Took my longest ride to date, with uh... the wrong guys.

reaubideux · May 23rd, 2011, 08:55 AM

Cliff's Notes at the bottom if you don't like to read

First.. here's an approximation of the ride I took from leaving near my house to ending near my house, I can't remember all the roads we took so I had to guess at some of the roads, I'm fairly certain I left off quite a few miles of the route:

Counting a quick run up the road to meet my wife and kids for lunch and back to the house I tallied up 160+ miles yesterday. The longest stretch was the 40 or so miles back to my house when I split from the group.

Lots of back roads, really REALLY got some practice on cornering. Never really had any "oh sh*t" moments, had a few facepalm moments where I made some mistakes but nothing too bad. The biggest problem we all encountered: turtles. Freakin' turtles crossing the road. Coming around curves there'd be turtles crossing the road so you were having to dodge them constantly. I was by far the smallest bike of the group. There was a GSX-R 1000, a CBR600RR, CBR1000RR (with the Repsol graphics, looked sexy), a ZX-6R, an FZ6, and a couple of others that I can't really remember. The 2 guys who had their significant others both asked if their lady could sit on my bike b/c she was thinking of getting into riding and thought the 250 would be a good fit for her. I obliged; a few of the guys kept gushing over how they wanted a 250R to get back into track racing.

I was pretty much left behind the entire time. These guys were just waaaaay faster than me, more skilled, and knew the roads. I appreciated the couple of times one them hanged back with me - one of them riding a beautiful Triumph Daytona 675 Triple (my dream bike) so I got to listen to that exhaust for several miles.

I kept apologizing profusely for slowing the group down so badly. They all were kind enough to dismiss it saying not to worry about it, "all along for the ride" etc., etc. Still felt bad b/c I know they had to completely stop a couple of times to wait for me, I mean off-the-bike-taking-smoke-break kind of stops. About half-way through the ride is when I just felt like an ass, we were at a town that was familiar to me so I chose to go my own way and head home so that they can go about their ride w/o me slowing them down so much. A few urged me not to go but I still opted to head home with my proverbial tail between my legs.

Now... for the "wrong guys" part.

So, I belong to a local riders forum and decided at the last minute to meet up with them to take a ride. First one ever. Rode to the meeting point which is a gas station about 20 miles away; planned times were to meet around 9:30a, kickstands up around 10a. I was there a little after 9a. There were a few guys there already, one walked up and introduced himself and proceeded to tape a piece of paper with the turn-by-turn directions onto my bike for me. Chatted with the other guys for a bit but they all seemed to know each other and I was the outsider, and being a bit introverted myself I tended to just hang out and enjoy the weather. I noticed other guys showed up but didn't park with the rest of us but didn't think much of it b/c there wasn't much room in the parking lot but I further noticed they didn't seem to make it over to mingle with the rest of us. I thought maybe they were just being jerks or were just the "cool kids" or whatever. Slowly other riders filed in and the leader asked the time which by then was around 9:35a or so, he then went ahead and told everyone we were going to get going. I kind of thought this was a bit strange, but hey, I guess everyone he knew was going went ahead and arrived so why bother waiting for no reason. Off we went. Got a couple of miles down the road and some of us got stuck at a light while others made it through. While stopped at the stop light I just happened to look down at the route instructions and noticed the end-point was NOT where the forum-thread had stated. Then it hit me, the other group of guys weren't unfriendly, they were just the OTHER guys I was SUPPOSED to be meeting up with. "Oh sh*t, I'm a damn moron" was the first thing that popped into my head. I didn't realize that gas station was apparently a popular meeting place for locals to go riding and when I pulled in the leader came right up and introduced him (by name only, not by forum or anything) so I just made the waaaay wrong assumption that these were the guys. Oh well, I figured I'd just go along for the ride and try and "fit in" as best I could and not make it too obvious that I had no idea I went with the wrong group of guys. I'm sure I annoyed them enough being the newb on the little bike who couldn't keep up. I really didn't want to admit to being the newb with the little bike who couldn't keep up and didn't even mean to tag along on their ride.

