Rist Canyon
Last night I rode my motorcycle up Rist Canyon to meet my family at some friends' house.
I was amazed how much concentration was necessary to competently drive a motorcycle up a road like Rist Canyon. It is a twisty two-lane road full of such tight bends that the speed limit is around 25MPH. A lot of the turns are difficult to read because they go up steep grades, around sheer rock faces. A lot of the curves have decreasing radii. The road surface itself is uneven often negatively banked through curves.
I'm glad that I have some miles under my belt and that I attended the advanced rider course. Roads like Rist Canyon demand proper technique. I felt all of the negative behaviors that I have read about and tried to condition myself to avoid.
One behavior that I have tried to condition myself against is target fixation. Whenever you focus on an object, you unconsciously head toward it. This is especially noticeable when skiing, mountain biking, and motorcycling. On my ride up Rist Canyon, an oncoming car surprised me when I was banked over on a tight right hand curve. As soon as the car came into my field of vision, my line in the corner subtly twitched toward the car. I consciously looked at the corner's exit. I smoothly completed the curve with a wide safety margin, but it was worrisome to see that my line had been disturbed.
Also once, I started to get set up for entering a curve, worried that the curve would get tighter, so I scrubbed off some more speed before entering. I was very slightly leaned over when I hit the brakes to scrub off speed. Of course, as soon as I hit the brakes, the bike stood straight up. I know this happens. I've felt this happen before. It was still a little startling to feel it so distinctly - especially right before a treacherous curve. Again, I had an ample safety margin and entered the curve and completed it successfully.
Don't get the impression that I was burning up the road, or that I'm a totally clueless rider - I was just humbled by the amount of real world bike handling a ridiculously twisty treacherous mountain road can teach a rider, and I was thankful that I was properly prepared.
When we left to head home, it was dark. Really dark. I followed my wife in the van. I'm glad that I had her in front of me so I could judge safe corner speeds, see to the edge of her headlights, and get any deer plowed off the road before I hit them (actually we didn't see any deer, but hitting a deer on my motorcycle in the mountains at night is one thing that really scares me).
It was also cold - it was 38 degrees in town, and probably closer to 28 up towards the top of the canyon. At first I got really cold, but then my thighs got kind of numb and I started to feel much better. I think my ride to work often feels painfully cold because it's just long enough to get fully chilled, but not long enough to acclimate to the cold or become numb.
So, I don't know -- should I stop riding my motorcycle because it's challenging and difficult, I rarely do it, and I almost never ride long enough to even become acclimated to the cold? Do I want to ride more often on challenging roads to hone my bike handling skills? Do I want a different bike?
I don't know. I *do* enjoy riding. I don't know if I enjoy riding enough to pursue motorcycling as a skill for its own sake. I don't know if I want to assume the risk of riding up and down Rist Canyon just to get better. I basically like my motorcycle, but when I'm underutilized at work, I often check out the motorcycles on Denver's and Fort Collins's craigslist sites. When I want to veg out, I enjoy reading Classic Bike and Performance Bike magazines (although I almost never buy them because they're horrendously expensive).
I mainly got back into motorcycling because my brother-in-law was planning a motorcycle camping trip for his bachelor's party. I don't think this trip is even going to happen. I've thought about taking a little motorcycle tour by myself this summer, but I don't really feel the need to get away from my wife or family -- all I really want to do is spend time with them anyway.
We'll see what comes. In the mean time, I don't have any immidiate plans to sell my motorcycle, but I also drove my car to work today because it's supposed to start dumping snow this afternoon.
I was amazed how much concentration was necessary to competently drive a motorcycle up a road like Rist Canyon. It is a twisty two-lane road full of such tight bends that the speed limit is around 25MPH. A lot of the turns are difficult to read because they go up steep grades, around sheer rock faces. A lot of the curves have decreasing radii. The road surface itself is uneven often negatively banked through curves.
I'm glad that I have some miles under my belt and that I attended the advanced rider course. Roads like Rist Canyon demand proper technique. I felt all of the negative behaviors that I have read about and tried to condition myself to avoid.
One behavior that I have tried to condition myself against is target fixation. Whenever you focus on an object, you unconsciously head toward it. This is especially noticeable when skiing, mountain biking, and motorcycling. On my ride up Rist Canyon, an oncoming car surprised me when I was banked over on a tight right hand curve. As soon as the car came into my field of vision, my line in the corner subtly twitched toward the car. I consciously looked at the corner's exit. I smoothly completed the curve with a wide safety margin, but it was worrisome to see that my line had been disturbed.
Also once, I started to get set up for entering a curve, worried that the curve would get tighter, so I scrubbed off some more speed before entering. I was very slightly leaned over when I hit the brakes to scrub off speed. Of course, as soon as I hit the brakes, the bike stood straight up. I know this happens. I've felt this happen before. It was still a little startling to feel it so distinctly - especially right before a treacherous curve. Again, I had an ample safety margin and entered the curve and completed it successfully.
Don't get the impression that I was burning up the road, or that I'm a totally clueless rider - I was just humbled by the amount of real world bike handling a ridiculously twisty treacherous mountain road can teach a rider, and I was thankful that I was properly prepared.
When we left to head home, it was dark. Really dark. I followed my wife in the van. I'm glad that I had her in front of me so I could judge safe corner speeds, see to the edge of her headlights, and get any deer plowed off the road before I hit them (actually we didn't see any deer, but hitting a deer on my motorcycle in the mountains at night is one thing that really scares me).
It was also cold - it was 38 degrees in town, and probably closer to 28 up towards the top of the canyon. At first I got really cold, but then my thighs got kind of numb and I started to feel much better. I think my ride to work often feels painfully cold because it's just long enough to get fully chilled, but not long enough to acclimate to the cold or become numb.
So, I don't know -- should I stop riding my motorcycle because it's challenging and difficult, I rarely do it, and I almost never ride long enough to even become acclimated to the cold? Do I want to ride more often on challenging roads to hone my bike handling skills? Do I want a different bike?
I don't know. I *do* enjoy riding. I don't know if I enjoy riding enough to pursue motorcycling as a skill for its own sake. I don't know if I want to assume the risk of riding up and down Rist Canyon just to get better. I basically like my motorcycle, but when I'm underutilized at work, I often check out the motorcycles on Denver's and Fort Collins's craigslist sites. When I want to veg out, I enjoy reading Classic Bike and Performance Bike magazines (although I almost never buy them because they're horrendously expensive).
I mainly got back into motorcycling because my brother-in-law was planning a motorcycle camping trip for his bachelor's party. I don't think this trip is even going to happen. I've thought about taking a little motorcycle tour by myself this summer, but I don't really feel the need to get away from my wife or family -- all I really want to do is spend time with them anyway.
We'll see what comes. In the mean time, I don't have any immidiate plans to sell my motorcycle, but I also drove my car to work today because it's supposed to start dumping snow this afternoon.
posted by veloandy at 9:08 AM
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