I know just where it came from. I used to see them flying in and out from under the eaves on the back overhang. No way to get in there without pulling off the roof and it didn't go into the attic so I just let it go.
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
File Under "It's Gonna Cost a Little More Than We Thought"
An early Christmas present from my roofers.
I know just where it came from. I used to see them flying in and out from under the eaves on the back overhang. No way to get in there without pulling off the roof and it didn't go into the attic so I just let it go.
I know just where it came from. I used to see them flying in and out from under the eaves on the back overhang. No way to get in there without pulling off the roof and it didn't go into the attic so I just let it go.
"A" Grades for Teachers?
Yup. Turns out that in many education classes most students get an A. Wish there had been blogs back when I was taking education classes. OTOH, the language that I probably would have used to describe the drivel that I was exposed to and expected to spout back would have most likely earned me a lifetime ban from blogging.
George Leef has an interesting article over at the Pope Center.
$25,000 and two years of my life and I would say that absolutely none of it made me a better teacher. Know what made me a better teacher? Four years in the classroom and three or four teachers who were willing to spend time working through various classroom management ideas with me to figure out what would work for me. Yep. That's how long it took for me to figure it out. Wonder if I had spent a couple years in the classroom as an apprentice, Japanese style, if I might have been able to do it in two and been four years ahead of the game? Not to mention what I could have bought with $25,000. Let's see. My car, my Harley, and my credit card would all be paid off in full.
George Leef has an interesting article over at the Pope Center.
$25,000 and two years of my life and I would say that absolutely none of it made me a better teacher. Know what made me a better teacher? Four years in the classroom and three or four teachers who were willing to spend time working through various classroom management ideas with me to figure out what would work for me. Yep. That's how long it took for me to figure it out. Wonder if I had spent a couple years in the classroom as an apprentice, Japanese style, if I might have been able to do it in two and been four years ahead of the game? Not to mention what I could have bought with $25,000. Let's see. My car, my Harley, and my credit card would all be paid off in full.
Saturday, August 27, 2011
Random Thoughts on a Spectacular Ride
Rode from Blaine, WA to Blaine, WA yesterday. About 400 miles round trip. Went with my cousin, the Mad Russian. (Hey, what can I say? If you know the family you know who he is, if you don't it doesn't really matter what I call him in the blog.)
Beautiful ride through Mission, Hope, Lillooet, Pemberton, Whistler, and home. Some thoughts I had as I rode around.
Beautiful ride through Mission, Hope, Lillooet, Pemberton, Whistler, and home. Some thoughts I had as I rode around.
- Zero Ave has a lot of speedbumps. One every kilometer or so. Don't remember that so it must be fairly new. No longer a good way to get from Douglas to Abbotsford.
- Spuzzum is an awesome town name. Not sure I'd want to live under it, though.
- The Trans Canada Highway often resembles a back country road. Amazing that it is the major highway across the second largest country in the world.
- Middle of nowhere and all of a sudden there's a guy pushing one of those carts that you sell ice cream from. Yeah, one of those. You know exactly what I'm talking about. This guy had to be five miles from anywhere in all directions. What the...?
- The road from Yale to Boston Bar is, in fact, one of the nicest motorcycle roads I have ever ridden. Beautiful scenery, sweeping curves, well engineered roads. If I did this ride again, it might be fun to make it a two day ride and stop to ride the Hell's Gate Airtram.
- Apparently the "Canadian Minister in Charge of Making Sure People Get Where They Want to Be" doesn't think people should go to Lillooet. The sign for the Lillooet turnoff is actually combined with the sign to exit at Lytton and it's about the size of a First Class Postage Stamp. "Exit here for Lytton" it proudly exclaims, followed by a tiny little "and Lillooet". Of course if you aren't going to Lytton, you probably stopped reading by the time that part came up. We went flying by. Fortunately I read ridiculously quickly and was able to save the day. Otherwise we might be in Saskatoon right now, wondering what happened.