The other group of guys that I should've been with actually ended up catching up to us b/c of my group having to stop to wait for me. We caught back up to them at the gas station where I ended up making my splitting point to head back home. I checked my local forum this morning to discover someone posted pictures that I saw them taking at that gas station as I left to head home so it confirmed for me that they were the group I should've been with.

[EDIT] - here's a photo from the guys I should've been with; to the far left you can see the black Daytona that I was riding with. The guy with the bald head is the rider. He was over chatting with the group before taking off.

In the end I still had a BLAST! My confidence for cornering was upped a bit but I was still humbled enough to know I made some mistakes that I should've known better to not do.

What I wouldn't give to go for a ride with some 250 owners though. I may still be left behind due to lack of skill, but I think I'd just enjoy it more being with my own ilk.

Given that I know I just absolutely cannot keep up with those guys I doubt I'll be joining them for any more group rides, maybe if I get something bigger and after a lot more experience/skill.

Cliff's Notes: Long ride, lotsa fun, practiced cornering, still very much a newb. Oh yeah, took my ride with the wrong group of people.

reaperw · May 23rd, 2011, 09:19 AM

Glad you had fun tho,

CC Cowboy · May 23rd, 2011, 01:51 PM

Try a Red Bull next time. It gives you wings!

Xoulrath · May 23rd, 2011, 02:14 PM

Damn, that is quite the tale.

By the way, the 250 can keep up on all but the long straights and even then it is only out-accelerated. Keep practicing, and you'll get there. I learned way more than I thought was possible in a year. Practice, practice, and then, yep you guessed it, practice.

Snake · May 23rd, 2011, 03:01 PM

You'll be ready the next time.

reaubideux · May 24th, 2011, 07:16 AM

I have looked around on Google and found some good roads in the area to ride around to practice cornering, just have to find the time to now to actually ride. Although practicing probably wouldn't prepare me to ride unfamiliar roads with lots of foliage where you can't see through the curves to be carrying the speeds these guys were carrying. I was a bit surprised at myself to be carrying 50mph around curves marked as a "recommended" (not official posted) 35mph and 40mph corners. Of course, I'd wager these guys were doing it at 70mph, but again, they knew the roads fairly well or were simply more experienced to handle higher speeds through those corners. I'm sure a lot of the experienced folks on here could've done the same on their 250's.

Problem with keeping up with them is that there were a few too many straights on those roads where they'd take off and no matter how good I can ever be, I'd just never be able to keep up.

Oh well. I rode my ride and had fun taking my first ride through some real curves. Can't wait for my little key-chain camera to get delivered so I can start recording some of the roads and see how much fun they are when I'm not having to focus on the ride.

MartyR · May 24th, 2011, 08:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xoulrath

Damn, that is quite the tale.

By the way, the 250 can keep up on all but the long straights and even then it is only out-accelerated. Keep practicing, and you'll get there. I learned way more than I thought was possible in a year. Practice, practice, and then, yep you guessed it, practice.

Its like he said, practice. Cause it all depends on the rider. I'm the most inexperienced out of my friends (years riding) and they all have 600s (GSXRs, CBRs, ans R6s), but I was right on their A** through every turn @ Ortega Highway (a popular canyon in Southern California).

Glad to see you enjoyed the ride and stayed within your riding limit. Keep up the practice and Ride safe.

P.S. For the speed posted signs, generally (once you feel comfortable) you can go double of whats posted. ie. Freeway off ramps near my house say 20-25 i take them 45-50.

Xoulrath · May 24th, 2011, 02:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reaubideux

Oh well. I rode my ride and had fun taking my first ride through some real curves.

That's the only thing that really matters, isn't it?

Green Streak · May 24th, 2011, 03:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xoulrath

That's the only thing that really matters, isn't it?

+1

reaubideux · May 25th, 2011, 06:26 AM

+2...

Yeah, I actually swallowed my pride a bit and posted up my screw-up on the forum of the guys I had intended to ride with and they were all cool about it. I mentioned that I split b/c I felt like I was holding the other group up and they all were quick to say 'don't worry about it, we're all here to ride and have fun and not to feel like they're being held up.' There were a few guys that are in both organizations so some of the guys I did ride with Sunday found out about my screw up.

