Silent Racing

After reading Derstuka's chicken strip thread it brought me to thinking about my most favorite ways to scrub "chicken strips" from my tires. Out here in the central valley I am close to a place called Badger, and near the town is a favorite place called Mountain House that many riders like to frequent for burgers and suds (henry winehardts brewed root beer, the only "beer" I care to drink). but best of all is that all three routes to get there are up hill.

getting there and eating is fun.

Nothing beats the return trip- going down hill.

My buddy and I dubbed it "Silent Racing" since the use of engines is not allowed. Proper use of the brakes and body english are required for maximum fun. Anybody that said you had to go fast to lean over is on drugs. The VFR makes for some very sporty runs with my buddy, because both of our bikes are heavy. But when I'm riding my uber light 954 or RVF400 I have to really work at it, I can only catch up in the turns. I have never slid the bike doing this and I have no problems deleting the strips on my rear tire. the best part is all the strange looks from the ranchers as you coast on past .

Next time some Squid wants to go riding with you take them up on a twisty hill and ask them to see if they can keep up "silently". Showing up someone on your slower bike is fun, but it could be fatal to them. At least with silent racer they will be going slow enough that the brakes can stop them before they do something REALLY stupid. having them in a silent "race" will show them:
A: it's all about the rider
B: you don't have to go fast to have fun
c: proper control is paramount to safe riding
d: your someone to come to for mentoring (sometimes. after all, you can't fix stupid).

I don't go looking for squids to race down hill:yield: . However, all the guys I have taken up there and done the silent race with beamed about how much fun they had and how much they learned about riding through corners. Of course the silent racer won't work with a total knob of a rider with a bad attitude.....

 

Hey phaster!
I used to do the same thing when I lived in Los Angeles. There were some great downhill twisties off the Angeles Crest, or Mulholland that we used to do silent racing on. You're right. It's a great way to learn how to handle a bike without the engine torque to pull you through a turn. Plus, if you do first one down the hill wins, you quickly learn that you have to maintain your speed through the turns so you have enough momentum coming out of the turn to power through the straightaways. Great times, then we would all end up at the Rock Store past Calabasas for burgers and such. (don't even know if that place is still around)
GeorgiaRider

 

so do you turn of the key?
does the steering lock?
can you use the brakes?
what if the brakes squeak, is that a time penalty?

:smile:

 

ha ha ha, that sounds like fun! I remember going on my favorite twisty road and I always had been going uphill. One day I decided to change things up a bit and go downhill. What a difference it is to go downhill! I went too fast in some corners several times and thankfully no one was on the road and that I have really good brakes!

As for "rules" I think it'd be good to just leave the bike in idle so you have lights and emergency power on reserve in case you get stuck going too slow in a corner.

 

You all need to get a BICYCLE! :smile:

But seriously, it is a good thing to do on a motorcycle, too. I have done that. We used to have coasting contests on our bicycles. Aero postioning and heavier body weights were rewarded. One does learn alot about the basic inputs much better without the distractions of engines (or pedaling).

 

I can't trust tires that small going that fast around corners .

One of the cool spin offs from this activity is how you are able to experiment with the individual usage of the brakes. try going around one corner dragging the front brakes, then try just the back on the next. Alternating the combo of front and rear brakes gives you a better understanding of how each changes the dynamic of the bike (not so much on the bikes with linked brakesout: .......) and how to feel them out so your only using what you need, to keep your speed up. Best of all you get this practice with out worrying about the throttle. If you go to some high price track school (albeit a VERY valuable experience) this is the same way they teach you: focusing on each individual skill instead of trying to learn it all at once. I think when I get back into town I will be going to my favorite hill to practice..........

 

Brakes? I thought that's what peg feelers were for...

 

What? use a rear brake? Gee whats that? what a novel idea. So many newbies don't even know, not to mention even use it

 

proper use of the rear brake will help bring the front end around faster when trying to tighten your line mid corner...
As for peg feelers, if you can turn fast lap times without the brakes, then you won't be riding a bike with peg feelers, you will be using you knee sliders.......

 

I forget where I read about this but coasting down a winding mountain or other path is an old sport.

 

I don't know... knee sliders just don't DIG IN the way pegs/peg feelers do.

 

Rear brakes, there's rear brakes ?, but seriously, only use them to back it in :biggrin: (RC51 or SuperMoto bikes, street & track) or when teaching MSF.

Done the coasting thing for years to teach oneself better control of the front brakes ( & so the other guy's get a chance to catch up :wink: ) & just to have fun On Mulholland up in Agura & ACH, Palomar Mtn., & many other places in Cali.
It is amazing the lack of CS & wear on knee pucks doing this with out power (as in Neutral & engine is still running for emergancy situations).

There's this one road off of Mulholland that is a short ride to the top then all down hill & is only a "one way road" that is a blast as well with out worrying of oncoming traffic. Only down fall is with the engine in neutral & running quite, the deer when out don't hear you until your right on them & can lead to some serious seat suckage .

Up here in Utah, I won't do it, because even on my really noisey RC51 I've tagged one deer (bike & deer was OK) & almost 4 others on the mountain twisties :fear:

So be careful, of the wildlife & the bicyclists that don't hear you coming !