A nice ride today.

[inanecathode]

I took miss V out for a bit of a spin today. From mid county gilpin colorado, up 119 to 72, down 72 to westminster, stopped at the gf's house, north on 93 to golden.
THEN! I took lookout mountain road. That, my dear visionaries, is a RIDE and a half, i swear i was following my tail light up half the mountain, they're so many switch backs, swooping turns, and vertical it's amazing! The view is awesome as well, you can see all of denver, all the way out to DIA.
Pretty non descript after that, just took a sliver of I-70, then us-6/119 back up to gilpin. The last half of the ride i was freeeeezing, cold front i guess :o

[kwells]

i was going to go do lookout mtn today after work but got held up and sunset came.  I love that ride.  It's good to get you loosened up for the Rt 103 ride (mt. evans)
I scrubbed my strips completely off on the ride up to lookout mtn.  Even managed to get some rubber balling up.

[inanecathode]

Strips? Rubber?

[h2olawyer]

Strips = Chicken Strips, the part of the rideable tread near the edges.  It's a badge of honor to have the tread worn clear to the edges.  Something I've yet to experience.  But, I am getting closer all the time!

H₂O

[inanecathode]

I've got some sand paper left from doing the plastics, i should give the rear tire a spin and rough up my chicken strips.

[h2olawyer]

Then you can call them "cheater strips".   :D

H₂O

[inanecathode]

Lol!
I know theres a limit to the total amount of friction you can apply to a contact patch of a tire without it slipping, i dont know where that is on my bike, and i don't care to find it honestly :o

[h2olawyer]

Riding a motorcycle is always a matter of traction management.  The closer you ride to the limits of either you or the bike, the more of the available traction you use up.  Less skilled riders (like me) don't always maximixe the available traction.  We change the lean angle in corners, play with the throttle & shift the weight at the wrong times.  I never touch the brakes while leaned over - I get the braking done before entering the corner.  Normally, I come out of it saying wow - I could have entered that turn faster.  It's all part of learning how to turn a bike faster.  You can read about skills, follow better riders and practice things.  However, nothing improves your skills like seat time.  If you can get some coaching at the same time, so much the better.

I enter corners - especially this time of year - expecting to see a patch of sand or gravel right in my line of travel.  With that in mind, I ride at speeds where I know I can swerve or change lines to avoid the slide hazard and still keep me well clear of any traffic that may appear in the oncoming lane.  Even then, I know I could ride faster but I value my safety more than my ego.  I ride my own ride all the time.  If it isn't fast enough for the people I'm with, they can find a spot to wait a minute or two every so often - or they can ride on.  Their call.

"A man's got to know his limitations."

H₂O

[kwells]

callahan