Riding with friends & riding in the rain.

A friend of mine phoned me today and asked if i'd like to go for a ride round the island and have lunch, i've never riden with anyone before, and naturally I felt a little dubious about speeds and such and how comfortable I would feel, but my friend Jim is sensable enough and let me lead, we set off and I enjoyed it very much, stopped for gas and for lunch, he had a few pointers for my riding, I grip my bars too tightly and that causes the wind to buffet me around a bit, he likened the grip to holding onto a small but lively bird, that annalogy really stuck with me and has helped a lot! He also said I correct myself mid turn a lot, i'll need to sort that out too but that's more a confidence thing.

Then it started to rain, it's not so much that I don't go riding in the rain, as I commute to and from work evey day, but it's more to do with it never having done so before while I was out, it made for an interesting ride, the road people here like to put drain covers on corners, and I feel my back end slide out, Jim previously told me not to correct this, the bike wants to correct it itself, let it happen and stay fluid, which proved to be sound advice, tail slipped out and then got it's grip again, if that were to of happened to me a week ago, I would have over corrected for sure.

I got home, and sat down and I felt very happy with my progress, and I dare say I look forward to more long rides. but maybe not in the rain so much...