Road Riding

Started riding on public roads in 1998. Living on the south coast meant most friends and colleagues rode bikes so spent the first few years scratching country lanes in Dorset. Scratching implies scrapping your knee sliders on the road or ‘getting your knee down’ however this is harder than it looks and on the road takes a lot of balls, commitment and riding ability. So in most cases scratching is actually trying in vain to scratch or falling off. Riding in a pack was very good fun and a good way to learn to ride close to other bikes.

Riding in a pack also showed that all modern bikes on the public road have basically the same capability i.e. more capability than the road or the rider can safely use. The biggest differentiator is definitely the rider’s (lack of) ability and hence one should always make their own decisions. If the pack is going too fast for your ability, slow down. Choose your own line on the road, not someone else’s. If you are not comfortable, do not do it. Riding is fun as long a rider is within their own limits, not someone else’s as each rider has a different level of ability. That said, being taken a little way out of one’s comfort zone is a good thing and your riding will improve as a result.

A road trip of 12 bikes to watch World Super Bikes at Assen was the high light of road riding and stopping every hour to refuel a thirsty TL1000S was a chore that became a blessing to allow feeling to return to an increasingly numb bum. The autobahn was also a good place to test bike stability at speed and the answer was surprisingly stable even at 160 mph. Also learnt that riding past a gritter truck, in just a t-shirt, is quite painful.