Like Led Zeppelin in December 2007, the winter of 2016 decided to make a quick short comeback this week, bringing a few frosty mornings to the South Coast, annoying every biker by doing so.
I vowed to myself a few years back, that I wouldn't take the bike out when the temperatures were close to freezing. Doing lots of rural riding, I theorised that it would be all to easy to hit a really cold spot on the road and end up in a hedge or worse, under something coming the other way. As a result, the riding this week has been a little limited, with the car subbing in on those colder mornings.
Saying that, the riding I have done has been pretty good. With the FireBlade taking most of the honours this week, after fixing a small oil leak on the Ducati (loose oil cooler hose), I took the 1098s out this morning on what I call the Wimborne-Shaftsbury-Salisbury loop. If you ever find yourself in Dorset, this route makes use of some of the best roads in my local area and doesn't take all day either.
The weather was chilly and overcast and the BBC weather team say that today's weather will be the best of the weekend, so setting the alarm and getting out nice and early, what followed was a little over 2hrs of great riding punctuated by a Neros coffee in the middle.
Traffic was very light and any vehicles en-route were quickly and easily dispatched, becoming smaller and smaller in the awful vibrating mirrors of the Ducati.
Its only really when riding out alone like this that I can really accurately assess my riding and I feel that I'm getting into some bad habits regarding road reading and position. All to often I find myself in positions that are limiting my view, turning into corners too early and not picking up the vanishing point properly. All these are combining to a ride that could have been better, smoother and easier.
As with any problems, acknowledging them is the first step to correcting them. My riding plan for this year is now to really work on where I put the bike in the corners to maximise that view of the road ahead. Maybe its time to give Rapid Training another call.
I vowed to myself a few years back, that I wouldn't take the bike out when the temperatures were close to freezing. Doing lots of rural riding, I theorised that it would be all to easy to hit a really cold spot on the road and end up in a hedge or worse, under something coming the other way. As a result, the riding this week has been a little limited, with the car subbing in on those colder mornings.
Saying that, the riding I have done has been pretty good. With the FireBlade taking most of the honours this week, after fixing a small oil leak on the Ducati (loose oil cooler hose), I took the 1098s out this morning on what I call the Wimborne-Shaftsbury-Salisbury loop. If you ever find yourself in Dorset, this route makes use of some of the best roads in my local area and doesn't take all day either.
The weather was chilly and overcast and the BBC weather team say that today's weather will be the best of the weekend, so setting the alarm and getting out nice and early, what followed was a little over 2hrs of great riding punctuated by a Neros coffee in the middle.
Traffic was very light and any vehicles en-route were quickly and easily dispatched, becoming smaller and smaller in the awful vibrating mirrors of the Ducati.
Its only really when riding out alone like this that I can really accurately assess my riding and I feel that I'm getting into some bad habits regarding road reading and position. All to often I find myself in positions that are limiting my view, turning into corners too early and not picking up the vanishing point properly. All these are combining to a ride that could have been better, smoother and easier.
As with any problems, acknowledging them is the first step to correcting them. My riding plan for this year is now to really work on where I put the bike in the corners to maximise that view of the road ahead. Maybe its time to give Rapid Training another call.
RSS Feed
