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Here is some wisdom: watch this video a bunch of times. Better yet buy the book and the DVD and go over them a bunch more times. As a newer rider you won't be able to apply all the concepts or even understand them at first. But each time you watch it you should be able to pick out 1 or 2 things and apply them to your riding. Also, ride with some experienced riders that will discuss technique with you. Track days are a good idea, but I'll leave that topic to the track guys.

This is not a pity post. This is just me getting shit out. My dog tyton was diagnosed with lymphoma today. He'll be 7 next month if he makes it that long. I always knew this day would come but I also always thought it would come a lot later. We don't have kids so the dog is literally our baby. If you have a dog, hug him, give him a cheeseburger, let him up on the good furniture and just be thankful that you have him.

i cannot rep that enough. To hear Carie tell it is just awesome

You know "it's good".

#richpeopleproblems ....

Mobile version has stupid tapatalk box always at top of page, no option to close.

Ask for Matt if you have a minute, I may be able to help you save another buck or two.

This was my third time riding this season & my second group ride this year. I have been very busy at work & just haven't had the time. This event turned out to be a horrible experience for me last year or I should say prior to the event . I've decided that I don't have the desire to witness another rider get hurt even though I know it's a risk we all take. I want to know the people I'm riding with or at least have someone I know to vouch for them. I don't ever want to be responsible for leading an inexperienced rider to their doom. I still ride how I've always rode by myself, I understand & assume the risks. We all can go down at any time but I'm not talking about that, I've been down & I know plenty of good riders that have gone down. The difference is we weren't sucked into riding over our heads or caught up in a group ride atmosphere that ramps up our adrenaline allowing us to disregard our better judgement. That said I wanted to get past & shake off last years lingering doubts. The best way to do that in my mind was to join in this ride but giving myself an out if I felt uncomfortable or things didn't seem right. Tony led the fast group for this event, I know, trust & respect his riding abilities so I intended to follow him thinking we weren't going to have anyone else in the group except for Jim who I am also comfortable riding with. It turns out we had two other riders start out with the group which made me a little uncomfortable so I told Tony that I was going to tag along in the back to see how things were going and that if I didn't like what I saw I would just go off to ride my own ride knowing that with Tony leading & Jim sweeping they could clean up any messy riding. The two other riders rode like champs within the pace Tony set for this ride & I would be happy to ride with them again. There I am riding along in the back of the group without any responsibility for the group because Jim was the official sweep rider, enjoying the worry free ride without a care in the world. What a nice day this is turning out to be when we pass by a rider going the other direction. The other rider turns around and falls in behind me. This is okay he is keeping our pace time for me to move aside & let him in the group. Nope, our new rider decides that the groups pace was not to his liking so he starts passing all of us. So far this is okay especially since once he gets past Tony he keeps on going out of sight. Hurray, he just won the road racing title and really showed us how wrong we were riding. I hope he goes on to find other people to impress. Hey wait a minute there he is again slowing down waiting for us to get behind him. WTF is this idiot doing? Oh no he didn't, he actually made us all slow down for some nice curves. Now it's clear he is trying to fuck with us because he can clearly ride faster than the designated group pace. This turn of events somehow needs addressing, nobody fucks with my people. I have no group responsibilities so I guess is up to me to chase this idiot off. I pass the group, get in behind him & he picks up his pace. Faster & faster we go with him winning until we come up on a car that our antagonist passes but I back off hoping he has fulfilled his MotoGP dreams secure in the fact that we had nothing for him that he couldn't outride thus he would continue on looking for other victims to display his obvious superiority over them. Tony slows the groups pace down for a while hoping this guy would get far out of range, I filter to the back of the pack and all is right with the world again. You have got to be kidding me, this M'Fer is back, same as the last time, he has slowed down to get in front of us again. He is actually slowing us down again going into another nice set of curves, what is this guys problem what is he trying to achieve, can't he take a hint, we do not want to play. So back up to the front I go again, back behind him again, he picks up his pace again and we keep going faster and faster. I will just do the same thing as the last time, wait until we come up on a car and not pass it, surely he will take the hint that we don't want him playing with us. No cars in sight, now what am I going to do? I don't know why or how but I suddenly form a new plan, not a good one or a well thought out plan, in fact a totally inappropriate plan but reason has left my body and I'm getting a little mad. My new plan was to dust him so badly that he would go find softer game to pick on. I pass him and start going at a brisker pace than where he topped out at. This is working, I can see behind me by turning around after turns that I am putting ground on him but I make the mistake of checking my mirrors for some idiotic reason. Never check your mirrors, never check your mirrors, never check your mirrors, I know this, no good can come from it and this mantra proves itself by allowing a 20MPH curve to sneak up on me. I'm going too fast, damn it, I should never let myself talk me into doing stupid shit. This is going to hurt, I can't make it.... No way, I stopped, thank god the entry was uphill and allowed speed to scrub off much quicker than expected. As usual when we think that we have lost control we throw away all reason & I slowed down way more than needed to safely make it through the curve. Embarrassed I turn around to see that the other asshole riding a motorcycle behind me has caught up to me. What do I do with that realization? Of course I slow down and get back to riding like a reasonable person. Yea, right, that would have made sense. So there I go determined to make sure this guy isn't going to catch me again and start riding like a complete idiot. Great big long straight after another series of curves so here I go up to 150MPH, a couple of rises in the road block the view behind me so I stay at 150 for a while. When I sit up to get a look behind me expecting to see the douchebag way back a couple of rises behind me I see no one. Nothing. What have I done now? Please, please, please don't let it be that this knucklehead went down. I stop and count to 60 still nothing, not even our group, they should have been here by now. Well not if that guy went down they would be helping him if possible. I turn around and start heading back toward what I anticipate to be carnage. Damn why am I such an idiot, I was acting worse than this guy, he didn't deserve this no matter how big of an asshole he was. I make it to the group and everyone is safe including the fuckhead that started this whole turn of events. He knew the route that I hadn't bothered to look at because Tony was in charge. Now I'm pissed at everyone myself included. It turns out that I have ran across this guy before. In fact he was the sweep rider for the fast group two years ago on the spring ride that I was the lead rider of. He says to me that his bike is only running on three cylinders and that it's no wonder I could get around him because I was riding a 1K. Whatever dude leave us the fuck alone. What in the hell were you trying to do? No answer to that obvious question ever came and I just wanted to get going again. I'm done typing for tonight but we pick up two more good riders at the gas stop and get back to the meeting spot. Our stalker shows up in a van at the meeting spot trying to talk. I couldn't have been less interested in talking about it especially with him at that point.

Thanks to everyone for putting this on...this was my first OR group ride in about 6 years and I thoroughly enjoyed it! Thanks to Hellmutt/Snot for organizing and leading the W/SW group...it was good to meet all of you and wish I could have stayed around for the BBQ! Thanks to Tpoppa for leading the fast group! You set a reasonable and enjoyable pace!

My eyes are sore from crying....I didnt bawl this much when any of my 4 grandparents died. Aside from my good friend committing suicide and my sister being murdered this is the hardest shit I've ever gone through....and all I can think about is getting another dog so I can do it again in a decade or so. I don't like living in a house without a dog, I just think there should always be one there.

I don't condone damaging other peoples property. Usually. But I would make the exception for that one and it would get rolled over.

I have zero clue what you just said.