- Speaking of the highway to Lillooet, should there be minimum road requirements before you are allowed to call something a "highway"? Perhaps "small unmaintained road 12" would be a better designation. Holy cow. Destination Highways: BC rates this as "best motorcycle roads in BC number 40". Beautiful ride but as you bounce through the potholes, swerve to avoid small avalanches, "watch for livestock", etc, you have to wonder what they were thinking. At first I thought maybe it just hadn't been repaved in a while and needed to be downgraded to the "Not the best roads in BC" list, but the MR tells me that 14 years ago, when he was working as a lumberjack or something way up north, it was exactly this bad. Well, they saw something they liked.
- If I were Larry Nelson, the General Manager of Interior Roads, Ltd I don't know that I would put up a sign on the worst stretch of the worst road announcing that my company was in charge of road maintenance. Probably not their fault. They probably get paid minimal amounts of money by the provincial government to do cursory maintenance on thousands of miles of back country roads. OTOH maybe they get paid buckets of taxpayer dollars and do very little to earn it. Hard to say, really.
According to the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure, "In British Columbia, highway maintenance and repairs are provided by local highway maintenance companies contracted by the Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure. They monitor our highways and bridges for problems that could cause a hazard to the driving public such as debris, dead animals, fallen trees, defective signs, bridge damage, potholes, flooding, washouts, mudslides, avalanches, snow and ice."
Given the big pile of avalanche rocks on the road one has to wonder when the monitoring happens. Of course the mission statement doesn't actually say they'll do anything about it, just monitor. Oh well. - Speaking of Lillooet, if I were visiting I would avoid the restaurant in Reynold's Hotel. The main reason it is still in business might well be that when you get to it there is no indication that there is anything else in the town. My Swiss Turkey Melt consisted of REALLY dry bread, REALLY dry turkey, a skoshe of whitish cheese, beautifully fried to make it look yummy. Served with OK fries and weirdly flavored tartar sauce (actually I requested the tartar sauce to go with the fries, an eccentricity of mine). After we were done eating, we sat for a while wondering if a check might be forthcoming. When it never was, we proceeded to the counter and paid for our lunch. Turns out Lillooet has lots of businesses, you just have to go a little further up the road and around the corner.
PS Their motto, proudly displayed on signs at the entrance and exit to town is "Guaranteed Rugged". Thought that was sort of weird and apparently so do the town fathers, because the slogan doesn't seem to appear on their website. - To the two riders who parallel parked their motorcycles in front of the Reynold's, if you are reading this "PARK YOUR MOTORCYCLES PERPENDICULAR". Where on earth did you learn to ride? Really? No one ever mentioned this?
- Highway 99 between Lillooet and Pemberton has an astounding number of one-lane, wooden bridges. They probably are safety hazards and due to be replaced but they sure are attractive. It will be a crying shame when they are all eventually replaced with cookie cutter concrete slabs that require a sign just to let you know that you are crossing a creek.
- I guess I am used to Hwy 99 being the giant people mover that runs from the USA border to Vancouver. Sort of odd cruising this scenic back road with one lane wooden bridges
- Whistler was crowded and unrecognizable. Given that I have skied more at Whistler than at any single other ski area, it was sort of depressing to have no idea where anything was or even, for that matter, to recognize landmarks on the highway. They have completely rebuilt the whole highway since I moved away and it is now a giant multi-lane freeway. Plus the sun was in my eyes the whole way so I couldn't really see anything.
- PS on the Whistler highway, it is supposed to be a nice motorcycle road, and it is from a purely technical standpoint, plus the scenery, but the fact that it is now a giant four lane highway makes it less interesting. Basically I felt like I was dragging down an Interstate Highway somewhere. Plus the sun was in my eyes the whole way so I couldn't really see anything.
- The Mad Russian doesn't slow down at all through towns.
All in all a great day, followed by another near-400 mile ride the next day, made for a great last weekend before I have to show up at school.
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
hahahahahahahaha!
Hahahahahahahaha, continued
Physics Geek
Pity me
What do you get when you cross a fondness for both Dylan Thomas and D&D? Abominations like the following:
=================================
Do not open that dungeon door,
EXP awaits those who survive;
Rage, rage against the opening of that door.
