gatorcast from paul smith

I took this picture while watching the GatorBack Motorcross race in Newberry, Florida last Friday.  I rode it from my house about 15 miles away.  And boy was it a thrill riding out there.  I knew there was racing at Gatorback each year Thanksgiving day weekend and thought it would be cool to watch motorcycles while riding one. 

I got incredibly close and took this picture of the little racers.

It was a beautiful day so after I left and rode West to SR 235 and then North to SR 232, followed it around and saw this beautiful scene as I approached SR 241.

So I pulled over the bike, turned it off and took out my camera.  I don’t know who owns this property but it is absolutely beautiful.   I call this shot “232 & 241″ and instamtly my new Desktop Wallpaper.

Here I am this morning at East Lake Tohopekaliga near St. Cloud, Fl.

Yesterday I went down to see my uncle and test drive my cousins Honda Shadow. 

I figure, my uncle Bob taught me how to manual shift in his white stationwagon ford escort in the parking lot at the Cutler Ridge Mall back when I was 16, he should be the one to certify I knew what I was doing on a motorcycle.  My uncle has been riding most of his life. 

I remember as a very young boy taking rides around the grove sitting on the gas tank and holding on for dear life.     It was important for me to experience this with him.  Plus I consider him the most experienced rider I know.  

I got there about 4pm yesterday (as the Gators beat OleMiss) and took a spin in the neighborhood practicing breaking and shifting.  When comfortable, we took it on the highway.   

It was such a thrill !!!  There is something about shifting, balancing, breaking, the wind, the sand, the bugs, the traffic and even the sound of the engine that came alive yesterday.  

I particuluarly like shifting and breaking and the concentration neccessary to coordinate everything together.  I found this bike easier to ride and shift then the 250 I trained on.   I think the Honda Shadow is an 850.   I now understand the difference between a scooter, a 250 and higher.   Basically you need to have some weight and speed to navigate through traffic.   I’m pretty sure anything smaller than what I rode today would not be easy at speeds between 50-60 mph. 

On the first ride I was “in the pocket” as my cousin Bobby pointed out later at dinner.  I had Uncle Bob on the Motoguzzi in front and Bobby III on the BMW cruiser (with the hip-hop on the bike radio).

The Motoguzzi

The Hip-Hop BMW

My ride, the Honda

We drove straight out of their neighborhood and hung a left on Boggy Creek Rd and then to Fortune Rd, hit the lake and followed E Lake Shore Blvd around.

This is the route we took.

This is Bob’s favorite route.   He says its got everything, low speeds, medium speeds, higher speeds (on the end) and some traffic but very light 2 lane roads. Very little side streets.   It was very scenic.  Most speeds were about 35-45.  The stretch on the east part of the lake (Narcossee Rd) was 55 mph.  

I must say it was pretty  excilarating going 60 mph.  I was not affaid as I had imaged.  As I am writting this now,  I think I may not have let myself think too much before riding.  Being safe and really trying to pay attention to what I was doing was enough to think about.    The ride went perfect.  Except I did stall once at about my second traffic light and could not get the bike started.   The battery was dead so we had to jump start it.   No problem:  Bobby and the Hip-Hop BMW came to my rescue.   

The ride lasted about 45 minutes for about 28 miles. 

  :> I Googled Mapped the route and Bob you were right!

After we got back it started to rain a bit so we decided to call it a night for the Bikes.  Later we had a great dinner.  Bridget, Mike, Linda, Bobby, Bob and I were there. 

This morning Bob woke me at 7:30 am.  We had coffee, got our gear on and took another lap on the route.   

We did it a little different the second time.  First of all, I was not in the pocket, I was the one in the back.   Its interestng on how close cars will come up behind you.  There is definately an art to creating space between you and other cars.   This morning was cooler and there was less people and cars.  I also decided to try out a full face helmet instead of a half size from the day before.  I think I like the full face.   As Bob pointed out, they are both different rides.  The half size you feel the sand, bugs, the wind and you can’t hear much.   With the full face, you can close the lid and really feel and hear the bike more.  I image people have music, or communication devices so they can chat while riding.

