Speaking of which, our Sunday morning ride was moved forward to Saturday this week to allow for holiday activities. We met up at the usual location and our normal crew was joined by a few other riders, some who have ridden together in other groups. There was quite an eclectic mix of machines represented and we decided to introduce our new friends to the northern loop we often run.
This ride heads north along a highway and then breaks off onto some secondary roads, skirting scenic though developed areas for the first half hour or so. Eventually we move back to the east and again head north into the more rural areas. The main feature of this run is two sections of farmland featuring longer straights and plenty of corners. There is a mix of long, fast, sweeping corners, all the way down to tight near-hairpin turns. Once up at the top of the run, we turn around and double back. Same roads, different experience.
One of the guys on the ride today was trying out a new app on his phone which utilizes and records GPS data. He started it up and had it running during the first leg of our ride and later uploaded the information to a site for processing. The result is a statistical breakdown of time, speed and location, which can be plotted over satellite imagery. Here’s a zoomed-out view of this portion of our ride:
Data granularity increases as you zoom in. This reminds me of plots I’ve seen from GP races. I am, amused. Speed increase below shows a nice drive out of that corner... :)
And appealing to my inner geek, the data keeps coming:
Switching gears... Perhaps it’s a sign of the economic times, but the list of hazards to motorcyclists is increasing rather dramatically. A major hazard we have encountered in rural areas has been the practice of oiling a stretch of road and then dumping tons of fine gravel over that, placing a sign saying “Loose Gravel” and leaving it for cars to pack down over the following 6 months. Come around a bend in the road and run into this crap and you are about to have a very bad day.
I personally have noticed that I’m having more difficulty with the increasing use of tar snakes around our area. They are far more numerous than ever before, sometimes making a stretch of road look more like a spider web. I’m finding that the issue is no longer confined to dealing with this menace in corners, but now while traveling in a straight line I can feel my front tire in particular responding as I ride over these patches.
We had some conversation about this at our rest stop and someone offered up that perhaps they are being applied a little thicker now, so that there is more noticeable “give” in them as you ride over them. Maybe it’s partly the sensitivity of my sportbike allowing me to feel the squirminess as I cross them. But there is no mystery at all when the tires jump sideways in a corner...
Be careful out there.
Indiana : “Snakes. Why’d it have to be snakes.” “I hate snakes.”
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