Comfort Zone

[Gar]

Folks, I wouldn't mind hearing your thoughts on this. I've been riding motorcycles off and on since I was 18 (I'm 55 now). When I was younger I took more chances and occasionally scraped the centre stand on corners. Now I'm at the stage where I don't really feel like taking as many chances especially when I don't know what's around the corner...even so I still hit a deer last year. I really like the comfort of the TTSE, the passing power and knowing the extra cornering ability is there if I ever need it but I don't feel the need to go out and find the twistiest road I can and attack it. In fact I don't even want to do that at all anymore. Two years ago I went on a bike trip in Montana, on the twistiest road we could find. My friend who was in front of me on a TTSE went shooting around a mountain corner and just missed a rock that had fallen in the middle of the road. I was going much slower and avoided it easily. My friends still like going around corners as fast as they can and I see that many on this forum seem to migrate to that riding style as well. I'm wondering if I should be pushing my comfort zone to get back to the riding I used to do when I was young and foolish or just stick with the riding I'm now comfortable with. Thoughts?

[JerseyRider]

Gar.  That's an easy answer my fellow in arms.  I have been riding on the street since I was 17 and am your age.  There can be no doubt that you should only go at your own pace.  Making yourself uncomfortable cannot lead to a good experience and enjoying the ride is what we are all after.  Ride in your sweet spot and meet your buddy at the coffee shop at the end of the road. I'll be waiting with him! 

[Michel1960]

Originally Posted by JerseyRider

Gar.  That's an easy answer my fellow in arms.  I have been riding on the street since I was 17 and am your age.  There can be no doubt that you should only go at your own pace.  Making yourself uncomfortable cannot lead to a good experience and enjoying the ride is what we are all after.  Ride in your sweet spot and meet your buddy at the coffee shop at the end of the road. I'll be waiting with him! 

+ 1

[trophied]

Most of the time I try to ride at a pace that feels "calm" if you can call it that, and that pace may be slow one day and faster on another day.  It's a feeling in the brain that gives me a sense of being able to control the bike without ever feeling startled by anything I encounter, and I think it's related to how rested I am.  Nick Lenatsch wrote an article once about "riding in the zone", and it was just that, sometimes you're more comfortable at a faster pace and sometimes not, but always try to stay in that zone.

[BigPoppa]

I echo what others have said...ride your own pace. The small group of friends I ride with have former road racers and hence they definitely ride a much faster pace than me when we go out together. The fastest rider of the group though told me shortly after we met to ride my own pace and they'll pull over occasionally to wait for me. I may be the "GrandPa" of my group but they all appreciate when I do eventually catch up with the drinks in my top case. 

On a personal note, I do try to increase my pace in twisties from time to time, but never to a point where I'm scaring the crap out of myself. After 20+ years of street riding, I finally started attending cornering classes last year and have found that taking those classes on closed courses has done wonders for my self-confidence as well as increasing my trust in what our bikes are capable of.

[Coconut]

To me the answer is obvious - I don't want to go out and scare myself - I want go out and enjoy myself !

That might be achieved by going fast, or not so fast, but it's always with the intention of staying SAFE.

There's not much point in racing to be the first in the queue at the Accident & Emergency Department !

Having lost my elder brother to a Biking "accident" ( not excessive speed related ),
and had a close call myself, I'm quite aware of how vulnerable we all are !

[trophied]

Special incentives by coconut.  sir. God Bless.

[Volfy]

There is a difference between riding AGGRESSIVE and riding SPIRITED.  You should never do the former on public roads.  I think back to the stupid stunts I pulled when I was younger and am amazed that I'm still alive today.  We here probably all did and are old enough to know NOT to tempt fate again.

What I do enjoying doing these days is spirited riding.  It means riding at no more than 6/10th track pace, so there is plenty of reserves for reacting to contingencies.  Main focus is on improving my riding skills - with very specific goals and exercises - whether it be judging corner entry speed, line selection, body positioning, rev-match downshifting while braking, or plain old throttle control.  If this sounds a lot like track riding... you are right.  I learned more in my first track day than all the years of street riding street before that.  But all those lessons and techniques can be applied to road riding.  Best of all, spirited riding can be done without breaking the posted speed limit.

Take judging corner entry speed for example... you can do this without approaching a corner at 95mph and hard braking late into it.  It just means you estimate the right speed going into it so you can confidently maintain momentum through that turn - while holding a proper line -  then smoothly roll on throttle on exit.  Sounds easy, but most riders either carry too much speed and run wide, or too slow and scallop repeatedly to correct the line.  Get it just right, and it's nirvana on 2 wheels.

IF you haven't done so already, read Nick Ienatsch's The Pace:

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/pace

https://www.cycleworld.com/2013/09/16/become-a-better-street-rider-with-the-pace-motorcycle-safety-and-riding-skills

That is what you should be doing.