After we made the loop, we decided to go down highway 192 in trafiic a bit and go through downtown Kissimmee, then back towards the lake and finally back to his business to open for the day.  I was really starting to get the hang of it and getting better about coordinating all of the moving parts.

By 9:30 am I was back in my car, which seemed very different all of a sudden, and headed North to Gainesville.

Thanks Bob (and Bobby) for a wonderful experience.  And like learning to drive a stick shift 25 years ago, I will never forget it.

My view while sitting on the Honda.  [Notice the little green light, it is in neutral. :>]

Today I succesfully passed both the written and riding examinations for the Motorcycle Safety Foundation (MSF).   This is me before the final rider evaluation.

Here is my view of the controls of the Susuki GS250

For the final riding exam I had too:

1. Prove that I could do 2 u-turns within a 20X60 feet in 1st gear using my friction zone (riding the clutch).  You could not put your foot down or go outside the lines. I touched my foot once, but stayed in the lines.  In practice I was very good at it. I got 3 points off for touching the ground with my foot.

2. Approach a simulated obstacle in second gear at about 15 miles per hour and swerve right, then swerve left while staying within a 3 ft safety zone.  This was to simulate swerving around a car and not running over a pedestrian.  We then where told to stop and be in 1st gear.

3. Perform a Quick Stop.  We were to again approach a simulated car stopped going 15 miles per hour in 2nd gear and come to a complete stop.  We must also be in 1st gear.   Clutch, down shift, front brake & rear brake.  (Simultaneously), remain straight, put foot down.   After a complete stop be ready to leave.  They measured the time/distance and starting point and number of feet to stop.  [This is the hardest for me.  I practiced a few extra times and the riding coach actually said, "Paul, breath.."  He knew I was having some stress trying to get it right.   I finally did.  My problem was just trying to coordinate all the parts moving.  I know that I need to always practice this.]

4. The last evalaution was to simulate navigating a curve.  We approached the curve in 2nd gear, braked slightly into the curve, press to the left , look and then roll through (excelerate through the curve ).   I excuted it almost perfectly, outside, inside, outside, but I didn’t excelerate all the way out of the curve. Another 5 points off.

So I did pretty good, only 8 points off.   The group of 13 had 1 person with 0 points off and 1 with 18 points off and most were about 10 points off.

The written portion was  50 multiple choice questions of the material we studied in the classroom.  I only missed 1.  I missed a question about how many parts are there to maintaing a proper breaking distance.  I choose 2, but there are 3.  [I need to go find my manual to remember the 3 terms :>]

At 6:30am this morning I drove out to Hawthorne and took day 1 of the driving portion of the basic safety course for motorcycles.  

This was the first time ever starting and actually driving a motorcyle.  I’ve ridden a couple of mopeds, an ATV and a couple of scooters once or twice, but this… this was different.

After going through each of the steps, 1 by 1, building on one another it became easier.  Within 10 minutes I was circling the parking lot.  We did several exercises that introduced us to breaking, shifting, turning, weaving and stopping. (In 1st gear for a quick need to move out of the way real fast) This was the last and hardest for me. Being able to stop quickly and remain in control is very important.  I was told to practice always.   I think I ended up doing very good.  It was very fun switching to 2nd gear and just riding and turning. 

Tomorrow we do it again, but this time with some more complicated exercises. 

Here is the bike, a Suzuki GS 250.

Here are all of the bikes.  There were about 13 people and 3 instructors.

Tonight I took the classroom portion of the Basic Rider Course to learn how to ride a motorcycle (just don’t tell my mom). The class was from 6 to 9 and there was about 30 people.  I was very surprised at the diversity…. 15% woman, 50% college kids…10% over 50.  Most surprising was that many had just (within days) bought a brand new Harley.

I have never ridden a motorcycle.  I’m not sure what made me curious.  In fact for most of my life I have been very fearful of them.   But each day I can feel the anticipation building. Each day I seem to notice every single rider.   Well Saturday morning at 6:30am I will find out.

One of the things I got for my birthday from Lisa was lessons to ride a motorcycle.  I’m not sure about all of this, but kinda interested and scared at the same time.  My uncle Bob offered to show me some stuff and ride his sons bike AFTER I take the course.  Here is his bike.