Psycluded's After-Action Reports and Lessons-Learned

[Psycluded]

*hops on the blog bandwagon*

I figured it'd be neat to have a blog, especially after reading several other members' blogs. So, here's an intro in case some of you missed my "new guy" thread.

I'm 25, currently serving the last year of my 6-year term as an enlistedman in the US Air Force. Seven years ago, when I was in high school, I did a lot of dirtbike riding with some friends of mine out in a quarry in North Georgia. I never owned a bike myself, mostly rode friends' older bikes wearing their older gear. You know how it goes, my family wasn't all that terribly wealthy, so I mooched fun where I could.

I hit College in '98 and decided I wanted a sportsbike! Of course, I was living in Atlanta at the time, going to Georgia Tech, and my friends managed to convince me that trying to learn how to ride on the street in Atlanta at my age and maturity level was a sure-fire way to kill myself. Not to mention that I was having financial troubles ANYway and couldn't have possibly afforded a bike. (the same financial troubles that drove me into the Military "Pay for my college please!!")

So, after 5 years in the military, I'm now E-4 and making around $2200/mo after taxes with my living expenses benefits. I've grown up in leaps and bounds having suddenly been catapulted from the uncivilized, unkempt insanity that is college life into a military lifestyle that's all about discipline and consistency. As I was moving in with my girlfriend (also a military member), I realized that my finances have never been in a better spot to finally get that bike I've been wanting!

So, off I go to dealerships around the area. I sat on every sportsbike I could get the salesmen to let me look at, everything from the Hayabusa (No, I'm not that insane) to an R1, to the bike I finally settled on, the Honda CBR600F4i. I'd read all of the admonitions about not starting on a 600cc sportsbike, but, like a lot of people I'm sure, I figured I'd be ok since I'd ridden dirtbikes so much before. I wasn't exactly wrong, at least not yet. I've been lucky, and those instincts I learned years ago -have- saved my butt and my bike a couple of times.

Ok, that's enough intro. I'll post a catch-up from the day I got the bike till now later today...

[Psycluded]

I got the bike.

I got the gear.

I rang the bell, and everyone cheered.

Time to go ride my new toy!

Or so I thought...

I hadn't ridden a bike in 7 years. Seven YEARS. I hopped in the saddle, turned the key and as soon as the injector light went out, hit the ignition. One of the guys from the service department is standing there cheering me on, so I can't possibly screw this up, right?

Wrong. I grab the front brake, clutch and try to put her in gear. Engine sputters out like a candle in a hurricaine. I look down. My sidestand is still down.

After puting the stand up, I hit the ignition and the engine comes back to life! Off we go! I had a friend, Josh, ride his R1 behind me to a parking lot just around the corner, where he put me through basically a 4-hour mini-MSF course. (He's a safety rep for the base I'm on) We did emergency stops, we did U-turns, S curves around the islands in the parking lot, we used our signals and did some mock traffic stops, etc. Everything he OR I could think of.

Drop #1: As I was coming around from one of the emergency stop exercises, I jammed the front brake way too hard (at low speed). Well, the bike did what I told her to and stopped. I didn't. The tank punched me right in the obvious spot to which a tank has access, and over the bike went. I managed to slow down the fall some and hold up the bike for all of a couple of seconds, but the pain in my groin area ensured that my lifting power wasn't exactly at its maximum output. *CRUNCH*

Fortunately, since I slowed the fall, nothing but a couple of scratches on a vinyl decal resulted. *whew*

After that, I'd lost a little confidence that I'd gained that evening, especially about stops. Over time, I regained the confidence and learned what to do and what not to do with the front brake. Reading Proficient Motorcycling was probably one of the best things I could have ever done.
___________________

Fast-forward about 2 weeks. My girlfriend and I are fighting over something inane, as usual. We never fight over stuff that matters, no, we yell and berate each other about things that don't make a bit of difference to either of us. Yes. We're insane.

She suggests that I hop on my new toy and go riding, "to calm down some." Now, I'm not thinking clearly at this point, so off I go in a huff. I grabbed my jacket, gloves and lid and hop on the bike. I made it all the way to the end of the apartment complex road...

When I made the left turn out of the complex road, I gunned the throttle in a fit of frustration, hoping to get that nice burst of acceleration to clear my head...

...some of you can see what's coming...

Suddenly an evil patch of sand appeared from nowhere in the hatched yellow lines I was *ahem* illegally crossing, killing what traction my cold back tire had. My reaction, and I'm still not sure if it was a good one, even though it saved my bacon, was to stomp (and lock) the back brake and emergency-stop the front one while putting my left foot down and *jumping* the bike back upright, like I would a dirtbike. I then docilely pulled into a parking lot across the street and proceeded to sulk and curse myself for being a complete moron. After calming down somewhat, I rode the bike the remaining 30 yards back to the apartment, apologised to the GF and played some Midnight Club 3.

Lesson learned? Don't ride when you're emotional. You'll do dumb stuff that you wouldn't normally do.
___________________

This last weekend was my first mini road trip with the bike and my two riding friends, Gerald (whom we call "G") and Josh. It was also the point that I really fell in love with my bike.

