6 - Picos Day 2 We followed the route below. The ground was damp for the first couple of hours and my confidence was shot. The adrenaline from the previous day had worn off and my shoulder and knee were really sore from the fall. I took advantage of the fact that some of the guys were really hungover and stayed at the back with them and the back marker. Every bend felt like it was going to throw me off and riding was stressful. We did stop at a beautiful town called Riana for lunch, a place well worth a visit. About an hour before the end of the day one of the guys I know well took on back marker duties. He paired with my headset and started coaching me. He told me a few things which I’m sharing here for the benefit of other newbies. 1) Trail braking: when in a corner you can ALWAYS slow down. Don’t panic. Use the back brake - gently. Dragging the rear brake while applying power really stabilises the bike mid turn. I now have great control on even the tightest turn. None of this takes away from the fact that you should be set up right before the turn. Use front brake to slow down before turning and be in the right gear because... 2) Don’t coast in to turns! Bike should be braking (engine braking or using brakes) or throttle should be applied. Bike is only in control when one of those two things is happening mid turn. I don’t understand this one but it definitely works for me. I now approach turns in a lower gear than I used to so I always have engine breaking available. 3) Look where you want to go: on those sharp turns I’d panicked and looked at the floor in front, the bike in front or the edge of the road. All wrong! I now force myself to look in to the distance - where I want to go. This has been the big one. Gives me confidence and allows the bike to do its thing. 4) Read the road by looking at the outside and inside of the turn: you can figure out weather a turn is tightening or opening up depending on whether the outside and I side edges are coming together or separating. Vanishing point? I don’t know how to describe it but tightening corners are no longer a surprise and I can get on the power much sooner now too when coming out of corners. The above transformed my ride. Confidence restored!
7 - Picos Day 3 (yesterday) Best day of riding, ever!!! Great weather and much more comfy on the bike thanks to the coaching from the previous day. I no longer wanted to be at the back all day I just felt amazing on the bike and couldn’t be happier. The roads up to this viewing point were just amazing. I’d done them before the previous day and hated them. Today, they were just heaven! We stopped for lunch and watched the beginning of the MotoGP on a tablet. No spoilers here but there was no point in watching the race after the first minute so we moved on. We ended up on a very rough road with gravel and sand in places. I thought I’d try the bike in urban mode. It was so much fun!!! I was zipping along while some others struggled On the short stretch of motorway on the way back we did lots of rolling start races. The monster r held it’s own At 130mph my helmet vibrates like crazy and I didn’t really go much above that.
Need to pack up and check out today. The trip has gone way too quick. Could do with several more days at least Will load up the panniers and leave at 10am. We will tour the Picos one final time and plan to be at Santander for 5pm. I’m really not looking forward to almost 24 hours on a ferry They’ve rerouted us to Plymouth. We dock at 4pm so I don’t expect to get home before 10pm on Tuesday. I plan to ride alone. Currently 80mph feels like 40mph used to as I’ve become totally desensitised to speed. I don’t want to get caught up with riding too fast with the others. I’ll go at the speed limit and chill on the way home as I acclimatise myself back to the congested roads full of inconsiderate car drivers and speed cameras. Speaking of which, the French drivers are the best. They literally drive on the grass to let bikes past.
