How warm can it get?

JQ wrote:

; wrote:

The Real Bev writes:
I don't see how crotch-rocket jockeys can do
it if they have to ride for more than an hour at a time.

Easy: Just accelerate. That takes the weight off of your hands.

Providing your arms are long enough, of course...

I rode a Ninja 900 from Illinois to Colorado back in '88. My wrists are OK,
but my ass is still sore. That's about the only time I ever thought that
having a Harley wouldn't be so bad.
I did have a tank bag to rest over which made the trip tolerable.

... I now have a fairing which
makes it easier to ride without a helmet at high speeds but it's illegal to
ride without a helmet here in NJ. I used to ride all winter on my bike even
in the snow.

I've ridden without a helmet once. Took the bike down to the corner to
gas up. Slipped in a patch of oil when I was leaving and ended up
needing a couple of stitches in my forehead. I learn fast. Not all the
chips in my helmet are from tossing it carelessly into the truck.

I remember one year while I was preparing my bike for a winter
ride up to NY and I was at bike shop buying some parts and the owner asked
me if I was going to put a fairing on and I replied, "I never rode with
one". He would let me leave the shop without buying one. He told me if I
didn't like it he would take it back! So, I bought one had it mounted and
never rode without one on my street bikes ever since. I could believe the
difference it made, no more sore neck, and arms, no more bugs in the face
and all over the chest. The best thing it was much warmer made winter
riding more enjoyable. Those were the days...

I ordered a cheesy windshield from Whitney for the Suzuki, which made
all the difference. After an hour in the rain I wasn't dry (hint:
leather is NOT a good thing to wear in a 400-mile ride in the rain), but
I wasn't as cold as I could have been. We now have nice rainsuits which
we've never worn. Feh.

--
Cheers, Bev
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
"I love to go down to the schoolyard and watch all the
little children jump up and down and run around yelling and
screaming...They don't know I'm only using blanks." --Emo

"MattB" wrote in message
...

I think it can be fun, but it definitely requires aggressive technique and
a nice bouncy unweight during the lead change.

er, lead change?

ant

On 2005-02-08, The Real Bev penned:

Having to lean forward for 8 or 10 hours a day is intolerable. I put a
thingy on my Suzuki that moved the bars 3" back (J.C. Whitney is your
friend), but it wasn't enough. After several days of riding with
appreciable weight on my hands all the time my fingers were numb for a
couple of months. Scary. I don't see how crotch-rocket jockeys can do it
if they have to ride for more than an hour at a time.

My husband sure can't. We rode the canyons last summer and stopped off at
Oskar Blues. As we walked in, DH commented on how nice it would be to rest
"our" butts. I just looked at him and laughed. My beemer's seat is as comfy
as it gets.

Unfortunately, I have a knee problem that prevents me from driving much more
than an hour or riding my motorcycle much more than a couple, but that's
another issue ... fortunately, though, it doesn't impact my skiing! It only
bothers me when I can make only small movements for an extended period of
time. So DH has to drive to and from the mountain. Sucker!

--
monique
Longmont, CO

On 2005-02-08, JQ penned:

It takes time to gain the required experience and abilities to handle a big
bike and powerful bike. It's like skiing just because a person takes a
indepth beginner course that covers all the necessary tools to do big
mountain and back country skiing it will take much more time and experience
to really be able to handle them.

I think that's an imperfect analogy, in that I think "back country skiing" is
more analagous to high-twitch bikes, where a sneeze can get you killed, than
to my bike.

I also wear a full-face helmet, padded jacket, padded pants, gloves, and
ankle-covering boots whenever I ride. It won't work miracles, but it's
better than nothing.

I thought I was over kill on safety.

You call it overkill; I call it a distaste for losing all my skin or my
marbles.

My only problem has been the weight, but not while moving. I've
dropped it a few times at a standstill[1], and I haven't been able to
pick it up, even with the butt-first method. I probably could if I
had to, but thus far I've always had someone nearby who could help me
out. I'm very glad I got this bike -- it's used, so I don't freak if
it tips, and it doesn't show wear from the tipping.