Some background: Josh has been riding for quite some time. He introduced G to riding back about 2 years ago when G bought his Yamaha R6 (BAD choice for a first bike). G had never ridden before, and for 3 months he didn't ride at all. He was scared to DEATH of it. Josh managed to get him out on the roads and into parking lots to practice over and over again and over time he built confidence up like any of us. Now it was my turn.

They had me lead on the way up to Auburn, AL on the interstate because I was the "new guy" and they wanted to keep a close eye on me. *shrugs* It turned out to be a HELLISH ride to Auburn that morning. The wind was kicking up really bad and we were struggling just to keep our bikes on the road from the crosswinds. For some reason the wind was really cold too. By the time we hit our exit, about 40 miles down the interstate, I was numb from head to tow and almost missed putting my feet down when we stopped. G saw that I was in dire need of a pit stop, so he led us to Chili's nearby (our destination anyways) and helped me pull in and get the bike settled in, then chewed my butt for not stopping the group sooner. Yeah, I know, dumb macho "I am a tough sunuvabeech" attitude. My muscles were so fatigued from having to manhandle the bike to keep her in my lane that I was shaking from head to toe.

It was decided that some food would help immensely, and I couldn't disagree. We ate and sat talking for quite a while, and the shakes went away, but a stiffness remained. I literally had to take about 5 minutes to stretch and get limber again before getting back in the saddle.

Josh's R1 was having troubles with its battery, so we headed over to a local Sears to see if they carried the batt he needed, so we wouldn't have to keep push-starting his bike. No such luck.

After this we decided to head back down the interstate to Tallassee (about halfway back to Montgomery) and hit Hwy 14 for a nice twisty, lower-speed ride back into town.

Where the ride up had been hell, the ride down was pure heaven. The sun had come out, warmed up the pavement and the air around it, and it was just gorgeous out. The wind had died down, and I was in the middle of the group, so I just relaxed and REALLY enjoyed the ride. Once we hit Hwy 14, I put my feet back on the pegs (not covering the controls anymore) and REALLY got comfy, and it was incredible. The road sloped and curved gracefully, and we took the curves at nice, relatively slow speeds (limit 50, we were doing 55ish). I got a question in my head about clutchless shifting on my bike so I tried it a few times while we rode and found that if you blip the throttle and put constant pressure in the direction you want the shifter t o go, it shifts nice and smoothly with very little metal-clunkage.

Anyways, we got back into Montgomery and the sky started looking nasty again, so we headed home after stopping for ice cream at a Marble Slab.
______________

My MSF class is tomorrow, and I can't wait! It's an on-base class, and I'm going to be doing it with MY bike, so I think technically it's an ERC instead of the BRC, but they're using the BRC curriculum... *shrug*

Anyways, further updates as events warrant.

[Psycluded]

MSF After-Action Report -

The class was great. The guy teaching it was riding a Kawasaki ZZR 1200, and did the little figure-8 box thing so effortlessly it was sick. He even had huge sportsbike-style hard-shell saddlebags on the back. Awesome looking bike.

The course was a two-day thing, with classroom in the morning and range work in the afternoon.

First day - We arrived and got set up in the classroom, he checked all of our paperwork to make sure we were all insured and stuff, and then off we went on the coursework. We went through the sections of the book by way of the questions in the back (which we were to have answered before arriving to the class) and discussing them as we went. It was a very open-forum style of class. I actually learned more from the others in the class than I did from the book or the teacher (in the classroom at least).

As we finished sections, we'd watch a short video on the unit that would sort of solidify the concepts in place. T-CLOCS, FINE-C, SEE, etc. On the first day, from like 8:00-10:00, we blew through the first 3-4 units, up to the beginning of the street strategies section. Then we all headed out to the range (lined-off track area where you do skills exercises).

The first day's range exercises were simplistic at best, through I actually did learn a lot about my bike in the course of the first hour or so:

1. The CBR600F4i is a very powerful, nimble bike, and can easily make turns in a radius of about 6 feet IF you keep power to the back wheel and just TRUST it to lean over and power through the turn.
2. The rumor that sportsbikes are less apt to be able to complete or excel at the MSF BRC course is nothing but a myth. The instructor was on a machine 2x as powerful as mine, and he was able to demonstrate the exercises with ease, while the others there on Harleys or the one Honda Goldwing were having troubles doing any low-speed maneuvering.
3. Sportbike braking is a powerful, dangerous, but useful thing. I now know I can safely emergency stop that bike from 25mph in less than 6 ft, and so on so forth.
4. Swerving is easier on a sportsbike the more engine power is on the back wheel. Downshift, then swerve while feathering the throttle. I was able to do the swerves in a space about 4 feet wide at 25mph with the engine around 8-9kRPM. At lower RPMs, I had to brake more before swerving. High RPMs assist stability, for some reason.

And in general, I became SO much more comfortable with this bike over the last two days. I am perfectly happy with the seat height now, even though I'm not flat-footed with both feet, and since I was pushing my limits during the course (figured it was the best time to do it), I'm more aware of where they are as opposed to where the bike's limits are. BLOODY important information, that.

