIKE A DAMN CHAMP!) and arrived back at our starting point about 430ish. In short, it was FUN...but damn, my body was killing me on the journey...wrists, back, shoulders, and throttle hang..but the good 'ol wind made it better when I relaxed a bit.

Anyways...what I wanted to share with you guys..a couple short stories, as everyone must have on a ride.

1) I know most of you guys on the CBR forums, or any forums for that matter, are experienced riders, meaning that you've all been around, but I just wanted to remind you guys...Always follow the rules of the road, always be safe, and always ride within your limits, because once you lose control and something happens, a motorcycle will be unforgiving once your body makes contact with the pavement.

I only say this because, on our way back to our starting point after lunch, a while later we were in the twisties in the canyons, and traffic started to slow rapidly...so rapidly I was literally 3-5 seconds from ramming into the back of a ford truck and flying off my bike. I stepped up a lil to see where the other riders were that were ahead of me, and then I looked to both my side mirrors to see where the rest of the group was that was riding behind me, and I looked back forward...and ****, as they teach you in MSF...CLUTCH, BRAKE, DOWNSHIFT. Anyways, traffic resumed normal pace for a bit, and then we finally made our way to the scene of the accident...and coincidentally enough, CHP and Ambulence and Firetrucks were there and a cruiser was about half way jammed under the left rear of a vehicle, layed down on the ground. I am supremely glad that I didn't see a body on the ground or anyone hurt.

Whether it was the motorcyclist's fault or the vehicles fault, **** happens, so please be safe everybody.

2) We get it...we all get it. Having a motorcycle is fun, cool, and enjoyable. Yeah, it's great to hear the sound of the throttle revving at high RPM levels, and it's even cool to hear them under a tunnel or hear one pass you by, BUT it is not cool to see that an idiot on a sportbike acts like a fool. The group was shifting lanes to come to a stop sign and turn left, and this guy on a black GSX-R was following us for a couple minutes now. Idiot was on my *** the whole time while I was going down the road (mind you, I am not going to speed in a city, especially if Im not from there). So While I was about 4 bikes from the stop sign, the idiot on the GSX-R decides to go around the whole group and cuts ahead and then throttles on down the road. Patience my young padawan...patience...



Anyways...a couple of the times throughout the whole ride, I forgot what gear I was in...sometimes I'll just say it out loud when I shift so I can remember (I know that sounds stupid, but whatever though..plus, no ones around to hear it anyways ...)...you guys ever forget?

Oh, and one of the riders brought up the point that she wears ear plugs or something alot of the times because the wind can be loud. Do you guys ever do that?

Thanks for reading!

 

Thanks for posting details of your group ride; very interesting.
Yeah, I wear them all the time. I've heard that wind noise is really bad on your ears even though it's not noticeable at the moment. Also, I've noticed that you can listen to the engine better than without them on. Just makes for a more pleasant ride, imo.

 

Hmmm, interesting point.

Are there special eag plugs or just ones from like shooting ranges will do

 

Started using the foam ones, but those got gross looking after a while, because you have to roll them up with your filthy fingers. Then I remembered I had a good pair (picture) so I'm using those. Much better

 

glad to hear you had fun on your ride. last summer me and my buddies went on a 1100 mile trip, they all had cruisers. aside from them stopping every half hour to get gas afraid they were gonna run out between towns it was fun. if you ever go on a long ride you might want to look into the cortech sportbike saddle bags, this way you dont have to carry a backpack and it will save your back from alot of pain. i never had a problem with my back or anything else hurting. earplugs are great after 2 hours of the sound of wind i couldnt hear anything, and going that long i found myself making noises in my helmet thinking they sounded cool, you get bored after a while. i just use my ipod now and it makes life alot better. for headphones i use the small ones that go in the ear and hav e the rubber stuff on them it keeps my ears from hurting. have fun on your future rides

 

LOL...I know what ya mean. A few times on long straightaways, I made blow off valve noises on WRXs...hahahaha, so i hear ya! =]


I guess it's also because I'm not used to long rides like that, so maybe that's why my body was starting to hurt, but I'm sure I'll get used to it

 

yeah if youve never been on a long ride before you'll feel it. i usually go to denver in the summer like every other weekend it a 2 hr ride, so i get use to it fast

 

Wind noise is exponentially worse on your hearing than the engine. I rie with Ipod headphones that are designed to double as ea plugs.

 

man i love long rides i guess i have better stamina than most. my wrists just hurt cause i have caritilage damage in both my wrists!

cant wait for the MSF cert to get to me so i can go to DMV and get that taken care of!

 

Hey darkjuic3box where did you go riding?