So, I headed off to an industrial area to practice hard braking at speed today. This is my usual spot as there's a long pretty clean seldom traveled street to ride. I spent maybe 45 minutes doing nothing but getting up to speed and braking. We all talk about not skidding during braking, but here's the catch. Yes, you can brake at higher speeds without skidding rear tires. In fact, the ONLY time my rear tire skidded today occurred when I was riding at 60 mph and tried to stop in a very short distance (less than the 120 feet indicated distance for traveling at 60 mph). So, yeah, my rear tire skidded a bit to the side, but I stopped in a very short distance. IRL sometimes you don't get the indicated distance to stop. When you don't you're not going to shrug your shoulders and NOT try and stop in the shorter distance. Of course you are... When that happens you brake harder and will probably skid. Hopefully, it's a controlled skid that you ride out. I'm talking about situations where you can't escape and either you try and stop or hit the object. If you think you can stop your bike in a shorter distance than indicated by the speed you're traveling without skidding...well then you're probably "breaking the laws of physics."

x-posted to Motorcycles

Man... I can't wait for my bike...to arrive. Since the hubby is really busy this week, we are just having both of our bikes dropped off on Friday (I had no idea that HD did that...). I'm thinking of riding over to the dealership tomorrow to make sure my handlebars are adjusted correctly. We'll see... In the mean time I've been practicing all of the usual maneuvers and riding a lot. Today I got up to 42 mph during my fast braking practice. Let me tell you... now that I've broken through the 40+ mph barrier I feel ready to try fast braking at 50+ mph, but I also feel just a little nervous. Fast braking at higher speeds doesn't feel weird at all anymore. Balancing the bike during fast braking is fine (just keep the bike square as well as yourself). It's the feeling of the breeze in my face during the exercise that causes my monkey brain to panic a little. I don't act on it, but I do feel a little bit of adrenaline flow. Quiet monkey brain! Quiet!

Bam bah lam... She's always ready. She's all rock steady. Gooo Black Betty...

Off to the parking lot/industrial area I rode for fast stop and tight ass turn practice. In this industrial complex there are steep sloped parking lots, a tight 2-lane road, a series of speed bumps, grassy/gravely areas, and a culdesac. So, you can imagine the fun I had practicing my skills out there. Most of my focus today was on fast stops at speeds up to 35+ mph, and tight ass circles/turns. I warmed up with a series of quick stops at 20 mph with the goal of not putting my feet down and taking off after braking. I also did not want to slide my rear tire. After a series of successful stops I increased my speed in 5 mph increments until I topped out at 35-40 mph. I only gave myself 1 second to stop my bike. If I wasn't full on my front brake in one second then I considered the pass a failure. In my Riders Edge class and through reading David Hough's book I learned that allowing yourself 1 second to gradually squeeze the front brake helps prevent the front tire from sliding out. While you gradually squeeze the front brake you have to slowly let off the rear brake to fully transfer the stopping power (& weight) to your front brake/tire (where the majority of the stopping power is really located). While you can ride out a rear-tire slide, if you let up on the rear brake you can totally cause a dangerous high-side spill as the rear tire snaps as it regains traction (throwing your ass off the bike). So, *don't* let up on the rear brake if your rear tire begins to skid (unless the surface is slick). Riding a rear tire skid isn't too bad (I've done it a bunch), but you just don't want to get in the habit as when you are in a real world emergency you can overdo the rear brake and really slide that rear tire out. Anyway, the fast braking exercise *really* builds your (my) confidence.

In between braking runs I practiced tight ass u-turns and circles. To do this I had to make sure my engine was pulling, which means I had to either give it some gas combined with a little rear brake or give it gas combined with keeping the clutch in and out of the friction zone. I also had to shift my weight to the outside peg (stand on the outside peg) and hang my butt off the outside edge of the seat. Of course, you have to push the bike down. All of these maneuvers combined allowed me to do some wicked tight circles and u-turns (left & the dreaded right turn). Fun!!!

I threw in some faster swerves, riding at speed in the little space between the double lines, and riding off road.

When I left the lot, I felt like the mistress of disaster on my bike. I'm looking forward to practicing on my new bike.

As the new bike has been foremost on my mind, I didn't post about a few "fun" experiences I've had out on the road lately. These experiences relate to the importance of practicing enough to have those defense moves down in "muscle memory."

The other day while riding I was coming up a hill and dropped the usual 10 mph off of my speed (can't see over the hill) when I saw a present waiting for me. Here was this big ass semi initiating a u-turn in the middle of the 2-lane highway. I immediately got on my brakes (at about 50 mph) and prepared for a hard stop. I also watched his hood and he jammed on his brakes so I abandoned my quick stop and kept going. Moral of the story... you never know what is going to be on the other side of the hill AND you had better be able to stop your bike without dropping it.

Yesterday I had to do reduce my speed quickly (& prepare for a quick stop) at about 60 mph as a highway light changed. In a split second I had to determine if I could make the stop without too much burned rubber (& no one would rear-end me) AND if there was a possibility that the light would change and some people would gun the light (thus I would be in another quick stop situation). I executed a really nice -almost hard- stop without sliding. That experience let me know that I could probably get on my brakes harder if need be at a higher speed (I've always had the heebie geebies about quick stopping at higher speeds).

So, today after a short errand run I headed over to a perfect side road/parking lot to practice. I practiced quick stops (only up to 25 mph), swerving, figure 8s, u-turns, etc. You know... all of the MSF stuff. My goal is to work up to mentally being able to practice a quick stop at 35, 45, 55 mph. Why? Because you will more than likely have to hit the brakes hard and you had better be able to do so without dropping your bike. Practicing these quick stops little by little should help me get over any mental blocks I have about doing a quick stop at such speeds.


back to thinking about my new bike... ahhhhh...