Around The Bay: Part 2, an Informed ride

Putting on the miles and building muscle memory.

A couple of recent articles informed my circumnavigation of Georgian Bay.

Bike magazine's resident lawyer had a great piece on the dangers of the over educated novice rider.  He made the poignant observation that people who haven't had a lot of seat time but have over-thought riding to the nth degree often have much nastier crashes than less trained but more experienced riders.  Sometimes the best thing to do is instinctively grab as much brake as you can instead of overthinking an impending disaster.  Perhaps riding is more of an art than a science, informed by experience, not training.

As a teacher I found this critical assessment of instruction over experience to be both interesting and probably accurate.  There is a lot of anxiety over motorcycle riding from the general public  I was determined to get some saddle time and learn the hard way rather than in theory.  The over-focus on training and gear tries to mitigate this fear, and it helps to a degree, but if fear is what drives you, I'd suggest that motorcycling isn't what you should be doing.

The second piece was Neil Graham's editorial in this month's Cycle Canada.  Neil is getting back to form after an agonizing winter back injury.  After everyone else had moved on Neil stayed out on track until it became kind of boring and he relaxed into the ride.  In his case it was track riding on the edge, but it still spoke to the teaching of muscle memory, something that became evident in the previous Bike piece as well.

On my way out of Southern Ontario I was intentionally trying to untense muscles, especially the ones I subconsciously tense when I'm riding.  Yoga probably helps with this, but I was able to sense and untense muscles in my legs and backside while riding.  Being loose and heavy on the bike allowed me to ride further without fatigue.  It also allowed me to respond to issues quickly and lightly.  Being able to free your mind from the demands of your body and put yourself into a state of relaxation also opens up a state of heightened awareness.

Riding into my driveway on Sunday afternoon I was exhausted but elated and felt like I was coming out of some deep meditation.  My mind was full of the 900 kms I'd seen, smelled and felt, and the soreness became something that I'd worked through; the second wind was a real endorphin rush.  After the three hundred plus kilometre stretch down the backside of Georgian Bay I suddenly found myself operating beyond the soreness of the long ride.  Coming off the very demanding highway ride to quiet back roads probably helped too.

If you're able to find a state of intense focus while performing a strenuous mental and physical activity like riding a motorcycle, you tend to be able to find that state much more easily when you're not on the bike and things are easier.  Being able to focus and perform while under duress makes entering that state of intense awareness in other circumstances that much easier.

I guess I found that moment beyond the thinking and training where I relaxed into the saddle and became the ride.  If long distance riding can do that, I suspect I'm eventually going to want to do the deed and get my iron butt.

Links

People who think they are invincible, then suddenly realize they aren't and quit
Is the person who ignores danger with delusions of invincibility brave, or stupid?
The kind of intelligent insight you expect from Quora
An insightful examination of what motorcycling is.
An idiotic infographic that focuses on the people who choose to ride more than riding
See the top link - deluded thrill seekers are a part of the motorcycle community, the stupid part.
Another idiotic infographic that focuses on obvious truth (doing dangerous things is dangerous!), but so is obesity, smoking and getting older
The safest thing to do is exercise in a rubber box, never take any risks in anything and kill yourself before you get old (getting old is going to kill you!)

Around The Bay: Part 1, to the north

Around the Bay in a day and a bit
860kms plus another 50 across the bay

I'm back after a day and a half marathon around Georgian Bay.  Just over 900kms including 50 on a ferry, and I'm beat!

I left at about 8am on Saturday morning and struck north west toward the Bruce Peninsula.  The farms were pretty in the morning sun but soon got pretty repetitive.  I find Southern Ontario quite tedious with few curves through never ending farm deserts, I was looking forward to getting up onto The Bruce and feeling like I wasn't local any more.

It was a cool, sunny morning and I stopped for coffee and a fill up at the Shell in Hanover.  Putting on a sweater I continued north when suddenly my otherwise rock-solid 21 year old Kawasaki Concours started hesitating at part throttle.  It was annoying but not trip destroying.  I immediately began to suspect that Hanover gasoline.

Soon enough I pulled into Wiarton, the gateway to the Bruce, and got myself a warm sausage roll and a very nice (not gas station) coffee at Luscious Bakery & Cafe on the main street; it's a great place to stop before riding onto the windy Bruce Peninsula.

Parked in Wiarton, the Luscious Cafe & Bakery is worth a stop!

I like 'em rough and ready

The Concours, not nearly so precious
with its kintsugi gold filled cracks...

Another idyllic night ride home this evening.  On the way in I saw an older Honda on the side of the road with a for-sale sign on it, so I made a point of stopping on the way home in the dark to have a look.

