Typically, I ride the same 3 routes almost all the time. Ride #1is 5 minutes from my house and takes about 1 ½ hours each way. Ride #2 is only about 1 hour from my house and takes about 2 ½ hours each way. Ride #3 is about a 1 ½ hour ride from my house and it’s a 2-hour round trip plus the 1 ½ hour ride to it. Ride #1 is flat with nice open curves and depending on tourist season not too much traffic. It also has some magnificent landscapes as you get back into the lowlands. Ride #2 is more suburban but still has some speed runs in the forests between developments. Ride #3 is the most fun, so much so that I have on many occasions run it back and forth 3-4 times in a row. It is basically in the farmlands and has some interesting elevation to it in the form of rolling hills and nothing to bother you with the exception of the occasional farmer moving his equipment between fields.
While this might seem a boring riding life, it’s not at all. I practice running them as fast as is reasonably safe, and I try to run them perfectly. Perfect lines, perfect throttle control at the apex of turns, perfect body position, perfect compact braking, etc. I read books and learn things from various sources and go out and try understand them and implement them into my riding BOK. My heroes are road racers, real roads not tracks (except Rossi of course). Fast road riding raises you riding IQ very quickly, not unlike track riding. Its not throwing caution to the wind, it’s learning tactics and knowing when to slow. It also makes the flaws, and improvements in a bike much more obvious than normal riding.
A few years ago, I decided I was getting too old for dodging cops and taking a few risks on the road and I bought a BWM to “slow down and enjoy getting there”. I was planning longer trips and more sight-seeing type rides. Found out that wasn’t me. I am much happier knowing what is around the next bend and attacking it. I ride completely focused on the road, what happens 20 feet to either side is irrelevant unless it is on an “intersect course”. Funny, now I try to ride the BMW like I ride the Busa, obviously it doesn’t measure up though – probably why I just can’t get the feeling for the bike.
I suppose the moral of the story is know why you ride. If I’m looking around at the scenery, I would just as soon be in my truck all comfy in the AC on and the 10-speaker, B&O audio system blasting. I thought my perspective on riding was a phase, but it’s lasted 30 years so far…
While this might seem a boring riding life, it’s not at all. I practice running them as fast as is reasonably safe, and I try to run them perfectly. Perfect lines, perfect throttle control at the apex of turns, perfect body position, perfect compact braking, etc. I read books and learn things from various sources and go out and try understand them and implement them into my riding BOK. My heroes are road racers, real roads not tracks (except Rossi of course). Fast road riding raises you riding IQ very quickly, not unlike track riding. Its not throwing caution to the wind, it’s learning tactics and knowing when to slow. It also makes the flaws, and improvements in a bike much more obvious than normal riding.
A few years ago, I decided I was getting too old for dodging cops and taking a few risks on the road and I bought a BWM to “slow down and enjoy getting there”. I was planning longer trips and more sight-seeing type rides. Found out that wasn’t me. I am much happier knowing what is around the next bend and attacking it. I ride completely focused on the road, what happens 20 feet to either side is irrelevant unless it is on an “intersect course”. Funny, now I try to ride the BMW like I ride the Busa, obviously it doesn’t measure up though – probably why I just can’t get the feeling for the bike.
I suppose the moral of the story is know why you ride. If I’m looking around at the scenery, I would just as soon be in my truck all comfy in the AC on and the 10-speaker, B&O audio system blasting. I thought my perspective on riding was a phase, but it’s lasted 30 years so far…