I'm simply amazed at the camaraderie amongst bike riders, just really impressed by it.

kaiserz · May 26th, 2011, 08:31 AM

Good read, (:

Liber · May 26th, 2011, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reaubideux

I'm simply amazed at the camaraderie amongst bike riders, just really impressed by it.

I was too, at first. Now I'm beginning to recognize the divisions. People on cruisers aren't very friendly to me on my 250. Their loss.

reaubideux · May 26th, 2011, 09:57 AM

From my limited riding experience thus far it seems that most riders around here are friendly and respectful and I get the wave back about 90% of the time. I really only notice that younger riders on non-sport bikes are the ones to not wave back most of the time.

Havok · May 26th, 2011, 03:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reaubideux

+2...

Yeah, I actually swallowed my pride a bit and posted up my screw-up on the forum of the guys I had intended to ride with and they were all cool about it. I mentioned that I split b/c I felt like I was holding the other group up and they all were quick to say 'don't worry about it, we're all here to ride and have fun and not to feel like they're being held up.' There were a few guys that are in both organizations so some of the guys I did ride with Sunday found out about my screw up.

I'm simply amazed at the camaraderie amongst bike riders, just really impressed by it.

That is the difference between riding with RIDERS and not posers. The so cal group we ride with is like that, if you want to ride fast ride fast if you want to ride slow ride slow, take it at your pace and at your speed above all have fun.

your story was fun to read.

reaubideux · May 27th, 2011, 07:57 AM

Glad I could entertain you, Jeff.

And to add to this story, the guys I was supposed to ride with last weekend are doing the same ride again this weekend so I'm going along for this one for sure. Now I know not to feel like a jackass for being the slow one in the group so I think I'll enjoy myself more this time around.

Liber · May 27th, 2011, 08:15 AM

Yeh, this thread is a good read. I subscribed from the beginning.