This part of the handling capabilities learning to deal with the
weight issue. Big bikes handle differently than smaller ones, they do
not react as fast, shifting weight from one side to the other is more
work and knowing how to use the power at the correct time also plays a
major effect as how as to the handling.

Except that moving isn't when I have trouble. I have no trouble moving my
bike, shifting it from side to side, etc. This is *easy* to do when you do it
properly, and takes no muscle. It's just like riding a bicycle, and I do that
a lot (ask MattB), which may be why I really don't find that aspect difficult.

If shifting weight from one side to the other is more work on a heavier bike,
then small women would only be able to ride large bikes with extreme
difficulty, if at all. But there are petite women who can handle the MSF
course on touring beemers and goldwings. If you're using strength to turn
your bike, I don't think you're doing it properly.

I'll reiterate. I don't find riding the bike difficult. I have only ever had
balance issues on the bike while *stopped*. Of course that's largely a weight
issue, but then, most motorcycles you can safely take on a highway will be
heavy enough to cause a 5'5 woman trouble once they start to tip. The trick
is not to let them start to tip in the first place. I've learned something
every time that happened, and the mistakes aren't bound to happen again.

Unfortunately, because of the weight, I do think I'm a little leery
of practicing very tight maneuvers ... that is, if I could find a
place to practice where the security guards don't shoo me away!
Because of this, I think it's extra important to attend the follow-on
moto course, in which you do the MSF drills on your own bike. I plan
to do that this summer.


Again, this is why I recommend a small less powerful bike to
beginners. Big bikes handle differently than smaller ones, they do
not react as fast, shifting weight from one side to the other is more
work and knowing how to use the power at the correct time also plays a
major effect as how as to the handling.

Again, I'm not talking about handling. If you say that a small bike is easier
to learn on because you know you can pick it up when you drop it, I'll agree.
If you say that a small bike is better because a heavier bike handles
differently ... well, as I said, my only problems are going sub-2mph, when
weight is a noticeable factor. As soon as I'm moving, the bike handles
easily.

I've known a few beginner bike riders that had major accidents due to
having more bike than they could handle, one death and three major
injuries, no more bikes for any of them.

Name the bikes, and tell me whether they'd had any formal training before
being set loose on the road. When people talk about "too much bike," they
usually are talking about a sport-geared bike that can accelerate them beyond
their ability to control the bike.

All in all, I don't disagree with you that I am upping my risk factor by
having a heavy, high-displacement bike. But by riding a motorcycle, I'm
already accepting a certain amount of risk. As I said, I did my research, I
asked a *lot* of people, and I am happy with the decision I made, given that I
can't have multiple motorcycles right now. I do not think that my motorcycle
is nearly as risky as my husband's CBR600RR, despite the fact that his bike is
100lb lighter than mine and 500cc smaller. His motorcycle scares the cr*p out
of me. Riding that bike is much riskier than riding mine, because the margin
for error is so small.

--
monique
Longmont, CO

ant wrote:
"MattB" wrote in message
...


I think it can be fun, but it definitely requires aggressive technique and
a nice bouncy unweight during the lead change.


er, lead change?

ant

It's an old-time expression. Something you don't teach
but which usually happens during a turn.

Monique Y. Mudama wrote:
(snip)

Unfortunately, I have a knee problem that prevents me from driving much more
than an hour or riding my motorcycle much more than a couple, but that's
another issue ... fortunately, though, it doesn't impact my skiing! It only
bothers me when I can make only small movements for an extended period of
time. So DH has to drive to and from the mountain. Sucker!

Knee problem when driving a car? I've had something like that.
It's more like an ache? Usually to right leg? It seemed like
there was nothing wrong with my knee except that it ached when
I drove. No other time. I solved the problem by supporting the
side of my leg so that I didn't have to support it in the
proper accelerator use position by muscles alone. Also, having
a car with cruise control helped a lot.

