My first Group Ride
Posted: Sat Mar 18, 2006 4:12 pm
I experienced my first group ride today........sort of by happen chance. I met up with about a dozen riders, visited and ended up riding about 60 miles with them. I was indoctrinated into the group procedure for riding and it was enjoyable so I think it would be something I would do again.
There was an assortment of bikes: 1-2 Kawasakis, Honda Shadow, V Max, Triumph, 3-4 Harleys, Yamahas, and one lone BMW-me. No one said much at all to me about my bike when we first started out, but at the first stop to let one of them refuel, they all ventured to take a closer look at my '05 RR. It seems like they were a little hesitant at first, but then they slowly trickled over to look at it. I heard a couple of questions, and then pretty soon a lot of "well, will you look at that?" "Look at the suspension!" "What are all those different lights for?" "You have a brake warning light????" "What are those? What is this? What does that do?" "I bet it rides smooth!" "How many cc's?" (that one puzzled me since it is written right there on the tank) "I bet that thing is really fast. I'm surprised you didn't pass us up on that long stretch." (I was trying to obey the group rules, so I stayed in their formation). "You better be careful, that thing has a lot of power. (with a little shake of the head, as if the bike had a mind of it's own.) I told them I use to have a Honda Shadow 750 (for 2 months) and traded it for the BMW because I felt like the BMW was easier and safer to handle. I don't think they believed me about that. My feeling is this: I can control the power of the bike with the throttle - very simple. But I can't control the weight of those heavy cruisers. It won't get away from me because of the power - I'm in control of that. But that Shadow could have, not because of the power, but because of the weight and lack of manueverablity. I have so much more control with this bike it seems. I guess if I were as big as they were, handling one of those big Road Kings would have been easier, but I'm not. So I feel a lot safer with the BMW RR. All in all, it was a good day to take a ride and meet new friends and experience a new dynamic in riding.
There was an assortment of bikes: 1-2 Kawasakis, Honda Shadow, V Max, Triumph, 3-4 Harleys, Yamahas, and one lone BMW-me. No one said much at all to me about my bike when we first started out, but at the first stop to let one of them refuel, they all ventured to take a closer look at my '05 RR. It seems like they were a little hesitant at first, but then they slowly trickled over to look at it. I heard a couple of questions, and then pretty soon a lot of "well, will you look at that?" "Look at the suspension!" "What are all those different lights for?" "You have a brake warning light????" "What are those? What is this? What does that do?" "I bet it rides smooth!" "How many cc's?" (that one puzzled me since it is written right there on the tank) "I bet that thing is really fast. I'm surprised you didn't pass us up on that long stretch." (I was trying to obey the group rules, so I stayed in their formation). "You better be careful, that thing has a lot of power. (with a little shake of the head, as if the bike had a mind of it's own.) I told them I use to have a Honda Shadow 750 (for 2 months) and traded it for the BMW because I felt like the BMW was easier and safer to handle. I don't think they believed me about that. My feeling is this: I can control the power of the bike with the throttle - very simple. But I can't control the weight of those heavy cruisers. It won't get away from me because of the power - I'm in control of that. But that Shadow could have, not because of the power, but because of the weight and lack of manueverablity. I have so much more control with this bike it seems. I guess if I were as big as they were, handling one of those big Road Kings would have been easier, but I'm not. So I feel a lot safer with the BMW RR. All in all, it was a good day to take a ride and meet new friends and experience a new dynamic in riding.
