I mentioned in another post yesterday about riding with a local club. In town and on the highway, they ride two abreast, they ride hard and fast and can be likened to a train more than a group of individual bikes. I haven’t ridden in a group like this ever and found it to be very challenging. I try to stay in one lane when I ride alone or in staggered formations with past groups, but I will use the full lane in the curves. Not an option yesterday as there was another rider right next to me the whole time. I overcome the situation but found some interesting issues with my R3T; it doesn’t like to turn as easily as I thought it did before. I think I have found its limits with restrictive riding in this group. With that said, I believe I did hone my riding skills a bit by being there. I also discovered how important not letting the throttle go abruptly or applying it too fast in a group like this as it affects the handling more than I noticed before when out alone. I wonder if the R3R would have been more or less stable. I hadn’t noticed to this degree how much twist there is with just throttle position until I was held into a tight formation.
My tires are coming up on 4K miles now and the chicken strip may have something to do with the turn in as I see it being very obvious upon inspection.
The first part of the ride had 25 bikes jammed together and I was very impressed at how close we all rode through town. After the breakfast, we rode with 8 bikes and were even tighter. I was exhausted but exhilarated when I left to go home.
The safety aspect of this formation is evident; if anyone hits the sand in the curve, the likelihood of others going down is magnified. If a car pulls in front of the group, this too could build the mishap to great proportions. (Do you remember the Thunderbird’s crash in 1982: the leader’s bird had a problem in the loop and took the whole formation into the ground as they were cueing off of his bird?)
In any case, knowing what the group expects me to do, executing that expectation and staying fully aware of those around me is vitally important.
Now, go forth and prosper, make good choices and have fun storming the castle…