To: nedod@linus.mitre.org cc: gayathri Subject: I'm a tpnb, or whoa.. Date: Mon, 06 Dec 1999 16:48:47 -0500 From: gayathri So I've been kinda waiting for the other shoe to drop -- after taking CLASS, and getting lots more comfortable on the Daytona, I'm picking up the extra 10 mph or so that's making it a lot more interesting to ride wiht squidboy on the street. (no, I didnt crash, but... ) It was a day of errors... we were supposed to hook up with some other folks to ride, but they never contacted us, then we overslept and decided to take a leisurly ride and see about finding this connecting road to make a huge loop... At the base of the crest, I think, "well, let's go to newcomb's and have lunch first and then do the loop..." Ok, so we head up. 28 miles, should take under 30 minutes. Except lots of cages. No problem, most of them know to get out of the way. We hook up behind someone with PA plates, and I can tell squidboy is laughing. They have no idea what to do, so we pull past 'em on a straight and keep going. Next we get behind a Mazda rx-7, older one -- who thought he was Mario Andretti... except 1. he was doing 50 mph (on a road with a speed limit of 55, and a real limit of closer to 70) 2. when he'd set up for right turns, he'd SWING all the way into the left lane to dive right... um. The first time I see him do this, I shook my head in disbelief, and backed way off. The second time, Squidboy and I pulled over. We waiting in a turn out for a couple of minutes, me praying he wasnt still doing this -- I wouldnt want to be a cage or biker coming the OTHER way... nor did I want to be behind him when this happened. Maybe wiht us not behind him, he'll slow down. So we start up again, and catch up to this guy not a few miles later... pull over again, since we didnt want to encourage his horrid driving. (maybe he was racing us? i dont want to know.) Get up to Newcombs to realize that 1. squidboy didnt have any cash on him (i spent all his money the day before!) and 2. i'd forgotten MY wallet... {we'd gone to RPM cycles to buy me a new pair of Helds and he bought a set of Tourmaster riding pants at a shop called Cycle Gear...} shoot. we decide to head back down the hill to find an ATM (Newcombs Ranch doesnt take credit cards!) and just as we're leaving, run into a SysAdmin Biker I know (Roland Smith, works on Cassini) who tells me as of Sunday morning, the Mars Polar Lander and DS2 missions still hadnt called home. We all get sad. Squidboy sees a Ducati Paso and a 900SS (black with white frame! like his old one. :) and we go to look at 'em. The 900ss had a polished swingarm, but the guy had kept the stock seat and the suspension... oh well. As we decide to leave, the two ducati guys get onto their bikes and pull out ahead of us... i figure we'll see 'em at the bottom of the hill, right? No such luck. I havent picked up _that_ much speed, but we easily catch up. And are slowed down by the duc riders... no biggie, squidboy and I practice follow the ducklings, until I realize the ducati guys have lines that are just so weird, I better stop looking. One of them would roll off int he middle of the corner, dropping anchor pretty hard. We come to a turn off and instead of signalling to pass, I say, "TURN, baby! let's take Upper Big T," (affectionately known as 90 mile...) Head off on our own at.. *mumble* body steering handles a lot of the light shaking up front and finally I'm where I need to be. No traffic, me and the bike and the cute boy up front. We get onto Angeles Forest, which has a whole new paved section and i'm just flowing. Recently, I gave in and installed headfones into the helmet and the background music was a random tape of Garbage, Lit, and Offspring... no Madonna _now_! (for some reason, before, whenever I fell into riding the song in my head would invariably be Madonna's get into the groove...) no traffic now at all for miles and miles.. Squidboy wicks it up and I let him go... I'd realized I was getting a little sloppy on my left turns and was a little too close to the centerline coming out of them, and just as I was thinking this, I come around a turn at a good clip to see another motorcycle's headlights. In my lane. (I'm making a left hander, he was making a right and had blown the turn... completely...) I have just enough time to see a red bike, two up and think, "Um, dont wanna be here..." as I stomp on the outside peg, pull up on the inside handlebar and slide my ass off the seat to not just straighten the bike up, but actively lean it taway from the oncoming bike (not only didnt I want to hit him, but I also didnt want to clip any handlebars!), roll on the gas (since I'd rolled off in a panic when I'd seen him!) to power the bike the wrong way in the turn. As soon as I'm Past The Danger, I'm wrenching the bike the other way, completely no longer even trying to be smooth, but making sure I make this damn turn (hey, isnt that a cliff over there!?) or at least low side it so I dont fall OFF the cliff. Gack. Squidboy tells me later its an 'f3 or an 'f4, two up. That woulda sucked... Mistake I made? I'm still coming out too close to the centerline in those left handers for me -- must dive in deeper and apex later -- wouldnt have been nearly as scarey an issue coming around the nearly blind corner that way. I didnt see the red bike had begun to blow the turn as I was already looking to the next turn, aiming for the apex and missed seeing him in the peripheral vision (kinda like how I avoid looking at rocks to avoid hitting them, I still havent gotten the trick of seeing something without quite looking at it...) Ride safe, folks -- I read about a triumph guy who hit a deer this weekend, a local labiker's friend who trashed another friend's uninsured muzzy raptor (we'll ignore the stupidity of not having insuranceon your 22K motorcycle), and the labiker who's Harley had two parking lot drops in one day, then had the electrical die on the freeway the next night, plus a freeway drop where someone directly in front slammed on their brakes, causing our hero to stoppie his 916, tap the bumper and fall over. I'm riding a lot slower today... :) i dont like those oh shit moments... Gayathri