Hi, from your mentor, Tina
Hello,
Congratulations on passing the MSF course!
I want to introduce myself and tell you all a little about how I got started motorcycling.
I grew up in Wisconsin, moved to South Carolina, and then to New Mexico. I've been here since 1996 but didn't start riding until 2002. My husband and I were watching a show on motorcycles and decided to give it a try.
We took the MSF course and bought little 250cc bikes. I remember the bikes seemed huge to us. In less than a year I moved up to a 1450cc HD Deuce. It was a big jump. I would get sick to my stomach when I was getting ready to take it out for a ride, but I had to do it.
We went a many rides in New Mexico and surrounding states over the next few years. It was fun to see myself improving. During this time I started to read motorcycle magazines, to get ideas for rides, read safety articles, and to improve my skills. I read something that made a lot of sense to me. The author stated that dirt biking can improve street skills. The reason I bought into this was because frequently during our trips we would run into areas of road construction. It's almost unavoidable in the summer months. The gravel or dirt that we had to ride through would really scare me. So I bought a dirt bike and took the MSF dirt bike class. I really, really enjoy going off road. It is intimidating but it's worth it. The bottom line is that dirt biking does help with street riding skills. The other day while commuting to work, I decided to stop quick because the light turned yellow. My back wheel skidded because I didn't not use enough front brake. The rear end was wiggling around but it really didn't bother me because when you dirt bike that is all the bike does. It's very loose underneath you.
The dirt biking got me interested in the BMW 650GS. I wanted to get off the asphalt and onto some unimproved roads. There are miles and miles of dirt or gravel roads in New Mexico and the surrounding states. I choose the 650 because it didn't look like all the other enduros. It's cool. I always get compliments on it. I took a two day class with Jimmy Lewis (editor of dirt bike magazine) and his wife. The class was geared toward learning how to handle bigger dual purpose bikes in the dirt. It was an excellent class that provided all kinds of challenges. If any of you are interested, now or in the future, in learning more about the class, I'll be glad to fill you in.
My next endeavor was sportbikes. Again, reading the magazines, I read that track days can really help improve cornering skills. It can also provide a "safe" place to test the limits of your bike. This sounded fun. I bought a Kawasaki ZZR 600. I never rode anything quite like it. It was very quick and handled quite differently than my Harley. I could take corners and do it well. I took it to the track and gained confidence in cornering. It was scary but fun.
When BMW introduced the K1200R, I was ready to try it. It's very fast and very smooth. It has the zip and handling of a sport bike but without the discomfort. It's in my garage!
That's my history in a nutshell.
I look forward to meeting each of you this Saturday, June 10th. Our first ride will be Sunday June 11th.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.
Tina
Congratulations on passing the MSF course!
I want to introduce myself and tell you all a little about how I got started motorcycling.
I grew up in Wisconsin, moved to South Carolina, and then to New Mexico. I've been here since 1996 but didn't start riding until 2002. My husband and I were watching a show on motorcycles and decided to give it a try.
We took the MSF course and bought little 250cc bikes. I remember the bikes seemed huge to us. In less than a year I moved up to a 1450cc HD Deuce. It was a big jump. I would get sick to my stomach when I was getting ready to take it out for a ride, but I had to do it.
We went a many rides in New Mexico and surrounding states over the next few years. It was fun to see myself improving. During this time I started to read motorcycle magazines, to get ideas for rides, read safety articles, and to improve my skills. I read something that made a lot of sense to me. The author stated that dirt biking can improve street skills. The reason I bought into this was because frequently during our trips we would run into areas of road construction. It's almost unavoidable in the summer months. The gravel or dirt that we had to ride through would really scare me. So I bought a dirt bike and took the MSF dirt bike class. I really, really enjoy going off road. It is intimidating but it's worth it. The bottom line is that dirt biking does help with street riding skills. The other day while commuting to work, I decided to stop quick because the light turned yellow. My back wheel skidded because I didn't not use enough front brake. The rear end was wiggling around but it really didn't bother me because when you dirt bike that is all the bike does. It's very loose underneath you.
The dirt biking got me interested in the BMW 650GS. I wanted to get off the asphalt and onto some unimproved roads. There are miles and miles of dirt or gravel roads in New Mexico and the surrounding states. I choose the 650 because it didn't look like all the other enduros. It's cool. I always get compliments on it. I took a two day class with Jimmy Lewis (editor of dirt bike magazine) and his wife. The class was geared toward learning how to handle bigger dual purpose bikes in the dirt. It was an excellent class that provided all kinds of challenges. If any of you are interested, now or in the future, in learning more about the class, I'll be glad to fill you in.
My next endeavor was sportbikes. Again, reading the magazines, I read that track days can really help improve cornering skills. It can also provide a "safe" place to test the limits of your bike. This sounded fun. I bought a Kawasaki ZZR 600. I never rode anything quite like it. It was very quick and handled quite differently than my Harley. I could take corners and do it well. I took it to the track and gained confidence in cornering. It was scary but fun.
When BMW introduced the K1200R, I was ready to try it. It's very fast and very smooth. It has the zip and handling of a sport bike but without the discomfort. It's in my garage!
That's my history in a nutshell.
I look forward to meeting each of you this Saturday, June 10th. Our first ride will be Sunday June 11th.
If you have any questions or comments, please contact me.
Tina
posted by Anonymous at 6:21 PM
3 Comments:
Hi Tina,
Your biography is quite impressive. I didn't realize how effective off-road riding would be in developing skills for the street. Having ridden bicycles, I knew that mountain biking helped my technical skills while road riding helped with my endurance. Seems street and dirt riding do the same for a motorocyclist. The dirt bike riding sounds like fun. Do you still have your F650GS or a dirt bike? I'm inspired by you and your advancement to an 1100 in a relatively short period of time. I always thought the size was intimidating. I look forward to meeting you! Synth
Good luck to everyone and have lots of fun. I can't wait to hear all about it.
I'm excited for the weekend too. I just finished watching "On Any Sunday" - the 1971 motorcycle documentary that features Steve McQueen and it made me excited to learn to ride a dirt bike. I lived about 20 miles from the site of the "Widow Maker" hill, featured in the movie. I remember looking at it as I'd drive in I-15 toward Salt Lake thinking that anyone who'd try that was crazy.
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