Hey guys! I have an experience to share. I've been riding my Ninja for a little over 3 months now, and I continue learning so much on every ride! I'm in love with my bike! lol! Anyway, hubby and I took our bikes to the Ga mountains last weekend. Wow, I learned more THAT day than in my other months of riding COMBINED! What a FUN experience! For the most part, I did really well, slowing a good bit before the corners and accelerating through them. However, I took one corner too fast and ended up scraping not only my peg, but my muffler too! I've gotta say, though I'm not proud of scraping my muffler b/c it stemmed from a mistake I made in not slowing enough for that corner, I am VERY proud of how I handled myself during moment. The scrape lasted for about 2 seconds b/c the curve just kept going, so I had to stay in my lean, scraping all the way. During the whole corner, my head was up and pointed through the curve, I stayed relaxed (I think), and stayed steady on the throttle, thank god! Somehow, even though I was scraping hard parts, I kept calm and controlled. It was truly the most amazing feeling ever to know that even though it was caused by an initial mistake, I kept calm and didn't panic when things got rough. And now I have a pretty little scratched patch on my muffler as my war scar. Yeah!! I can attribute this to all my reading (Proficient Motorcycling and Total Control), my wonderful teacher (my hubby), and yeah, even my MSF instructor popped into my head.
Now a few questions about mountain riding: When taking mountain twisties, do you guys hang off the seat at all? If so, how much? Do you pretty much ride the curve? Or do you do the delayed apex going from outside to inside and back to the outside line of the curve to keep the curve from being so sharp? (I REALLY hope that question makes sense...if not, I can try to reword it).
When going up the mountain and our 250s start to lose power, do you just downshift a gear and keep pushing it? What is the ideal gear to be in going up a mountain?
Thanks in advance for any advice you can offer. I'd also LOVE to read about some of your craziest, most exciting, best, worst, etc experiences you've had while riding in the mountains! Thanks all!
Ally
