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Monday, May 08, 2006
  Glendora Mountain Road / Glendora Ridge Road
This weekend I finally got back out in the canyons for a real ride. Between the weather, visitors and trips, it's been far too long. It was a great ride and I always enjoy seeing people and hanging out. Lunch at Mount Baldy Lodge was fun. I love Glendora Ridge Road (GRR) but I never seem to get a good rhythm on Glendora Mountain Road (GMR). The ride also highlighted some of my personal shortcomings as a rider. I have spent a significant portion of my riding miles on the same road. It's when I come out of that comfort zone that I realize how much I depend on knowing the road and running sweeping curves.

The majority of my canyon miles have been on the Angeles Crest Highway, which is a fairly fast and sweeping road. It has also been under heavy speed enforcement since I started riding there. I choose to ride that road at a legal pace and the vast majority of the time I'm capable of going though it faster than I choose to. It doesn't really matter how fast I think I can take the curves because I know I am capable than going faster than the speed limit. In some ways its confidence inspiring to know that my speed is limited by the law and not my ability.

The problem comes when I'm on significantly tighter and unfamiliar roads. This was the first time this year and probably only the third time total that I have been on GMR. It is one of those roads that I have never gotten a good flow on. One of the great cliches of motorcycling is "ride your own ride" That's all well and good but how do you know what your ride is? I generally know how fast I can go in wide sweeping turns but I tend to find myself at loss with the technical stuff and slow waaaaay down because I'm just not sure just how fast I should be going. The problem is that on some roads and some corners I still just don't know what my ride is yet.

I know that is one of those things that come with experience. In order to get past it I need to spend more time on more technical roads. I really do need to open up my riding horizons. I'm doing myself a disservice by not varying my motorcycle road diet. So I'm planning in the future to spend a little more time in Malibu, taking my medicine with GMR so I get the treat of GRR.

It's never a bad thing to look for things to improve.


Glendora Ridge Road
 
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