Im not the best rider in the world - infact id say im pretty crap when it comes to cornering and having confidence in myself and my bike (but im working on it- this is the first summer on this bike so I intend to get to know her cornering limits)
Today was different though…I was worse!!!
Ever had one of those days when your riding is just all over the place? I cant understand it! Dont know if its anything to do with lack of sleep or what. Thank God most other bikers kept off the roads today or i’d have been a menace to them.
I was running wide, forgetting my life saver and completely mis-timing other traffic. I must have looked a T**T I can tell yah.
I just hope the ride home improves and this morning was just a one-off glich.
Well, at least you got where you were going safely enough to be able to type this ;0)
I imagine we’ve all had off days. I tend to ride worse when I’m stressed or my mind is preoccupied. For me, if I feel that’s happening, I’d pull over and take a quiet five minutes telling myself that THE ONLY THING I should be thinking about when I’m riding is my riding.
Due to the way it was pissing down this morning I took an extra 10 minutes to get in. Rode very quietly and smoothly. We all have off days, the important thing is getting from A to B in one piece and with no contact with other road users/furniture…!
Phewwwww! Glad to hear you’ve all had this experience - for a moment I thought it was the beginning of the end of my riding! LOL (well I am 33 you know! :P)
Stopping and taking a quiet 5 minutes is a very very good idea - London doesnt offer too many of those places where you can do that but i’m definately going to give it a go if it happens again.
Yep, this happens rarely but when it does, there is little you can do about it.
I rode to a fairly stressful meeting last week. Rode like an idiot on the way there. Had the meeting, destressed and rode like a champion on the way back!!
You’re not alone there- when I’m having an off day I get increasingly tense and my neck just seems to freeze in the forwards position and although I think ‘lifesaver’ all I actually do is glance in my mirror- not good! Someone once told me that if you can consciously try to relax your shoulders the rest will follow and this seems to work for me…
**1) ** Soon as I stepped out of the door into bright, sunny morning air the rain started crapping it down before I’d even got my gloves on
**2) ** First person to pull out on me was a …somewhat aged gentleman… in a Rover 25. I had to go right round a keep-left bollard to avoid him.
**3) ** Second person to keep my guardian angel in praqctice was a Mk.IV Corsa with a window tint that most black holes’d be envious of who changed lanes on top of me, forcing me into the outside lane of the A3 on my little 125.
**4) ** Today’s (hopefully!) final driver was another person who decided that the tarmac is greener on the other side of the dashed white line, again forcing me across one lane and giving me a severe case of deja vu.
**5) ** To add insult to injury, on taking the hairpin into the road on the right just past Harvester (my own tip-top secret shortcut into Kingston) I lost the front end completely. Fortunately I was only doing about ten or fifteen and managed to get a foot down, but after that I completed the last mile-odd of my journey without coming out of third!
Don’t worry BumbleBee - I think it’s something in the air…
That something in the air might just be “Water”!!!
Previous post: I know what you mean about getting a stiff neck and getting fixed forward!
For those still following this thread: Popped out in the works cr and was just fine and dandy! Mind you, it might have had something to do with having 2 hours to ponder live and yhe universe and only covering 2 miles!!!
Can i just say riding in london takes up a lot of consetration, i live out in the sticks so i really notice it when ever i ride up, i hate it just seems really stressfull and i think everybody is gunna pull out, its just busy busy busy! and i have the up most respect for your london folk, buggered if i would do it:) “stick to the roads keep of the moors” mind you we have evil tractors and and phesants or is that peasants:hehe:
I think it was one of those days yesterday my riding was alright it was just the car drivers, from the sun in the sands to the blackwall tunnel had cars lane hopping every 100 meters or so also closing my filtering line. Not fun although today was better apart from the p**sing rain.
As has been said, we all have these days, and anyone who says they don’t is bulling. ;)Could have been dehydration. This can severely effect concentration due to the fact that dehydration causes the level of energy production in the brain to decrease.
I would stop, get some water or a sports drink maybe, and see if things improved. The best thing to do is turn around and leave the bike at home, although not always possible.