May 23rd, 2011, 08:55 AM	#1
reaubideux Perpetual Newb Name: Jason Location: Imperial, MO Join Date: Mar 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 MIB Ninja 250R [sold]; 2006 CBR600RR [sold]; 2013 Triumph Street Triple R Posts: 782	Took my longest ride to date, with uh... the wrong guys. Cliff's Notes at the bottom if you don't like to read First.. here's an approximation of the ride I took from leaving near my house to ending near my house, I can't remember all the roads we took so I had to guess at some of the roads, I'm fairly certain I left off quite a few miles of the route: Counting a quick run up the road to meet my wife and kids for lunch and back to the house I tallied up 160+ miles yesterday. The longest stretch was the 40 or so miles back to my house when I split from the group. Lots of back roads, really REALLY got some practice on cornering. Never really had any "oh sht" moments, had a few facepalm moments where I made some mistakes but nothing too bad. The biggest problem we all encountered: turtles. Freakin' turtles crossing the road. Coming around curves there'd be turtles crossing the road so you were having to dodge them constantly. I was by far the smallest bike of the group. There was a GSX-R 1000, a CBR600RR, CBR1000RR (with the Repsol graphics, looked sexy), a ZX-6R, an FZ6, and a couple of others that I can't really remember. The 2 guys who had their significant others both asked if their lady could sit on my bike b/c she was thinking of getting into riding and thought the 250 would be a good fit for her. I obliged; a few of the guys kept gushing over how they wanted a 250R to get back into track racing. I was pretty much left behind the entire time. These guys were just waaaaay faster than me, more skilled, and knew the roads. I appreciated the couple of times one them hanged back with me - one of them riding a beautiful Triumph Daytona 675 Triple (my dream bike) so I got to listen to that exhaust for several miles. I kept apologizing profusely for slowing the group down so badly. They all were kind enough to dismiss it saying not to worry about it, "all along for the ride" etc., etc. Still felt bad b/c I know they had to completely stop a couple of times to wait for me, I mean off-the-bike-taking-smoke-break kind of stops. About half-way through the ride is when I just felt like an ass, we were at a town that was familiar to me so I chose to go my own way and head home so that they can go about their ride w/o me slowing them down so much. A few urged me not to go but I still opted to head home with my proverbial tail between my legs. Now... for the "wrong guys" part. So, I belong to a local riders forum and decided at the last minute to meet up with them to take a ride. First one ever. Rode to the meeting point which is a gas station about 20 miles away; planned times were to meet around 9:30a, kickstands up around 10a. I was there a little after 9a. There were a few guys there already, one walked up and introduced himself and proceeded to tape a piece of paper with the turn-by-turn directions onto my bike for me. Chatted with the other guys for a bit but they all seemed to know each other and I was the outsider, and being a bit introverted myself I tended to just hang out and enjoy the weather. I noticed other guys showed up but didn't park with the rest of us but didn't think much of it b/c there wasn't much room in the parking lot but I further noticed they didn't seem to make it over to mingle with the rest of us. I thought maybe they were just being jerks or were just the "cool kids" or whatever. Slowly other riders filed in and the leader asked the time which by then was around 9:35a or so, he then went ahead and told everyone we were going to get going. I kind of thought this was a bit strange, but hey, I guess everyone he knew was going went ahead and arrived so why bother waiting for no reason. Off we went. Got a couple of miles down the road and some of us got stuck at a light while others made it through. While stopped at the stop light I just happened to look down at the route instructions and noticed the end-point was NOT* where the forum-thread had stated. Then it hit me, the other group of guys weren't unfriendly, they were just the OTHER guys I was SUPPOSED to be meeting up with. "Oh sht, I'm a damn moron" was the first thing that popped into my head. I didn't realize that gas station was apparently a popular meeting place for locals to go riding and when I pulled in the leader came right up and introduced him (by name only, not by forum or anything) so I just made the waaaay wrong assumption that these were the guys. Oh well, I figured I'd just go along for the ride and try and "fit in" as best I could and not make it too obvious that I had no idea I went with the wrong group of guys. I'm sure I annoyed them enough being the newb on the little bike who couldn't keep up. I really didn't want to admit to being the newb with the little bike who couldn't keep up and didn't even mean to tag along on their ride. The other group of guys that I should've been with actually ended up catching up to us b/c of my group having to stop to wait for me. We caught back up to them at the gas station where I ended up making my splitting point to head back home. I checked my local forum this morning to discover someone posted pictures that I saw them taking at that gas station as I left to head home so it confirmed for me that they were the group I should've been with. [EDIT] - here's a photo from the guys I should've been with; to the far left you can see the black Daytona that I was riding with. The guy with the bald head is the rider. He was over chatting with the group before taking off. In the end I still had a BLAST! My confidence for cornering was upped a bit but I was still humbled enough to know I made some mistakes that I should've known better to not do. What I wouldn't give to go for a ride with some 250 owners though. I may still be left behind due to lack of skill, but I think I'd just enjoy it more being with my own ilk. Given that I know I just absolutely cannot keep up with those guys I doubt I'll be joining them for any more group rides, maybe if I get something bigger and after a lot more experience/skill. Cliff's Notes:* Long ride, lotsa fun, practiced cornering, still very much a newb. Oh yeah, took my ride with the wrong group of people.

May 23rd, 2011, 01:51 PM	#3
CC Cowboy ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Whodat Location: Ware Is.,MA Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): I pass the wind! Posts: A lot. MOTM - Mar '13, Jun '14	Try a Red Bull next time. It gives you wings! __________________________________________________ If everything seems under control; you're just not going fast enough!

May 23rd, 2011, 02:14 PM	#4
Xoulrath ninjette.org sage Name: T Location: U.S. Join Date: May 2010 Motorcycle(s): Current: '11 ZX-6R; Previous: '09 Ninjette; '08 ZX-6R (Ex-Wife '09 TU250X) Posts: 981	Damn, that is quite the tale. By the way, the 250 can keep up on all but the long straights and even then it is only out-accelerated. Keep practicing, and you'll get there. I learned way more than I thought was possible in a year. Practice, practice, and then, yep you guessed it, practice. __________________________________________________ R.I.P EthioKnight (Alex)

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May 23rd, 2011, 09:19 AM	#2
reaperw ninjette.org member Name: Ian Location: newmarket Join Date: Feb 2011 Motorcycle(s): ninja 250 Posts: 191	Glad you had fun tho,

May 23rd, 2011, 03:01 PM	#5
Snake ninjette.org certified postwhore Name: Rick Location: Alexandria, Louisiana Join Date: Jan 2009 Motorcycle(s): 05 Blue Ninja 250 Posts: Too much. MOTY - 2017, MOTM - Jan '19, Oct '16, May '14	You'll be ready the next time.

