While I was stopped at the bridge, and Matt just pointed out that my prized exhaust was dinged up, I turned to Pat for some riding advice. Since he was behind me, I figured maybe he could point out some weaknesses.
Pat suggested to start accelerating earlier through the turns. Matt further explained as you give it gas, the rear end goes down and you get more grip.
Holy Crap! They were right. After giving it some more practice, I was riding the corners and keeping pace with the group a lot better. It also made the next leg of the trip a blast. I found myself leaning over more and even getting a bit faster through the turns.
Although I am still having issues with the slower corners but I think I will find my rhythm soon. When I say slow, I am talking about posted 15 MPH right /left hand turns. There are riders that can sweep through those things but I just did not get it. Maybe that’s a good enough reason to go back next year.
One of the down sides of riding with a large group is that you just can't stop and smell the roses when you want to. There were plenty of photo opportunities that I would love to share but I was not able to capture them. For any future trips, I am going to look into getting a camera mount for the bike to take pictures on the fly.
One thing that I found really cool was about a mile from the end of the rally. We came across a rather large horse ranch. There were two large horses fenced in near the road. One horse appeared to be waiting for someone to race from one end of the field to the other. As I approached the horse, the horse started galloping along side me. His gated area had to be just less than 100 yards. He ran along with me. It looked like he had an eye on me watching to see if he was winning. When the horse ran out of room, he quickly pulled up, and it looked like he gave me a nod up with his head. Like saying, have a good run out there. It's those little things you have to experience yourself.
As we rode back to where we started, I found that rode for well over 200 miles that day alone. It sure did not feel like it. It was around dinner time and it was time to part ways. Everyone at the rally was great and easy going. I wish I had more time to get to know them. I learned a lot about pushing my limits and the raw power that my bike gave me. Even with the damage to my bike, I loved every moment of the day. My Dad asked me if I would do it again.
In a heart beat!
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