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Suck it up and ride or take a refresher course?

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if you don't want to spend the time on the bike, i imagine if you take the m exit course there will be others like yourself who are plenty rusty with not a lot of relevant seat time. . .i'm pretty sure those guys pass too. . .

just a thought
 
Erindale station & Burnhamthorpe area
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That's very straight forward

Come straight across Burnamthorpe over the 403 and right on 9th line.

Straight up to Steeles - very easy road - to ride as it parallels the 403 so only a couple of cross streets all the way up past the 401 and 407 .....it's my daily escape route.

Right on Steeles one block and north on that road one block.

Turn right to Winston Churchill and left all the way to the end at King Road. ( slow way down on the rallway crossing - it's horrid )

Turn right on King through a couple of lovely twisties and left on Mississauga Road ( don't go further north on Winston as it's gravel )

Cruise into Belfountain with a big grin and have lovely coffee and say hi to everyone....retrace on the way home.

I'm happy to lead you - heading up there in about 1/2 hour - but just email me when you want to go.

I don't even mind riding over to your place first time - I'm just at Winston and Burnathorpe

••••

should I not be worryin about the downshifting aspect for now and just pull in the clutch and break for lights? I drive a stick shift and im used to downshifting so it feels unnatural and a bit out of control to just do that?
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you are very correct about feeling out of control - it's a critical skill and one that comes with time - that's the parking lot x 30 I was talking about.

come down from 30k to a smooth stop..... shifting down correctly each time.
DON"T COAST. It's a horrid habit and hard to break.
I'm glad you understand that from your cage experience
 
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Im goin to try this route hopefully early sunday... I work overnights so unfortunately cant go today :sAny other suggestions w regards to downshifting? My car doesnt rev as much as my bike when I tried downshifting :sAny other suggestions with regards to hittin main roads for the 1st time?
MacDoc said:
That's very straight forwardCome straight across Burnamthorpe over the 403 and right on 9th line.Straight up to Steeles - very easy road - to ride as it parallels the 403 so only a couple of cross streets all the way up past the 401 and 407 .....it's my daily escape route.Right on Steeles one block and north on that road one block.Turn right to Winston Churchill and left all the way to the end at King Road. ( slow way down on the rallway crossing - it's horrid )Turn right on King through a couple of lovely twisties and left on Mississauga Road ( don't go further north on Winston as it's gravel )Cruise into Belfountain with a big grin and have lovely coffee and say hi to everyone....retrace on the way home.I'm happy to lead you - heading up there in about 1/2 hour - but just email me when you want to go.I don't even mind riding over to your place first time - I'm just at Winston and Burnathorpe••••you are very correct about feeling out of control - it's a critical skill and one that comes with time - that's the parking lot x 30 I was talking about.come down from 30k to a smooth stop..... shifting down correctly each time.DON"T COAST. It's a horrid habit and hard to break.I'm glad you understand that from your cage experience
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Email me if you want I can lead you up on Sunday. macdoc@macdoc.com

weather looks fine - they open at 5 am so anytime after that. Early mornings are nice to poke around as there is little wind.

Have a look here if you want to make a longer day of it -

http://wingnutty.ca

good luck if I don't see you. The only nervous point might be left off steeles onto the side road but on a Sunday should be fine..just make sure if you stop to turn left to stay in the middle of the lane - don't hug the centre line.
 
I get home from work around 8am so hopefully traffic isnt too brutal at that time on a sunday and plannin on heading out that time...hopefully I dont embarass myself too badly or worse, injure the bike (and me i guess) in the process LOL
 
LOL lets see if I can make it on and off burnhamthorpe/erin mills first LOL
 
LOL sadly im still at work in East TO...in my car lol.gonna leave soon so crossed fingers!
 
I had not ridden in 4 years when I got my bike...Prior to that all my experience was under 350cc. I have the same bike as you and rode it home to Mississauga from Kahuna the day I got her. I never felt that I couldn't do it...neither should you. You have a M2 so you're obviously competent, just start riding as much as you can and don't be scared.
 
I take a refresher course every year. I've always learned something from it.
 
