So Ben Mendis has started the 1000 mile on-road portion of his Yermo coaching sessions. A few days ago he did his first on-road riding and did really well.

Today we clicked off 133 miles of varying road types through northern Maryland including slow back country roads, fairly traveled strip mall lined main streets, highway and even some sections of gravel road. (No trip with me is complete unless it involves 'Pavement Ends' and there is no better way that I have found to demonstrate how to manage lack of traction than getting off pavement.)

Ben Mendis, I'd be curious to get your thoughts on today's ride.

Today's ride was fantastic! I had a lot of fun and learned a lot more than I can enumerate.

The biggest takeaways:
1. I am extremely appreciative of all the time we spend in the parking lot. We ended up encountering every situation we practiced except for the emergency breaking. Without that practice, I would not have had the skill or the confidence to handle course you took me on today.

2. Thanks to the time we spent practicing in the lot, and the many hours we spent toiling on the bike, the throttle jumping issue was not a big factor today. Either the behavior has been improved, or I'm compensating for it better, or both. Either way, I hardly noticed it when I was riding, and I didn't blow any right-hand turns from a stop. 

3. Still, I went dangerously wide on two turns. While there was no actual danger this time, it was definite reinforcement of why training and practice are crucial to safe riding.

4. Gears! The one thing that is difficult to practice in a parking lot is knowing which gear to be in. Both times I went wide, I entered the corner in too high of a gear. I practiced a lot of shifting, learned to feel where the power band is. Over the course of the day I got a lot better at shifting quickly and smoothly, picking the right gear for a given situation, and downshifting back to first when coming to a stop. Still need practice, but the improvement was night and day.

5. Turn signals. Or more specifically, I need to remember to cancel it after a turn. If I could suggest, you might consider adding turn signals to the parking lot exercises to build that habit early.

6. No drama. While there several new experiences, and a number of surprises, I kept the bike upright and on the road. Over all, even the things that surprised me didn't really scare me or cause me to lose my cool. I was able to stay calm and focused throughout the ride, and recovered from every misstep. It was a very pleasant ride in country side. 

7. By the end of the day, I found I had loosened up quite a bit. Not just on bars, but I was sitting back more casually in the saddle. I still need to work on proper form in the deep corners, but I wasn't sweating the small ones. Can't wait for the next ride!

(8. I'm extremely appreciative for the challenging ride and methodical guidance. While I was on the bike, my mind was focused  on just the ride. It helped keep me from stressing out about the impending decisions I mentioned at lunch.)

Congrats Ben, and great job on your first "road trip".

BTW: Regarding "Turn signals. Or more specifically, I need to remember to cancel it after a turn." LOLOLOLOLOL

Trust me, we ALL forget to do it sometimes. You'll get used to seeing either the universal hand gesture for "hey, your indicator is on" -or- you'll hear in the headset "Hey old man, did you forget something?".

Oh my, yes, turn signals. I've been incorporating them in my own practice (like with my friend Dayle yesterday) and especially on the ride to the school parking lot. 

My motorcycle is vintage and the signals themselves are hard to access both because it's tough to actually the lever and because my hands are small and don't reach. So, long term, I'm going to have to do something about both.

My '82 Yamaha had self-cancelling turn signals - they'd stop after 15 flashes if you were not in neutral.  Why don't manufacturers make self-cancelling turn signals anymore?

That's interesting. Perhaps there's an aftermarket kit available to convert the turn signals to auto-cancelling. If not, it sounds like a simple enough circuit that even I could design and solder it.

But I think I'll try to build the habit first, and resort to technology last.

The problem I have is that in a car I can hear and see when my signals are on, but on the bike I have no way to tell unless I specifically look down at the instruments cluster. This is where a subtle indicator in a HUD could be useful.

I'm certain there's an aftermarket kit to add that and 4 way flashers, the latter I think being a worthwhile addition.

But I agree that developing the habit is the better approach. Skills first, technology second, IMHO.

Worrying about remembering to cancel the turn signals is wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy down the priority list. If there is anything to put even a moment of thought to regarding turn signals, it's to remember to turn them ON. Much more important Seriously though, turning them off will just become muscle memory and you won't even think about it.

When I get my headset, would like to tag along also.

We spent another day (and 200+ miles) on the bikes yesterday. This time we went south rather than north. It was a nice and easy ride, nothing scary.

Toward the end of the ride my lower back was getting a little tired, but surprisingly this morning it was my legs that were sore.

I'm still slow on cancelling the turn signals, but getting better.

And here is the map of our ride:

Today's coaching ride along Matt's "Power of Left" route discovered so many years ago.

It was a good ride, if a mere 75 miles

Overnight coaching ride coming up this weekend. I'm considering this route which I suspect will be suitably twisty:

I was trying to type up a long and detailed report of the ride that Yermo and I went on this past weekend, but the post was eaten by a Grue. So here's the short version.

LPR->SGLLPR
In the MSF BRC they teach you that turning is as simple as "Look Press Roll". In Yermo training you learn that it's more like:

Shift- make sure you're in the right gear
Grip- the tank with your legs
Look- through the turn
Lean- over the bars, bringing your elbow down toward your knee (which is gripping the tank)
Press- sort of happens naturally when you look and lean
Roll- on the throttle all the way through the turn

It was also a weekend of firsts. First overnight motorcycle trip. First time riding in the rain. First time riding on the interstate. First time riding in stop and go traffic. First time riding at night. First time riding in the front. First time dropping the bike at speed. First time doing road-side engine repair and an oil change.

Yea, there's a much longer story to go along with those last two. Essentially, I learned that I'm comfortable on pavement but I need more experience with gravel. All things considered, I'm glad it happened.

Sorry the software failed you.

The programmer will be taken out back and shot.