Ducati Sporting Club UK > General > Idle Chat > Road Riding

[DAVE HARRIS]

Tony after my string of no fault accidents over the last 2 years I did think about giving up road riding, but I have always found riding home after work the best way of releiving stress and Annette would divorce me!
seriously annette and i avoid group rides as in our experience unless the riders know each other extremely well the potential for disaster is too high, we (i) try to ride at reasonable speeds and follow the advise given to us by a friend who is an ex police rider/instuctor the crux of it being only go as fast as you can see and observe speed limits within reason.

by the very fact that you did not have the accident and had observed all the factors you showed that your observation and judgement was spot on. you cannott prevent other people having accidents but by using good judgement you can avoid the most common accidents.

If you carry on road riding your skills stay current if you stop and then restart you have to relearn everrthing that is instincive now. plus I thought that angie was thinking of getting a licence? who would she have to ride with when learning how to survive on the roads.

dave

[dickieducati]

Originally posted by weeksy
So lets assume you do 100mph + lads, on for example 10 occassions during a ride....

Doesn't the possible consequences of that concern you ? or is that part of the pleasure, the 'beating the system' type thing?

Letss face it, i've been 140+ on the road lots of times, and the only thing you find yourself with for that is 4 weeks in a 8x8.

i very rarely look at my speed when out on a ride apart from in 30 and 40 limits when i stick to them. but when i do occasionally glance at the speedo to see 130 or 140 odd is not uncommon, mostly on single carriageway A and B roads.
it is very easy to get used to these kind of speeds but the roads, and especially other road users are not dialed into them.

[JPM]

Tony,

Thought crosses my mind most days, especially after my recent misfortune, was that down to crap on the road? or the surface? there was several patches of differing tarmac there.

Luckily for me though I have some of the best roads within 45 minutes of where I live, and also have Lily to give me a good kick up the arse to convince me to go out and ride. I do think however that maybe I should get another bike for the road, not a sportsbike, maybe a retard who knows.

I could easily afford to just do trackdays, but I would have to change my way of thinking and lifestyle to a degree, buy a van, have more time off work etc, etc, and if I was going to do that solely I'd probably ask myself why aren't I racing?

What you need is to have a nice biking holiday somewhere, either in the UK (Lake District etc) or Europe, either a WSB/GP round or just a blat to the ring etc with Mav, I'm sure that would swing things around, although I cannot think of anything less appealing than riding in and around London if I am honest.

HTH

[Ray]

I do a mix of track, and what I would describe as careful road riding.

Maybe about half a dozen track days a year, trying to avoid the expensive tracks. For me the track is place where you can fully open the throttle without fear of getting pulled up, coming across unexpected debris/shite on the surface, hitting some loon coming the other way head on and if the worst does happen I'm not going to be left sitting or worse at the side of the road waiting for a good samaritan.
Riding on the track is a place where you can fully explore your own limits in a relatively controlled environment.

I try and ride as if every one else on the road is trying to kill me. I would call myself a slow and careful rider, but I have heard some feedback that some consider the rideouts too fast. On the other hand I know some who consider the rideouts too slow. Rideouts/meet are the social side of biking, if some want to tear off at speed and they are happy they know the route then thats fine by me, but some are happy to pootle along and enjoy the scenery, I would like to think it's possible to cater for both.

A solo ride out on the road can be enjoyable on traffic free roads, the joy of biking is that if do go to a big venue like Squires there is pretty much always someone ready to have a chat while wandering round.

There is little doubt in my mind that there is more to stopping what the authorities see as carnage on roads than speed but as ever the minority of "head bangers" get noticed over the majority of considerate riders. 100 bikes enjoy a safe ride to Helmsley doesn't get media attention but biker caught at 100mph plus carving up the traffic or biker slices pensioners metro in half does.

The equations are simple

Speeding + an accident = victims

Speeding + no accident = no victims

No speeding + accident = victims

so even if you eradicate speeding in the UK you still get victims

Ray.

[Steve M]

didn't do much road riding while I was racing ( 9 years ) , but I love road riding now (and I've calmed down) and will probably just do one trackday a year - the DSC one.

I know bikes are dangerous, but I accept the risks and try to keep them to a minimum.

[BDG]

Very interesting thread Tony, accidents like the one you've described often prompt a re assesment of things, and as a few people have said good friends have been lost.

Of course the upcoming waffle is just personal too me, but if you are still inspired (not by my waffle) you will want to carry on road riding, if you have severe doubts, give it a break and see if you miss it.

