Day 4 -- the short version.
May. 21st, 2002 11:21 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tugrikTonight's entry will be mercifully short. I'm tired. The reason? Well, I'm travelling with some high-end sportbikers.
Today, much to my surprise... I kept up.
In order that I might actually get some sleep, I'll present a little list of Things Happened instead of the usual narrative. Hopefully later I'll come back to writing out the day.
Again, due to weather (passes closed), we avoided the main route.
Again, we hooked up with the SacBORG guys, making for a nice mob of 14 riders.
240 miles -- almost all of it supremely twisty.
Up to 6200ft, down to the central valley floor. Multiple times.
Single-lane roads with no markers... and no traffic.
A little rain, but barely noticeable compared to yesterday.
Almost no traffic, the whole day.
One run-in with a police officer, asking us to 'please not be psycho'. No worries.
A rider down -- and luckily nothing hurt by his pride and cleanliness.
A valley of golden-grassed hills which will give me solid ground in my dreams for years to come.
Less than 1/8th inch width on the chicken strips remaining, which still has me shocked.
Okay, I'll explain that last one. "Chicken strips" is a cheezy sport-biker/squid-biker term. It refers to the width of the unmarred rubber on the edges of the rear tire. The more agressively you ride, the farther over you lean at higher rates of speed. The higher the speed and lean angle.. the more of the rear tire you actually use. Under even harder pressure, it can make stretchy pull-marks in the rubber. The extreme sides of the tire that are left unmarked are 'chicken strips'; the bigger they are, the more chicken you must be, or so the term goes -- as you're not leaning the bike over much at all.
I'm a bit of a tame rider. However, I was determined to keep up today, and took it to my limit without going beyond my comfort level. I will always gladly fall behind before I'll push myself to an overly dangerous condition. Still... the more I watched and tried, the more I learned. I've figured out more about proper gear selection and turn-physics in the last two days than I have in the last 9 months of biking. By the time the day was over, I'd gone from half-inch chicken strips (pretty good, or so I'd thought) to less than 1/8th, with stretches clear to the edge in places. I've also ground off bits of the center stand, kicking sparks as I went, in some of the more extreme corners. It makes me feel accomplished, somehow. :)
Again, I'll append this entry later in the week when I'm not so dratted worn out. Much happened today that deserves being jotted down.
Today, much to my surprise... I kept up.
In order that I might actually get some sleep, I'll present a little list of Things Happened instead of the usual narrative. Hopefully later I'll come back to writing out the day.
Again, due to weather (passes closed), we avoided the main route.
Again, we hooked up with the SacBORG guys, making for a nice mob of 14 riders.
240 miles -- almost all of it supremely twisty.
Up to 6200ft, down to the central valley floor. Multiple times.
Single-lane roads with no markers... and no traffic.
A little rain, but barely noticeable compared to yesterday.
Almost no traffic, the whole day.
One run-in with a police officer, asking us to 'please not be psycho'. No worries.
A rider down -- and luckily nothing hurt by his pride and cleanliness.
A valley of golden-grassed hills which will give me solid ground in my dreams for years to come.
Less than 1/8th inch width on the chicken strips remaining, which still has me shocked.
Okay, I'll explain that last one. "Chicken strips" is a cheezy sport-biker/squid-biker term. It refers to the width of the unmarred rubber on the edges of the rear tire. The more agressively you ride, the farther over you lean at higher rates of speed. The higher the speed and lean angle.. the more of the rear tire you actually use. Under even harder pressure, it can make stretchy pull-marks in the rubber. The extreme sides of the tire that are left unmarked are 'chicken strips'; the bigger they are, the more chicken you must be, or so the term goes -- as you're not leaning the bike over much at all.
I'm a bit of a tame rider. However, I was determined to keep up today, and took it to my limit without going beyond my comfort level. I will always gladly fall behind before I'll push myself to an overly dangerous condition. Still... the more I watched and tried, the more I learned. I've figured out more about proper gear selection and turn-physics in the last two days than I have in the last 9 months of biking. By the time the day was over, I'd gone from half-inch chicken strips (pretty good, or so I'd thought) to less than 1/8th, with stretches clear to the edge in places. I've also ground off bits of the center stand, kicking sparks as I went, in some of the more extreme corners. It makes me feel accomplished, somehow. :)
Again, I'll append this entry later in the week when I'm not so dratted worn out. Much happened today that deserves being jotted down.
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no subject
Date: 2002-05-21 11:28 pm (UTC)You sound like you are having a blast -- I'm really enjoying reading all this.
Right on!
A Fox name Reality.
no subject
Date: 2002-05-24 02:31 pm (UTC)Kitty