TOPIC:

OK, don't run across too many things to tell stories about but this had you guys written all over it! Decided to go for a ride up to Look Out point on the Ortega Hwy (Southern Calif) which is about 20 miles from my house. (You local KZR's know what road I'm talking about) It's a road famous for it's twistes and many big motorcycle magazines test ride new crotch rockets up there and then write their reviews. Anyhow, I get off at my exit and have to go about 2-4 miles thru Lake Elsinore to get to the start of the climb up. I pull up to the light and next to me is a couple of weekend warriors on a Harley Night Train. (All blacked out in flat black) Pipe on it way too loud and really does not sound very good, Guy and gal are all decked out in the usual Harley garb, you know what I'm talking about. I look over and give a fellow biker a nod and he nods back. Light turns green and he guns it from the light and takes off, I figure "whatever" and catch up at the next light. He does this at the next several lights as well. By the time we are approaching the turn to head up the mountain I've just about had enough of this guy. The turn off heading up the mountain is straight and about 1/4 mile long before the first twistie. So i figure I'm gonna just go ahead and toast his ass (can I say that?) on this stretch! Well a car gets ahead of us heading up (duh!) so he moves to the right and nails it and passes and keeps going. So I drop a gear and do the same and stay in it, well I came up on him so fast I could almost see right up his exhaust pipe! Now this where the ride gets really funny, I figure this guy thinks he's gonna show me what he or the Harley is made of! I am by no means a canyon carver like some of you guys, I think I do ok but anyway this guys is really pushing it like he's gonna show me something! There must be 20,30 corners to the top and this guy was ALL over the road, sometimes hugging the double yellow, sometimes the single white to the right, I pretty much just stay in the middle. Every corner they took she would overlean and he would underlean, it looked like a human V! He was obviously nervous to lean himself with the bike. And every corner I found myself having to tap the brakes to keep from running over him. He was trying so hard to get away from me that I was chuckling in my helmet! There are a couple short spots to pass but too much traffic to attempt. Had I had the chance I would have done it just to put him out of his misery! When we got to the top he just kept going as I pulled into Look Out Point. Maybe he was going further up anyway but let's just assume he didn't pull in knowing that he was just embarrased by a 53yo man on a 27yo Japanese bike! Really wished I had a video camera for this ride!!

Do you ever wonder if they are thinking.."I spent 20K on this thing and that old bamboo bike is kicking my ass!"?
I do and I just SMILE!

I got $100 that says he was telling all his buddies about how that old jap crap was trying to pass him but couldn't. "I had the old lady on the back and he still couldn't get around me. Those new pipes sure did make a difference".

that wouldve been funny watching him trying to shake you!youve got more self control than me! i wouldve gone all the way up the mountain till it was safe to pass,then pulled up along side to make sure he could see the smile on my face and pulled the trigger!

Bluemeanie wrote:

I figure this guy thinks he's gonna show me what he or the Harley is made of! I am by no means a canyon carver like some of you guys, I think I do ok but anyway this guys is really pushing it like he's gonna show me something! There must be 20,30 corners to the top and this guy was ALL over the road, sometimes hugging the double yellow, sometimes the single white to the right, I pretty much just stay in the middle.

I'm with you all the way but I take exception at the point where you claim, "sometimes hugging the double yellow, sometimes the single white to the right" ... because that, as I know it, is known as the racing line...

from wiki...

"In racing sports, the ideal line is the inside part of a curve where the vehicle is nearest to the inside curb in order to maintain the maximum velocity around the track. The apex or clipping point is often used in motorsport, though other racing sports such as skiing and bicycling have similar concepts of an ideal line.

When analyzing a single corner, the optimum line is one that minimizes the time spent in the corner and maximizes the overall speed (of the vehicle) through the corner.

"The apex is often but not always, the geometric center of the turn. Hitting the apex allows the vehicle to take the straightest line and maintain the highest speed through that specific corner"

it depends on when and where he was hugging the lines;)

Exhactly wireman, this guy was NOT holding a line, what I meant to say is that he would be leaning left on the white line or leaning right on the double yellow or sometimes vise versa. Even on a straight section he was all over the road. Hmmmm... maybe he was zig zagging so I couln't pass? Oh!, now I get it!

KZ250LTD wrote:

wireman wrote:

it depends on when and where he was hugging the lines;)

Heck yeah, Ortega Hwy is a hoot to ride!

I've run across HD and other cruiser riders that did just like the one BlueMeanie ran across did - all over the road, dramatically leaning in turns when not truely needed, etc.

While it's very tempting to nail it and ride past waving while they're dragging floorboards and pipes in a corner, I usually back off and give them room - I wouldn't want to make someone wipe out because they're feeling pushed by me to run faster than they, or their bike is capable of safely doing, and likely taking me out with them!
There have been times though when I'VE been forced by that type of rider to show him what the ass end of a KZ looks like as it speeds away from him.

Sounds like a fun day, I can't tell you how many times I've come across a guy that thinks his Hardly is a performance bike. I played with a guy once for a few lights then smoked him. It was funny at the next light he came up and said "you were just "F"ing with me weren't .you:( I smiled back. I've also had a guy being a dick and wanted to push him till he crashed on a canyon but he had his old lady on the back. He was grinding pipes and boards hard just to stay ahead of me and I was just cruising so I backed off till I had a nice straightaway and then left him. I have all kinds of funny Hardly stories.
Mark

You're such a Trouble-Maker,Mark!