However not being able to ride on the road would drive me insane. I've done 1 or 2 track days a year since 93, enjoy them, but am pretty slow on the track, lack of confidence!? and the fear of wrecking my pride and joy, although that might be different if i had a dedicated track bike. Confidence on the road for me is a different issue as i've covered an awfull lot of miles on a bike and feel comfortable.

Despite having done a lot of miles, and been a bit of a loon on the roads at times i cannot stress how valuble some form of advanced training has been for me. Ignore the boring BMW riding, flatcap, pipe and slippers image of Advanced training, get the right training and it will do wonders for your riding and could save your life. I'd done half a million miles despatching before i took some training, so imagine how many bad habits i'd picked up, or how clever i thought i was.

Bikes in general i just LOVE, whether it be tinkering in the garage, planning the next trip, riding on the road, even in bad weather, although obviously prefer the sun, and riding off road.

like Dave Harris said even the commute home from work can be a real excercise in stress relief.

I love a bloody good (quick but safe/ not insane) thrash on the road, but much prefer to ride either on my own or with a very small group of mates who all know each other very well and trust each other. If i do have to ride with an unknown group there is always someone too quick/slow/mad/better/ or just bad. Don't mind if they're better but all the rest are of concern.

Town riding can be fun, even in London but it is an art (not sure if 25 years of despatch riding qualifies as art though )

Another aspect of biking i love is travelling, although of course kids do curtail that a bit (only got 3 foreign bike trips planned for this year and only for a week at a time, as i really miss the wife and family)

The foreign trips are what i would class as 'Performance Touring' not loaded up like a Goldwing, and the feeling of downing the first cold beer at the end of a good days ride is a real highlight for me, as is exploring different places, meeting new people etc.

France is on the doorstep, Greece, Yugoslavia (as was) and Morocco are just a few days ride away and every day is an adventure.

Off roading is great fun if you want a change from road riding.

Having said all that, despite track days, touring, off roading; the buzz of opening the garage to see the 996 there, getting kitted up and going for a good ride on the road for a few hours to blow the cobwebs out, empty your head of day to day concerns, whether trivial or serious concerns, and settle into the mental concentration of you, the bike and the road is truly an experience that is very satisfying, better than drugs, (though not as good as sex) that really is irreplacable for me, and you don't need to wait for a track day/race etc. You can nip out on your local fav roads for a few hours (not quite as easy if you live in London of course)

My apologies for rambling on so long, and sorry if it may sound a bit me, me , me but i just trying to use personal experiences to demonstrate my passion.

Life is full of risks, it a case of how you deal with them.

[Edited on 20-4-2005 by BDG]

[PDL]

Very good post, indeed.

I believe you were riding correctly for the road conditions, and that’s fine. The SV lad has learnt a valuable lesson and this is road riding is about limiting your exposure to the dangers, what he did increased his chances of a crash.

Limiting the danger would be riding a little faster on your favourite B road, with no traffic and no blind bends. The difference is you know what your bike is capable of and you know the safe places to practice it.

I broke my arm snowboarding, guess what I was going too fast, hey there is danger in everything.

[desmojen]

Good thread Tp!
I stopped road riding 18 months ago because we were starting to get too insane, and also because we were doing more and more track days.
I then did some racing as well as you all know. I didn't really miss road riding at that time. This year rolls around and I can't afford to go racing as I bankrupted myself last year. I can't even afford to do many track days. I dearly wanted to join all you guys at Cadwell but couldn't afford to pay for it at the time, so I can't come.
Because of all that I could see that the only way I was going to get any use out of my beloved ducati was to put her back on the road. The thing is, I used to have this real competitive streak, much like the description of SV man. But now, I don't really feel the need to prove myself. I've been at the sharp end, I know what I can do and I'm comfortable with that.
I also find the roads quite a scary place, and whilst I do ride fast, I don't ride as fast as I used to.
It'll be the same for you. You can't beat the social aspect of a ride out with your mates or a day out at the races. Like deej says, it just isn't the same in a car!

[Gaz 748]

I love my road riding and my bike, thought about getting a 999/998 but why bother, I love the look of my 748R and its plenty fast enough, you have to get up pretty early to miss the traffic and when the sun is out its even worse.
I like track days but had a big off at Brands last summer, the cost/risk means its not worth it. As much as I like to ride its social side I enjoy as well. I have a family and kids to think as well to think about, but my bike is my pride a joy and I still love the thrill of riding a sports bike.