Though meat shields will swing the claymore,
And with their swords they might shuck and jive,
They do not open that dungeon door.
Magicians, wearing robes like a five dollar whore
Who hide behind others to survive,
Rage, rage against the opening of that door.
Small thiefs who perform acts to deplore,
And learned to late that the lich was alive,
Do not open that dungeon door.
Archers, from a distance so cocksure
While shooting bees off of the beehive,
Rage, rage against the opening of that door.
And you, party members, looking to explore,
Pray to whatever that you might stay alive.
Do not open that dungeon door.
Rage, rage against the opening of that door.
==============================
Physics Geek
Physics Geek
Pity me
What do you get when you cross a fondness for both Dylan Thomas and D&D? Abominations like the following:
=================================
Do not open that dungeon door,
EXP awaits those who survive;
Rage, rage against the opening of that door.
Though meat shields will swing the claymore,
And with their swords they might shuck and jive,
They do not open that dungeon door.
Magicians, wearing robes like a five dollar whore
Who hide behind others to survive,
Rage, rage against the opening of that door.
Small thiefs who perform acts to deplore,
And learned to late that the lich was alive,
Do not open that dungeon door.
Archers, from a distance so cocksure
While shooting bees off of the beehive,
Rage, rage against the opening of that door.
And you, party members, looking to explore,
Pray to whatever that you might stay alive.
Do not open that dungeon door.
Rage, rage against the opening of that door.
==============================
Physics Geek
Sorry, I'm not a Mercedes mechanic
That is what my response would be to a friend who said "My Mercedes needs some repairs and upgrades".
Some of my friends would say "I'll give you a hand, I've been working on Mercedes for years". Then, as we worked on my Mercedes, they'd say things like "Do this" and "Now do that". I, thinking that they knew what they were doing, would do this and that. Occasionally they would hit things with a big hammer, leaving dents in the car. I would feel bad about saying anything because they were helping me when I needed help.
What should the correct response be? Well, the title, of course. No, I really have no idea. I might be able to figure it out, but it will be poorly done, much of it will be sub par, and some of it will just be flat out wrong.
So just because it isn't a Mercedes, but is, in fact, the walls of an antique house, why should your response be any different?
Me: I need to do some renovations to my old house, specifically moving a door and squaring off a hallway.
Random friend: No problem. I can help you with that. So and so was a contractor for thirty years. I'll bet he'll help.
Perhaps the answer should have been "I don't really know how to do that".
So why the post now since this "hypothetical" conversation happened over ten years ago? I am doing one of my famous renovation projects and am patching in some drywall I had to cut out. The wall is freaking curved! Yes. Curved! The studs don't line up. They are different widths. The house was built with rough cut lumber so we had to rip 2" x 6" boards to 4". Well, apparently we didn't rip the boards to 4", we ripped them to somewhere near four inches. Close enough, right? NO! Aaaaahhhhh! Installing the new piece of drywall, which is only 31" wide, and there is about a 3/8 inch bow. Cracking drywall pieces, screws ripping right through when the pressure gets too much, etc.
If anyone is around and I suggest doing a project on the house, shoot me. Right then and there. Just shoot me. I'll sign whatever you need to keep you out of trouble.
Oh wait, did I mention that the house is over a 100 years old? EVERYTHING is a freaking project. Disregard that last sentence. I can't afford the medical bills for the number of times I'd be in the emergency room.
Some of my friends would say "I'll give you a hand, I've been working on Mercedes for years". Then, as we worked on my Mercedes, they'd say things like "Do this" and "Now do that". I, thinking that they knew what they were doing, would do this and that. Occasionally they would hit things with a big hammer, leaving dents in the car. I would feel bad about saying anything because they were helping me when I needed help.
What should the correct response be? Well, the title, of course. No, I really have no idea. I might be able to figure it out, but it will be poorly done, much of it will be sub par, and some of it will just be flat out wrong.
So just because it isn't a Mercedes, but is, in fact, the walls of an antique house, why should your response be any different?
Me: I need to do some renovations to my old house, specifically moving a door and squaring off a hallway.
Random friend: No problem. I can help you with that. So and so was a contractor for thirty years. I'll bet he'll help.
