Re: Give up road riding?
 

So - you found yourself using 100% of your ability in the 'riding' and leaving none spare for the 'road user' part...

... which simply means that your skills simply aren't good enough - in the nicest possible way that is. :)

The day that I find that I'm keeping my same level of 'road user' awareness and manage to hit my riding skill limits is the day I...
... well...

... I don't think I'm ever going to be that good enough in my lifetime. ;)

What I'm trying (badly) to say is that for me, I keep my 'road user' awareness at it's highest at all times (well, I try my best to). The trick, excitement, challenge, call it what you will, comes in still managing to use as much of my riding skill level as possible - without compromising on the 'road user' level.

The more I can wedge in, the better a rider I have become.



Does that make any sense at all? :oops:

Re: Give up road riding?
 

Bless :D You teetered around that with such tact :D Don't worry, I really don't take offence :D

I suppose what I'm getting at is that I'm reaching "my" limit of the tyres. That is, the tyres are struggling for grip. Now that is surely not "the" limit of the tyres, with better skills I'd undoubtedly learn how to brake later/earlier/in a more controlled manner and feed power in earlier/later/smoother so as to reach the limit of the tyres at a higher overall speed. The trouble is I'd always occasionally ride at "my" limit. And "my" limit doesn't leave any room for randomness. I occasionally learn either through luck or deduction (mostly luck it has to be said) new techniques which allow me to progress faster and make my previous speed far safer (ie. more is now in reserve), trouble is, I end up riding at the new higher limit.

I'm approaching it all wrong, I know that. I'm treating the bike as a game, and I have a tendency to get overly competitive with games and try as hard as I possibly can to "win". On a race track that's fine, it is a game, and you have to win it. On the road it's just going to end in tears. Then when I realise this I get all scaredy cat and start thinking of all the negatives (and consequently ride like a granny as a result).

I've got a definite need for improvement, I'm currently running with 10mm chicken strips yet sliding tyres, therefore it's obvious I'm not anything like as smooth as I could be (and I think once was) and being far too cack handed with controls. I can just see a day where there'll be no chicken strips + sliding tyres, ie. just riding at my new limit rather than my old limit, both too close to the edge for comfort.

Re: Give up road riding?
 

or buy better tyres

Re: Give up road riding?
 

I would give up road riding in a flash if i got the opertunity. Racing the things gives me all i need for a 'fix'.

The onl y reason i dont sell up is because of the missus. She doesnt share my love of track riding and has her own road bike for her 'fix'. I simply go along for the ride to enjoy the scenary. I dont really enjoy it and only do it because she enjoy's it so much herself. The fact that she has been supremely busy at work this year is ll to telling when you see that out bikes have probably done the sum total of 350 miles this year.

Re: Give up road riding?
 

Are you trying to say that you can't have fun on the roads without being wreckless?
If so I kind of know where you're coming from. The problem is racing is an expensive habit.
I think I understand your ability/safety dilemma as I feel the same. It's hard to test your ability on some of the more demanding roads because there's so many uncertainties such as potholes and mud on the road and then on A roads it's unusual to feel any thrills within the legal limits.
It's bizarre but I get my kicks from filtering - I just love progress!
Don't get me wrong, bikes are still far more stimulating than cars but I am starting to feel a bit more numb to it after only a year on 2 wheels.

Re: Give up road riding?
 

I do it because its the only thing that clears my head of all the day to day monotonous crap that fills our heads up, a quick ride clears it all out because it demands so much of your concentration. Sometimes i like to ride fast sometimes im happy to cruise. i like grecian9 get a huge buzz from filtering :-) making progress is addictive. I dont think i could ever give up road riding i did do a honda mac course (type of advanced awareness course) And i got so much from that positioning etc id recommend it to anyone. I would however like to have a trackbike for pure adrenalin days :-)
Whatever you decide dont make any rash decisions think about would you miss it and weigh up all the options.

Re: Give up road riding?
 

MiniMatt, you are going to like it even less when I tell you that your attitude is similar to mine ;)

As an aside I hate it where people don’t read/care about the facts and presume the worst and start saying ‘you need more training’ … ‘training and observation’ doesn’t sound like your problem here … you have obviously been riding a good few years and if you didn’t possess those qualities, you would be dead already!! ;) You are just choosing to ignore the risks to have 'fun' and push the limits.

For this reason no amount of IAM etc training is going to do you any good … not coz it is bad or not a good idea, but coz you like me like riding FAST, and I don’t mean ‘making progress’ I mean riding f-fast, as fast as the bike/your 'sacks' will let you!! 8) By its very nature you can’t do that 100% ‘safely’, you are not leaving much room for error and the racing line doesn’t always give you the best field of view!!!! :shock:

I too see no point going for a ‘joy ride’ if you intend to bimble around doing everything correctly and safely … there is no fun/pleasure in that for people like you and I!! ;)

The simple answer/compromise is this … do your commute on your bike and that is it, no ‘pleasure’ riding … if you have an attitude like ours, it’s no pleasure anyway, so what is the point?!!? ;) Commuting you get your daily methadone by just being on a bike, and then do trackdays and/or keep racing (what class do you race BTW?? 8)) to get your main fix … sure you will get carried away on your commute from time to time, but at least you are not out on your bike for pleasure purposes and would be doing it ALL the time!!! ;)

Anyway as per usual no one else will like to hear it, but that’s my view!! :oops: But I hear you loud and clear BRO!! 8)

Re: Give up road riding?
 

Bluey, have you EVER ridden with an IAM observer who is not "on duty", so to speak ?

I ask this because all of the ones I know are extremely fast riders but are not wreckless. 90% of them will leave 95% of road riders for dust. "Making progress" means different things to different people. One I know did over 500 miles in under 5 hours across Europe. That's 2 petrol stops included. Tell me that's not fast....

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Re: Give up road riding?
 

Agree 100% its amazing how much more these guys see! they ride faster and safer.

Re: Give up road riding?
 

'Off duty' ... no ... I never said they were slow ...

And I think you totally missed the point of what I said! ;)