VtSkier

VtSkier wrote:
ant wrote:

"MattB" wrote in message
...


I think it can be fun, but it definitely requires aggressive
technique and a nice bouncy unweight during the lead change.



er, lead change?

ant

It's an old-time expression. Something you don't teach
but which usually happens during a turn.


Yeah, maybe showing my age here (or the age of my college freestyle
coach). It's the point in the transition from one turn to the next where
you stop leading with one ski/edge (unweight) and initiate the other
ski/edge. In heavier snow or slush it's a very critical point where many
people aren't light enough on the unweight and wind up catching an edge.

My favorite lead change is when I'm airborne between turns in deep
powder. Mmmmmm powder. (Monarch got 8" last night but I'm here in my
office today )

Matt

MattB wrote:

Yeah, maybe showing my age here (or the age of my college freestyle
coach). It's the point in the transition from one turn to the next where
you stop leading with one ski/edge (unweight) and initiate the other
ski/edge. In heavier snow or slush it's a very critical point where many
people aren't light enough on the unweight and wind up catching an edge.

Definitely age. We don't even unweight any more on groomed snow. But I
remember unweighting. And lead change. Nowadays lead change means just
what it says - the moment when the lead ski becomes the trail ski. In
Alpine technique the outside ski on a turn trails - the inside leads.
(Reverse for tele.) So sometime during transition from one turn to the
next the lead changes. But it can be fully weighted. Old term, new life.



My favorite lead change is when I'm airborne between turns in deep
powder. Mmmmmm powder. (Monarch got 8" last night but I'm here in my
office today )

Flight time. Love it.

On 2005-02-08, VtSkier penned:

Knee problem when driving a car? I've had something like that. It's more
like an ache? Usually to right leg? It seemed like there was nothing wrong
with my knee except that it ached when I drove. No other time. I solved the
problem by supporting the side of my leg so that I didn't have to support it
in the proper accelerator use position by muscles alone. Also, having a car
with cruise control helped a lot.

It's not just an ache; my knees actually lock. It's worse in the right, but I
get it in both eventually. After sitting in the car for a while, it's hard
for me to extend my leg fully for a while. And it happens when I'm the
passenger, too; it just takes longer.

It seems to be a side effect of my kneecap tracking to the side, which is
partly congenital and partly because my inner quad isn't as strong as my outer
quad. There are PT exercises I can do to help, but I'm really bad about doing
them =/

--
monique
Longmont, CO

lal_truckee wrote:
MattB wrote:


Yeah, maybe showing my age here (or the age of my college freestyle
coach). It's the point in the transition from one turn to the next
where you stop leading with one ski/edge (unweight) and initiate the
other ski/edge. In heavier snow or slush it's a very critical point
where many people aren't light enough on the unweight and wind up
catching an edge.


Definitely age. We don't even unweight any more on groomed snow. But I
remember unweighting. And lead change. Nowadays lead change means just
what it says - the moment when the lead ski becomes the trail ski. In
Alpine technique the outside ski on a turn trails - the inside leads.
(Reverse for tele.) So sometime during transition from one turn to the
next the lead changes. But it can be fully weighted. Old term, new life.



I don't consciously unweight on groomers either, but like you say the
lead change is still happening.
I learned about it trying to be a competitive bump skier. We did a lot
of drills regarding lead change and the coach was adamant about having a
strong, clean change for good turns in bumps.
Now I'm most conscious of lead changes on a sloppy spring "powder" day.
Like skiing 18" of mashed potatoes. Without a good unweight (at least
until you get up to speed enough to blow through it) is pretty important
or you'll high-side pretty easily.
Unweighting is good for steeps too.


My favorite lead change is when I'm airborne between turns in deep
powder. Mmmmmm powder. (Monarch got 8" last night but I'm here in my
office today )


Flight time. Love it.


What's not to love?
Damn I wish I was skiing instead of procrastinating work and typing
about it. Monarch has updated the report to 11".

Matt (waaa!)