It's a 1974 Honda XL175.  It looks like the owner is asking almost two thousand dollars for it, which seems a bit precious.  I suppose this is officially a classic now, and with nostalgic Boomers wrestling with Hipsters to snap them up, a couple of grand may very well be possible.  It has less than three thousand miles on it and looks like it's been well loved.  

I think I'll save my money for something a bit less 'just so'.  I'm not interested in getting a dual sport bike so I can rub it with a diaper.  Having said that, Mars Orange sure is a striking colour!

For a 1974 (41 year old!) motorbike, it's obviously led a charmed life.
If you're suddenly in love, you can find it here

Around Georgian Bay

Everyone's busy this weekend so, and to quote Freddie Mercury, I'm going to take a long ride on my motorbike.  Time for my first circumnavigation of a Great Lake, I'll start small with Georgian Bay.  From Elora I'll strike north to Tobermory.  There is a 1:30 ferry to Manitoulin Island, that's the only must get to (gotta get there an hour before departure, so 12:30pm in Tobermory).

I'm aiming for Little Current to overnight.  We stopped there last summer and it seems a lovely spot to spend the night, and The Hawberry Motel looks the part.   That'll put me 340kms and a two hour ferry ride into an 873km circumnavigation.

Sunday morning I'm on the winding road up to Espanola and then over to Sudbury before the long ride south.  It might seem like a stretch but the ride south includes some time on the 400, so I'll get to see how the Concours manages highway riding while making some time down the other side of the bay.  Once I get back south of the Bay I'll cut over to the coast and follow it around before heading south out of Wasaga Beach for the final push home.

This ride is the longest I've yet done, and it also includes a ferry ride.  I'm pretty revved up about it!  Friday night will be the pre-flight checks then on the road Saturday morning.  My buddy Jeff has said he'll do the first leg with me up to Tobermory, so I'll also get to do some miles in formation.  Another box checked.

Here are the posts from the trip:
Part 1: To the North
Part 2: An informed ride
Part 3: Highway Miles
Part 4: The Kit
Part 5: Media from the Trip

The Concours is sorted and doing regular duty commuting me to work, time to stretch her legs...

LINKS

The Ferry

The Hawberry Motel

The Map

The Trip Itself

Motorcycle Handling & Chassis Design

Tony Foale's brilliant engineering manual, Motorcycle Handling & Chassis Design, gives you an inside, technical look at how motorbikes operate.  It also gives you some idea of just how precarious the act of piloting a motorcycle is.  Much is said about how free people feel when riding and the physics behind flying on two wheels makes it that much more magical.

That first time you roll on the throttle and your feet leave the ground not to come back down again for miles, you get that sensation of flight.  Your senses are alive on a motorbike as the world makes itself felt in many different ways.

The naked exposure you feel when riding is obvious.  What is less obvious are the hidden forces at work that allow you to do crazy things like hang sideways while cornering.

Anyone who has seen a racing motorcycle suddenly hit the ground can speak to how suddenly these balancing forces can fall out of sync.  Foale's book is full of helpful diagrams that clarify some pretty arcane physics.

Cornering on a bike is one of the most complex and misunderstood aspects of riding.  Keith Code does a good job of explaining this in Twist of the Wrist.  Foale's approach is more interested in the mechanics of the machine and how it handles the forces working on it.

From a rider's perspective, corning is a balancing act, but from the suspension's perspective things get a lot heavier when you're bending into a corner.

Compared to a car, motorcycles have very different dynamics that often surprise riders when they are testing the extremes of two wheeled dynamics.  Reading Foale's book (though he pitches pretty hard) is worth it even if you're only getting a sense of just how differently the 'integrated system' that is a motorcycle works.

Foale also gets into the geometry of the motorcycle.  From wheelbase and centre of gravity to more complex issues like how suspension height changes those fundamental forces.  Of course, in a corner a the suspension is severely compressed, changing the bike's responses in dramatic ways.  You get a real sense of how connected and complicated the physics of riding is after reading this book.

The copy I read was the 2002 version, but he still managed to work some of the newer computer based analysis of motorcycle physics.  Static pressure and its role on aerodynamics is a relatively new aspect of motorcycle theory, but Foale covers it.

You can find the latest version of this technical manual online from Foale's website, but you can get a good idea of what it's all about from Google Books.  I'm curious enough about changes and updates that I think I'm going to spring for the new PDF ebook.

Road Trip Insanity

Over thirteen hundred kilometres in two days? Bring the pain!

I'm still looking for a DRZ-400.  I just found one way up in Thunder Bay.  Here's a stupid but interesting idea:  fly up Friday, pick up the bike Saturday morning and ride it home by Sunday night.