May 24th, 2011, 07:16 AM	#6
reaubideux Perpetual Newb Name: Jason Location: Imperial, MO Join Date: Mar 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 MIB Ninja 250R [sold]; 2006 CBR600RR [sold]; 2013 Triumph Street Triple R Posts: 782	I have looked around on Google and found some good roads in the area to ride around to practice cornering, just have to find the time to now to actually ride. Although practicing probably wouldn't prepare me to ride unfamiliar roads with lots of foliage where you can't see through the curves to be carrying the speeds these guys were carrying. I was a bit surprised at myself to be carrying 50mph around curves marked as a "recommended" (not official posted) 35mph and 40mph corners. Of course, I'd wager these guys were doing it at 70mph, but again, they knew the roads fairly well or were simply more experienced to handle higher speeds through those corners. I'm sure a lot of the experienced folks on here could've done the same on their 250's. Problem with keeping up with them is that there were a few too many straights on those roads where they'd take off and no matter how good I can ever be, I'd just never be able to keep up. Oh well. I rode my ride and had fun taking my first ride through some real curves. Can't wait for my little key-chain camera to get delivered so I can start recording some of the roads and see how much fun they are when I'm not having to focus on the ride.

May 25th, 2011, 06:26 AM	#10
reaubideux Perpetual Newb Name: Jason Location: Imperial, MO Join Date: Mar 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 MIB Ninja 250R [sold]; 2006 CBR600RR [sold]; 2013 Triumph Street Triple R Posts: 782	+2... Yeah, I actually swallowed my pride a bit and posted up my screw-up on the forum of the guys I had intended to ride with and they were all cool about it. I mentioned that I split b/c I felt like I was holding the other group up and they all were quick to say 'don't worry about it, we're all here to ride and have fun and not to feel like they're being held up.' There were a few guys that are in both organizations so some of the guys I did ride with Sunday found out about my screw up. I'm simply amazed at the camaraderie amongst bike riders, just really impressed by it.

May 26th, 2011, 08:31 AM	#11
kaiserz There's a limit to s2pdty Name: A.D. Location: NoVa the burg Join Date: Apr 2011 Motorcycle(s): 250r ninja (sold) Posts: A lot.	Good read, (:

May 26th, 2011, 09:57 AM	#13
reaubideux Perpetual Newb Name: Jason Location: Imperial, MO Join Date: Mar 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 MIB Ninja 250R [sold]; 2006 CBR600RR [sold]; 2013 Triumph Street Triple R Posts: 782	From my limited riding experience thus far it seems that most riders around here are friendly and respectful and I get the wave back about 90% of the time. I really only notice that younger riders on non-sport bikes are the ones to not wave back most of the time.

May 27th, 2011, 07:57 AM	#15
reaubideux Perpetual Newb Name: Jason Location: Imperial, MO Join Date: Mar 2011 Motorcycle(s): 2010 MIB Ninja 250R [sold]; 2006 CBR600RR [sold]; 2013 Triumph Street Triple R Posts: 782	Glad I could entertain you, Jeff. And to add to this story, the guys I was supposed to ride with last weekend are doing the same ride again this weekend so I'm going along for this one for sure. Now I know not to feel like a jackass for being the slow one in the group so I think I'll enjoy myself more this time around.

May 27th, 2011, 08:15 AM	#16
Liber ninjette.org sage Name: Chris Location: Arkansas Join Date: May 2011 Motorcycle(s): EX250J Posts: 511	Yeh, this thread is a good read. I subscribed from the beginning.