I say suck in all that worry and just go out and ride. Bikes are meant to be dropped, thrashed and ridden hard. Push the bike to its limits as you become comfortable. Try riding to work, commutes are easy and you can start off taking city streets. Stop and go traffic is the best training.
 
now now - confidence is an odd thing

I have 43 years riding history ( I'm a sailplane pilot as well and pilots MUST have a mix of confidence and competence ) since a teen but took several off due to hand problems.

Got back in to riding when my son turned 16 and wanted to ride instead of a cage.

So bought a KLR 650 and all came back okay - had fun but purely local.

Still had hand issues and no storage and the damn thing was way to heavy to even think of off road even if there were decent riding areas.

So moved to a Honda Silverwing....storage solved, hand issues solved.

BUT I can still recall being nervous about longer rides -thought Belfountain required strategic planning.....
and the Honda sucked on the 400 series even tho buddy with same bike and very little riding experience was fine with it......go figure.
Damn thing liked to track road ruts and got bucked around over 120kph.

Moved to the Burgman and 400 issues solve - I still have to think about not tensing up when a road rut comes up - the Burgman tracks perfectly - even leaned over ( that crack in the pavement on King Road on the way to Belfoutain ).

Same the first Pennsylvania 3 day ride - not sure how aging torso with arthritis would handle 3 days in the twisties ( marvelously as it turned out - bike and rider)
All confidence , not sure of border etc and riding skills....all went smoothly and opened new vistas and playgrounds.

Even recently that Jame Bay Road was an iffy undertaking from a confidence standpoint....1000k days - long ways north.
Was humming and hawing about it - glad I did it, would not do it again.

BUT it gave me a new confidence in getting to new playgrounds, carrying spare fuel and riding for extended periods in the 150-160 range. ( found the weakness in the suspension for sure )>

At one time a ride to Georgian Bay was something to plan = now it's get on and go and now even Northern Quebec and Northern Ontario are not given too much concern ( tho still require planning ).

The first steps out are the hardest and I still cannot stand say riding in traffic on a Saturday or rush hour anywhere - too nerve racking yet I know there are riders here who think nothing of it.

Riding with a partner helps all around...people are here to get you past that first few rides but YOU gotta take the step.....
 
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MacDoc said:
I'm back at the Shed again after an 8 hour loop - did you make it?
Crazy busy now.
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Yup made it out for about an hour... wish it coulda been more but having been up for 18 hrs at that point didnt seem healthy...that and im guessing since my helmet isnt broken in yet, it was startin to hurt my head. I am happy to say I did make it around "main" roads, ie burnhamthorpe, winston church...was really wantin to hit the highway but chickened out...very tempting though but realized maybe since it was my first day on real roads vs residential that I shouldnt do highway all in the same day lol...
hopin to do that route you mentioned soon though... either sunday after work again...or monday/tuesday/wed next week
 
Is it just cuz im new or is it my bike that my wrists are ridiculously sore the next day even after just an hour or two on the bike?
Am I gripping my bars wrong or something?
 
ice05 said:
Is it just cuz im new or is it my bike that my wrists are ridiculously sore the next day even after just an hour or two on the bike?
Am I gripping my bars wrong or something?
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Work on not putting your weight on your hands, practice getting accustomed to supporting yourself with your legs and abdominal muscles, you will find that not only does it help your wrists, but the control you gain, particularly throttle control, is huge.

You asked several times about downshifting, I think you'll find that once your weight is off your hands your will be able to blip the throttle or just modulate it to match the next downshift with uncanny smoothness - strive for this in your practice... when your weight is on your hands the forward momentum of braking and downshifting just presses your hands harder on the grips making it harder to be "subtle" and you end up fat fingering everything... and remember this is supposed to be fun, so make the learning part of the fun rather that some horrible passage to accomplished rider.

I'm sure in a few weeks of riding you'll wonder what the heck you were concerned about. Good luck to you and enjoy the process.
 
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Good for you - it's a start. Sore hands are the norm for a while and even for some like me long term.
Carman is correct in his advice.
Once you relax a bit that will help as well.

Smooth downshifting to a stop through all the gears is a vital skill and big empty parking lots are your friend.

I'll be out finding one for some panic stops on the Burgman to see what the ABS does for me.

I'm also not happy with my slow speed balance on the Burgman so some of that in order as well - the transmission "releases" suddenly at low speed mimicking what you do with the clutch the last few yards and on downgrade that can catch me by surprise so want to figure it out....maybe drag the rear brake a touch.
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