Leave Saturday morning from Thunder Bay and trace the north shore of Gitchegumee to Sault Ste. Marie where I'd overnight Saturday after my first nearly 700km day.

Sunday morning would have me up early to tackle the final 650kms home.  At least I'd be able to pass out on the ferry from Manitoulin to Tobermory.

Insane?  Probably, especially on a 400cc dual sport bike mainly designed for the dirt, but that's also what would make it interesting.

Pearson to Thunder Bay late on a Friday night, about three hundred bucks

It's nearly June and they are still below zero overnight in Thunder Bay, so it'd be a bag of layers I'd be bringing up with me.  The riding temperature range may go from around zero all the way up into the thirties, so flexibility is key!  A water proof duffel bag for the back of the bike would work as carry on luggage and a universal way to carry gear on the bike.

In that bag I'd chuck a helmet and goggles, a face scarf, motorcycle jacket, pants and rain gear.  I'd wear bike boots onto the plane.  Repair wise I'd bring a mini tool kit and some chain lube.  Clothing would have to be everything from polar fleece to thin cotton to cover the possible temperatures.

A nice, clean, low km bike ready for an insane trip home?

It's buying an unknown bike from a stranger, though this particular one is low kms and looks very well looked after.  There are things I could do to ensure the bike is ready to go.  With some emails between the seller I think I could convince them to prep the bike for the trip as part of the purchase price.  I'm not sure about the legal requirements but if they safety it and scan it to me I could appear up there with plates, ownership and insurance ready to go.

So what would this buy-a-bike-instant-road-trip insanity cost?  They are asking $3500 for this '07 Suzuki with 14,000kms on it.  I'd be ok with the asking price if it includes the safety and prep for the return trip.  On top of that I'm looking at about $300 for the flight up there, $300 for hotels on the way back down and sundry costs (gas, food, ferry, etc).  Lets say another $300.  Forty four hundred bucks for the DRZ I'm looking for and an insane road trip to boot from The North?  Sounds like a fun weekend!

If I had more disposable income I'd be dangerous!

MotoGP vs. Formula 1

A very expensive traffic jam

I just finished watching the F1 parade in Monte Carlo.  Watching the massive, modern F1 cars (so wide they practically fill the road) following each other through the streets of Monte Carlo reminded me why I've been watching MotoGP instead.  It's not uncommon to see multiple lead changes on a single lap in MotoGP, and dozens of mid-field overtakings during a race.  It's uncommon to see any lead changes in an F1 race and a driver climbing through the field has become a rarity.  At Monte Carlo this morning the only overtaking was political.

I started watching F1 during Michael Schumacher's rookie year and followed him all the way through his career.  My favourite race of his was '94 in Spain where he managed second place while stuck in one gear.  Spain a couple of years later was a master class in keeping an F1 car on the pavement in torrential rain.  While the engineering is interesting in F1 it's not why I watched it regularly for over two decades, it was because of the brilliance of the drivers.

I'm now into my second season of watching Motogp.  The first race I watched had a resurgent 34(!) year old Valentino Rossi chasing the astonishing Marc Marquez (beginning a record breaking run of wins) to a one two finish with multiple lead changes in a single lap.

It's hard to see just how much a MotoGP racer works their tires.

Slow motion is the way to go if you want to see just how much

they drift on a single wheel.

In one of the early races an announcer mentioned how in Formula One the car is the majority of the equation whereas in Motogp the rider is the key component.  From that moment on I made an effort to understand the complexities of riding a race bike.  Motosports that are decided by operator skill over engineering prowess (and budget) are what I'm into.  Schumi got that second place in Spain driving a second tier car.  When he started winning championships with a massive budget I was less interested.

Watching the parade around Monte Carlo reminded me of why I enjoy the bikes more.  With the rider such a big part of the equation, you'll see human excellence much more clearly on two wheels than you will with four. There is much less between a rider and the road than there is between a driver and the road.  While one is wrestling with their machine the other is setting suspension settings and adjusting engine maps.

With the Isle of Man TT coming up I'll also be able to see bikes battling on public roads just as the F1 cars didn't do on the streets of Monte Carlo. You see a lot of precision in Monte Carlo but you don't see the breath taking bravery that you'll see in the TT.  If you've never watched one before, give it a go.

This has me thinking about vehicle dynamics and the differences between motorcycles and cars... fodder for my next post...

From Tony Foale's Motorcycle Handling & Chasis Design: a must read if you're curious about motorbike dynamics

Some Links

Formula One vs. Motogp: vehicle comparison
F1 car mechanical and aerodynamic forces
Applying the fluid dynamics of F1 aerodynamics to motorcycle racing
The Physics of Motorbikes
Which is faster? F1 or MotoGP (by F1 fanatics)