The afternoonof the first day we finished up the coursework and he went over what was going to be on the test the following day.

Second day - We arrived and got to work immediately. No passing "Go", no collecting of $200, we took the written test. Everyone passed with a 98 or higher. Huzzah. Out to the range we go.

Once we hit the range, the instructor, unbeknownst to us, cheated a little. He set up portions of the test out on the range and had us running them. He sat there recording our best work and average performance while we did it. When it came time to do the test, if someone messed something up a little, he docked the points, but kept in mind that we'd done it right like 10x right in front of him. I kinda overshot the emergency stop because I locked the back brake (oops!), but the rest of the test was a breeze for me. I dunno, I just felt so much more comfortable with the bike and her abilities as opposed to mine. I decided to trust the bike and the physics involved, especially on the low-speed U-turns.

And that's about it for the MSF BRC course. Anyone who wants details about it, just ask. None of what we did on the range was a secret or anything, so I'll draw diagrams and stuff if you like. The test was nothing but an emergency stop, the figure-8 box, and the swerve. EASY.

[blair]

One of the instructors in our class told of a friend who could do figure-8's in his 16-foot garage on a full-dress Valkyrie (basically a stretch GoldWing).

The "secrets" on our exam weren't in the things we knew we had to do, but in tiny points of how they were going to grade us. Things like: touching the lines was kosher, but going outside them wasn't; going outside a certain line was okay as long as you recovered enough to get inside (or run over) the cone at its end. Stuff like that. They should have told us, so we could know what the real parameters of the test were.

[Psycluded]

Lets see...

Emergency stop - He clocked us and said that there was a "standard" emergency stop distance for every speed on the range (minimum for the exercise was 12mph), and we were graded against our ability to stop at or before that distance. For every 6 inches or so over the "standard", it was a point off. Also, if you locked either brake, it was some odd points off.

Figure 8 - Putting your foot down once was 3 points. Twice was an additional 2. Also, going outside the lines was 3 points off, with an additional strike being another 2 points off. Total points available to lose here are 10.

Swerve - Basically, don't hit cones, and get up to a speed of 12-18 mph before passing the first set of cones. He WAS clocking us, and if you don't hit the target speed, you get another chance.

That's all I remember from the test. He was very nonchalant about it all, "You guys have been doing incredibly well, first class in a while I haven't had someone dump at speed during a turn because they used the front brake or something..."

[blair]

Oh, and my favorite hidden rule: they told us there was a time-limit to the Judging Speed in Turns test, but they weren't allowed to say it only applied to the second turn and only between the first and last cones. And they didn't get to tell us that we had like 3.9 seconds to negotiate it...all 40 or 50 feet of it... I would have never gotten close to the lines if I'd known I could take that much time, and wasn't being timed on any other part of that test.

Who thinks this stuff up, anyway?

[Psycluded]

Last night was my first time going 2-up with my girlfriend, and I have some observations to share:

First of all, nothing is sexier than a short chick with long hair riding 2-up and getting all sweaty then taking off the helmet... hair all mussed, face sweaty, but GODS the huge grin! She couldn't stop grinning the whole evening we rode!

Ok, performance issues. I need to tighten the suspension on my bike when she's going to be riding with me, because turning starts to feel like I'm riding a REALLY top-heavy Goldwing. Thank God I'm comfortable with slow, low-power turns. I had to keep the bike at high RPMs in the turns just to power out of them and bring the bike back upright.

Also, mount/dismount is something I'm still sorta jittery about. When both my feet are on the ground, I'm on the balls of my feet, so when she hops on and the bike lurches from side to side momentarily, it's like Panic Time (tm). I basically leaned forward and manhandled the bars so that the bike stayed upright, shifting my weight against hers until she got situated. I have to warn her about shifting her weight when we're in motion, too. She did that a couple of times last night and I found myself wondering why we were heading towards the yellow line.

Other than that, she did great! She used both the back handle and her hands on the tank to take her weight off of me at stops and around turns. She's a natural at leaning with me in turns, she just looks over my shoulder into the turn, and off we go. I was doing swerves in the parking lot with her before we headed out to eat, and she was doing them with me flawlessly. She absolutely LOVED the bike and the responsiveness she felt when I'd torque the throttle from stoplights *grin*. I didn't get hard on the throttle, really, just enough that she'd feel it and get that grin on her face.

She and I got Icon Tarmac jackets with nice, hard padding on the spine, shoulders and elbows. It's a mesh jacket, but it's heavier than my Joe Rocket jacket was. I'm liking the leather elbows and hard padding instead of the cheap-feeling foam that was in the JR. Karri picked out the new jackets, not me. Her exact words were, "These are the flashiest jackets in the store. They make us look like some sort of two-up racing team. I like 'em. Sportsbike riders are SUPPOSED to look flashy! "

So, yes, we have matching gear now, and the bike may become our most common fair-weather mode of transportation.

[Sev]

Does she have a sister?

[blair]

Does her sister have a bike?

[Sev]

Does her sister have a bike?

Back off, she's mine!