This is a story for those who are considering teaching a friend the wonderful art of motorcycling. It is also a warning for the very same folks. Just one of many an item to watch out for... a 'Gotcha' that awaits should you try your hand at passing on some of your skills to a new rider.
As previously related, Charles has been progressing nicely. Along with trying to master hill riding. he's been hitting streets often, fine tuning the basics and building up speed. Today was all about maintaining that curve, nuturing him over the expected fears of what the bike might do to him as he explores the higher numbers of his speedometer.
It really started off when I gave him a firsthand taste of his bike at higher speeds in some gentle twisties. Charles has always been reserved about the throttle, mostly because he isn't quite sure what to make of his bike when it's going fast. Will it tumble and roll & put me in a hole?, as I'd put it. He's also a bit fearful that reving the engine freely is going to break something. As a result, 35 mph turns are taken at 20-25, and his roll-on response and accelerations are a bit on the low side. These were the things I wanted to address.
We two-up'd on his cycle, taking 35 mph curves at 40-50 range. I wanted to lean his Shadow over at angles he'd never experienced and let him listen to the engine roar as I snicked thru the gears. It was a great lesson to be sure; it put a lot of fears to rest, and he had a lot of fun to boot. But in the process, I must've missed somthing. Somewhere during that session, he dropped his reservations about speed.
When we went back to our individual cycles and hit a long open straightaway, the lil' grasshoppa had mutated. Suddenly not afraid of twisting that throttle, he began exploring faster speeds. It was deceptive in the way it unfolded too. He didn't take off like a rocket, but I was initially confused when he didn't steady out his usually reserved pace (he normally keeps it at the 40-45 range) after ten seconds. It kind of hit him out of the blue that, on this 50 mph stretch of road, everything seemed to be going very fast!
From his side of this coin, he wasn't aware of it either. He was too busy noting that the Shadow seemed to handle the freeway speeds quite nicely and smoothly. He was marveling at it, actually, and hadn't even glanced at the spedometer.
By the time I realized what was happening, we were both doing 70!
The realization on my end couldn't have been at a worse possible moment. Maybe a mile up the road is an intersection that is notorious for parked, monitoring-for-speeders Park Rangers!
'Aw Hell! He's going to get a ticket!' boomed quite plainly in my mind. I snicked down to fifth and shot out towards him, hoping to catch him in time! I think I ended up doing 90+ in my haste to catch him before the Rangers did.
About this time, Charles takes notice... and blinks. He had no idea he had just reached 75 mph, but he already knows that it's not a good thing. At the same time, he sees that my headlight is suddenly and very quickly enlargening in his right mirror. Immediately, he backs off on the throttle
I've closed to about four lengths behind him when I notice that his bike is already slowing - 'okay, he had just realized what speed he was at'.
At the same time, Charles wants to convey to me to me that he knows he was going too fast and that he is slowing down. He choses a hand signal that seems appropriate to him at the time
Left palm down and pumping towards the ground... 'Why is he telling ME to slow down?!' I come abeam of him at 55-ish as we pass the Park Rangers and shoot him one of those "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" looks.
It was in the next second that I realize what the signal really meant, and at our next break, we had a good laugh about the whole scenario. Still, I'm contemplating buying a speargun and rope to keep his speed in check, Scorpion-From-Mortal-Kombat style. :twisted:
Thanks for letting me share this latest adventure.
As previously related, Charles has been progressing nicely. Along with trying to master hill riding. he's been hitting streets often, fine tuning the basics and building up speed. Today was all about maintaining that curve, nuturing him over the expected fears of what the bike might do to him as he explores the higher numbers of his speedometer.
It really started off when I gave him a firsthand taste of his bike at higher speeds in some gentle twisties. Charles has always been reserved about the throttle, mostly because he isn't quite sure what to make of his bike when it's going fast. Will it tumble and roll & put me in a hole?, as I'd put it. He's also a bit fearful that reving the engine freely is going to break something. As a result, 35 mph turns are taken at 20-25, and his roll-on response and accelerations are a bit on the low side. These were the things I wanted to address.
We two-up'd on his cycle, taking 35 mph curves at 40-50 range. I wanted to lean his Shadow over at angles he'd never experienced and let him listen to the engine roar as I snicked thru the gears. It was a great lesson to be sure; it put a lot of fears to rest, and he had a lot of fun to boot. But in the process, I must've missed somthing. Somewhere during that session, he dropped his reservations about speed.
When we went back to our individual cycles and hit a long open straightaway, the lil' grasshoppa had mutated. Suddenly not afraid of twisting that throttle, he began exploring faster speeds. It was deceptive in the way it unfolded too. He didn't take off like a rocket, but I was initially confused when he didn't steady out his usually reserved pace (he normally keeps it at the 40-45 range) after ten seconds. It kind of hit him out of the blue that, on this 50 mph stretch of road, everything seemed to be going very fast!
From his side of this coin, he wasn't aware of it either. He was too busy noting that the Shadow seemed to handle the freeway speeds quite nicely and smoothly. He was marveling at it, actually, and hadn't even glanced at the spedometer.
By the time I realized what was happening, we were both doing 70!
The realization on my end couldn't have been at a worse possible moment. Maybe a mile up the road is an intersection that is notorious for parked, monitoring-for-speeders Park Rangers!
'Aw Hell! He's going to get a ticket!' boomed quite plainly in my mind. I snicked down to fifth and shot out towards him, hoping to catch him in time! I think I ended up doing 90+ in my haste to catch him before the Rangers did.
About this time, Charles takes notice... and blinks. He had no idea he had just reached 75 mph, but he already knows that it's not a good thing. At the same time, he sees that my headlight is suddenly and very quickly enlargening in his right mirror. Immediately, he backs off on the throttle
I've closed to about four lengths behind him when I notice that his bike is already slowing - 'okay, he had just realized what speed he was at'.
At the same time, Charles wants to convey to me to me that he knows he was going too fast and that he is slowing down. He choses a hand signal that seems appropriate to him at the time
Left palm down and pumping towards the ground... 'Why is he telling ME to slow down?!' I come abeam of him at 55-ish as we pass the Park Rangers and shoot him one of those "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?" looks.
It was in the next second that I realize what the signal really meant, and at our next break, we had a good laugh about the whole scenario. Still, I'm contemplating buying a speargun and rope to keep his speed in check, Scorpion-From-Mortal-Kombat style. :twisted:
Thanks for letting me share this latest adventure.