Not so sure about point 2 if I'm honest, unless you mean by 'coast' that you shouldn't have the clutch in, that's right, but whatever works for getting the confidence back. At the end of the day in the vast majority of cases, all braking should be done well before you 'tip in' to the corner, ideally with a little time to spare to allow the bikes suspension to settle before the point of tipping in, and always, always keep your head turned towards the exit of the corner and 'look through the bend'. If things start to tighten up come off the throttle a little (throttle should be steady) and nudge the inside of the bar forwards a tiny bit. So, If you're tipping in to a right hand bend keep your head and eyes fixated to the right and keep focused on the exit, then in a right hand bend situation, should the corner start to tighten up on you push your right hand ever so slightly forward on the bar. That's counter steering and will drop the bike further in to the bend You'll already subconsciously be doing counter steering, it only works when at speed but a 'little nudge' on the bar helps the bike tip in. Maybe read this https://motorbikewriter.com/learn-counter-steer/ All this talk about 'trail braking' etc isn't necessarily right as proper trail braking itself is a fine art, a little back brake as mentioned can be good 'when needed' but it's not something that you should consider routine otherwise every bend you'll just be 'comfort braking' and as a rider that's followed people doing that it becomes concerning and annoying to sit behind someone doing that Imagine this; 3 bikes in a row all making progress coming up to a bend, everyone brakes well before the bend (red lights come on) and all bikes come off the brakes before tipping in to peel round the corner (red lights all come off) Bike number 1 at the front keeps steady throttle and increases that as the exit comes in view, bikes 2 and 3 can see him. But bike 2 in the middle touches or dabs his brakes (unnecessarily) mid bend for 'comfort' and his rear light comes on, that obviously comes into view for bike number 3 and it can be a distraction or concern because bike number 3 doesn't know if it's just a 'dab' or whether bike 2 will really scrub speed at which point 2 & 3 could end up meeting in a tangle I'm not saying never brake mid bend, but doing it consistently shouldn't be needed and everything should be sorted well in advance of the bend arriving. If it isn't then you're either not concentrating or you're over riding. It'll all come to you, just be patient and never let pride make you over ride, you ride your own pace, not someone else's. Practice preparing for bends, maybe try to ride without touching your brakes for a few miles every so often as practice and concentrate on getting the gearing and preparation right without the need for comfort braking mid corner. If I'm teaching you to suck eggs then apologies, but these things tend to 'penny drop' at some point and it's just a matter of experience and mileage
The mid bend braking I’m talking about is not for sweeping bends. It was on very very tight bends the like of which I don’t see day to day in the uk. I’m definitely going to go on some kind of rider training when I get home.
Ps yes I meant having your clutch in... or being in too high a gear where you have no engine braking and no real power available either. Neither is a situation experienced riders will find themselves in but as a newbie it does happen and I need to ensure it never does.
Like switch backs? Then that I can understand as the ability to keep constant throttle especially on a twin is hard at low speeds. If this is your first big bike then it's a great time to learn as whenever you jump on anything else like a V4 or L4 you likely find throttle control easy. My first proper big bike was the S2R monster and that's what I cut my teeth on, from there on in almost anything else I rode was easier so learning to ride a twin first might be more difficult but it'll set you up better for the future. I have mates that still can't get on with twins as all their life they've only known l4's, it's worth the effort bud
It's quite strange really, you're basically doing your first ever euro tour on a monster some 12 years after my first ever euro tour, which I also did on a monster and with WAY too much luggage Fun aren't they Wait until you discover the benefit of throw away pants, socks and riding tshirts
There isnt a reader on here that hasnt done a 5 at some point. Glad your ok and youve got your 1st ‘off’ out of the way. Good luck.
Exactly. As long as you don’t keep doing it, in which case if you do, sell the bike and take up chess.
This tour has wet my appetite to do something with one other person or solo even. We didn’t stop for photos or to take in the scenes much. It was almost exclusively about the riding experience which is fun but seems a shame to pass by so many great sights.
I leave for our alpine GP on wed. Fingers crossed i dont do a 5 myself. I fell off in Thonon at 1mph on a tiled wet surface with a minor dab on front brake. Broke my thumb and had to ride the rest of the trip with hurty hand and mates taking the piss.
Ride safely Dubcat, get home safely and then take some IAM instruction or bikesafe.co.uk run by Police bike riders/instructors. Get the book Motorcycle Roadcraft, the Police rider training manual. Watch bike training videos on YouTube over the winter months or on wet evenings. But most of all, practice. Treat very ride as a practice (but enjoy it still). Practice taking corners - go over and over the same set of bends again and again. Practice emergency stops/trail braking/counter-steering/slow speed manoeuvres/using the rear brake in bends/reading the road/identifying vanishing points and matching your speed accordingly. We all never stop learning and building up experience. But most importantly enjoy
I agree with what your saying, as a newbie rider it takes a few rides to get the hang of/into new riding ways as it isn’t taught in my experience I struggled loads it was only with a good riding buddy and patience that it suddenly all fell into place
Glad to hear you had a great time despite your off, hard luck re, that. Good to hear that someone with experience took you under their wing and helped improve your riding and your confidence. So much more enjoyable when you feel more in control. As said, once home get some further training; Bikesafe is a good start and maybe join your local IAM group. Correct gear for cornering is one that allows you to control your speed on the throttle; close to slow, open to go. On a Ducati this is very effective due to the engine braking on offer. Found myself trail breaking far more on the MV (triple) than I need to on the Multistrada.
