08-16-2014, 09:51 PM
(08-16-2014, 08:54 PM)Henrik_imp Wrote: Just behind where I live there is a fabulous twisty road that has since a very long time become a major hangout for motorcycle riders. I have myself ridden this road so many times that I know every bit of it by heart and could probably ride it blindfolded. I love riding up and down there just to clear my mind, but I always leave a huge margin for the unknown because this is an open road. I just have no way of knowing what will be around the next blind corner, and I can't possibly know what the opposite traffic might do.
Unfortunately far too many riders do not take enough caution on there. There is not a sunny weekend that goes by that I don't hear bikes riding up there, and at some point I then hear the sirens of an ambulance. Often I go to a small parking area we call the pit stop to talk to the young riders on their supersport bikes, and try to get them to ease off a bit. Far too often they look at me like "who is this old fart who doesn't know how to ride?" For sure, many of them know how to ride very well, and thy would no doubt score good times on a race track. But it is a race track that they should ride like they do, not on an open road with blind corners. Seriously, scraping the knee over the middle line through a blind corner will eventually end up in tears.
I have done my share of track riding over the years, and I too enjoy getting the knee down while fully committed to a corner, but I would never do that on an open road. This is also why I so like my CB1100 because I can ride this bike well within the safety margins and still fully enjoy the ride.
Unfortunately there will always be riders that think that they are invincible, and that they know exactly what they are doing. The problem is, they simply can't know what others are doing...
Which, if I may, might be Ptero's point: you don't blame the shark for biting the leg that looks like a fish. You assume the cagers are out to kill you, and if they've got a shot at you, they'll take it. I saw the old bat who drove out of a mall parking lot straight into my bike coming, and I assumed she'd stop. She didn't, as a result she made "ass-fault out of you and me."