Winter Desperation!!! A bike tale.

[GraeBird]

I just took my garbage out. Shoveled a little path as I walked to the garage. But I had an awesome secret:D:. I had keys to Tuk (My Suzuki) in my pocket. I'm sitting on this bike and maybe even startin her up!

Sitting on the bike turned into moving the bike around in the garage, engine off, just to handle her. Almost turned her around into my husband's brand new bike. That would be very bad. But, ohhhh, how good it feels to sit on Tuk.

The "engine off" turned into "engine on" (both garage doors went up - no asphyxiation here) and neutral turned into first and just a little tiny practice at taking off in first in a straight line about ohhh.... let's say 10 feet. Did this for a about five minutes, backing her up in neutral, every (oh let's say) 9 feet, or was it 8 feet? We have a small garage. :)

In neutral one more time and gave Tuk some throttle to give her engine some nice winter nutrients. :): THEN I thought about countersteering. Why is it so stinkin' confusing? Press left, go right. Huh? Yah and kill yourself or someone else, which I almost did during my MSF course because of these instructions. Luckily, both instructors survived my countersteering confusion.

OK - so remembering the videos I've been watching this winter, I know that you press left, just momentarily. Remember riding a bicycle? Really quickly you made that little jaunt one way before you turned the other way? OHHHHH... is that what they mean? Then why do they say they bike leans right if you press left?

I look down at Tuk's tank. Well - wait a minute. Lookie there. The wheel is turning left as you would expect, but the tank could easily be leaning the other way... is it? hmmm... is that what they mean?

And the moral of this story is that this is how I'm going to beat the winter "lack-of-riding" blues! Any comments about this tank time (as in think tank and Tuk tank) would be greatly appreciated!

[Cyclone67]

Just please wear a helmet, even when just playing in the garage!!! There is a really scary face plant story on ADVrider from a guy who fractured his skull and got brain damage from moving his bike in the garage.

Spring will be here soon!!

[indianscout]

You've got the right idea GraeBird. Familiarizing yourself with your bike is always a good idea. And now that you are not under pressure of being in class, you can go through things they talked about without having to deal with information overload. You'll be surprised next spring when you find yourself back on your bike!

[Luna Tique]

I have been know to hang out in the Bat Cave during the cold nasty days of winter day dreaming of trips past and yearning for a nice day to scoot around my mountain.:riding:

[KansasKawboy]

If it's to cold to open the doors you can always make vroom vroom noises. You will be in good company, lots of us do it.

[Follow]

If it's to cold to open the doors you can always make vroom vroom noises. You will be in good company, lots of us do it.


I agree, vroom vroom away. put your pod in there garage and play M/C sounds (maybe).:lol: Have fun.

[indianscout]

Or how about a TV with a recording of a nice section of road? Add a small fan to put the wind back in your face and you'll be all set!! :lol:

[GraeBird]

[quote=KansasKawboy;141625]If it's to cold to open the doors you can always make vroom vroom noises. You will be in good company, lots of us do it.[/quote

:lol: That cracked me up..... Of course, if my kids walk in you'll have to ride out and visit me in the looney bin....

[GraeBird]

Just please wear a helmet, even when just playing in the garage!!! There is a really scary face plant story on ADVrider from a guy who fractured his skull and got brain damage from moving his bike in the garage.

Spring will be here soon!!


Cyclone - what happened?? I wasn't ignoring you - after I read that late last night I thought "how the heck?" It didn't even dawn on me to put on a helmet.... woops.

[Cyclone67]

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=352566&highlight=Garage

Here's a link. He was just moving the bike into the garage and had a no speed drop. After reading this, I put my helmet on to even SIT on my bikes. You just have to remember that if your foot happens to slip and you go over, there are several hundred pounds of inertia and energy going with you!!

Have fun!! You should totally set up a fan so you get the wind effect going!!!

[Lion_Lady]

...
In neutral one more time and gave Tuk some throttle to give her engine some nice winter nutrients. :): THEN I thought about countersteering. Why is it so stinkin' confusing? Press left, go right. Huh? Yah and kill yourself or someone else, which I almost did during my MSF course because of these instructions. Luckily, both instructors survived my countersteering confusion.

Actually, its "Press left, go left."

. . . OK - so remembering the videos I've been watching this winter, I know that you press left, just momentarily. Remember riding a bicycle? Really quickly you made that little jaunt one way before you turned the other way? OHHHHH... is that what they mean? Then why do they say they bike leans right if you press left?

I look down at Tuk's tank. Well - wait a minute. Lookie there. The wheel is turning left as you would expect, but the tank could easily be leaning the other way... is it? hmmm... is that what they mean!. . .

Yup. That's what happens, and we instructors generally try to stop students from this "spiral" into apparent nonsense. My usual response is, "If you've ridden a bicycle, you've almost certainly counter-steered. Don't get tangled up in the explanation, wait until we get out on the range, and it will make sense."

Counter-STEERING and Counter WEIGHTING often get confused in students' minds. Counter steering is what you use at speeds of over 15-20 mph (Press left, go left). Counter weighting is what you use at very slow speed - shifting your weight to the right in turning left at slow speed and vice versa.

P

[GraeBird]

Thank you LL. For whatever reason, in my class, we heard about countersteering a lot. Counterweighting is great. Got that part no problem. Got swerving no problem. By the end of the class, I enjoyed going through cones. But in re-reading my MSF riding book, I'm not sure how I got so confused on this countersteering. The funny thing is - during the part of the test where the instructor gives you the direction to go towards? THAT is when I flubbed BIG TIME. He kept saying counter steer. "Go just a little right if I point left." I honestly did not do ONE of those exercises correctly.

Until the test... lol. I had already flubbed figure 8 a bit, and then the instructor/direction thing was up and I was so flustered/frustrated that I resigned myself to the fact that if I was going to flunk this test, I was going to flunk it MY way... and lo and behold. I did it perfect. Craig (the instructor) asked me after the test how I flubbed the figure 8, which I had done fine numerous times, and did so perfect and the other exercise!!!