Perhaps the answer should have been "I don't really know how to do that".
So why the post now since this "hypothetical" conversation happened over ten years ago? I am doing one of my famous renovation projects and am patching in some drywall I had to cut out. The wall is freaking curved! Yes. Curved! The studs don't line up. They are different widths. The house was built with rough cut lumber so we had to rip 2" x 6" boards to 4". Well, apparently we didn't rip the boards to 4", we ripped them to somewhere near four inches. Close enough, right? NO! Aaaaahhhhh! Installing the new piece of drywall, which is only 31" wide, and there is about a 3/8 inch bow. Cracking drywall pieces, screws ripping right through when the pressure gets too much, etc.
If anyone is around and I suggest doing a project on the house, shoot me. Right then and there. Just shoot me. I'll sign whatever you need to keep you out of trouble.
Oh wait, did I mention that the house is over a 100 years old? EVERYTHING is a freaking project. Disregard that last sentence. I can't afford the medical bills for the number of times I'd be in the emergency room.
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Home Repair and Restoration
As some of you may know, I have an antique house. Not the legal definition that says that a car is antique if it is more than thirty years old, but a real antique house. Built in 1909 by John Cain. I love it. No closets to speak of (except for the ones tucked in under the eaves which you have to be a Yoga expert to get in and out of), hardly any storage space for anything, but it is a cool old house.
So, what do you do if you have an antique house? Why you restore it, of course. For example, you might decide that the front hall would look better if all the beautiful antique wooden trim wasn't covered in layers of white paint. Wait, turns out that "layers" means about thirty, all of them soaked into the antique woodwork. You try heat guns, sixteen kinds of chemical stripper, hours ofbackbreaking really boring labor, and at the end of it all, you have stripped about two thirds of the woodwork and it all looks like crap. Paint won't come out of the little crevices, curved surfaces in the trim now have little splinters sticking out where your scraping tools dug in to the 100 year old wood, and the grain of the wood still has a whitish paint residue (although apparently I can cover that with a gel type stain when the day finally arrives). Now I am really bored with stripping wood and I still have a long way to go. That project gets "postponed".
Wow. That is ugly linoleum in the front porch. It is pulling up and looks non-antique. I think I'll tear it out. Hey, look. When you install linoleum you first glue down plywood to create a nice flat base for the linoleum. Well, the plywood is uglier than the linoleum so out it comes. Check it out. A giant hole into the crawl space under the house. Well, a piece of the plywood cut to size and then hidden by a strategically placed loveseat should do the trick. Maybe I'll ask my neighbor, who is a contractor, for a bid to replace the whole floor in the front porch with nice new wood or something. That was last year. I guess he is really busy.
Hmm. That old carpet looks like garbage. I wonder what is underneath it. Torn up, stained, scratched fir. I guess it could be sanded. Read all about it on the interweb and it turns out that sanding floors is actually not that easy and amateurs routinely ruin perfectly good floors. Well, I guess it could wait until I have money to hire a professional. But wait, that other carpet also looks like garbage (and is really gross due to a particular roommate). I think I'll tear it out. Hmmm. Read sentence four above in this paragraph.
Sensing a pattern? I am super good at tearing out old crappy stuff. Not so great at redoing the stuff I expose with my tearing out. Maybe I should buy a new house with new everything. Wouldn't have the character but I wouldn't currently be sitting here typing in order to avoid having to actually restore something since apparently that isn't one of my strengths. Oh well. Soon it will be winter and I will only be home when it's dark. None of this will show quite as much once that happens and I won't have to worry about it until next summer.
So, what do you do if you have an antique house? Why you restore it, of course. For example, you might decide that the front hall would look better if all the beautiful antique wooden trim wasn't covered in layers of white paint. Wait, turns out that "layers" means about thirty, all of them soaked into the antique woodwork. You try heat guns, sixteen kinds of chemical stripper, hours of
Wow. That is ugly linoleum in the front porch. It is pulling up and looks non-antique. I think I'll tear it out. Hey, look. When you install linoleum you first glue down plywood to create a nice flat base for the linoleum. Well, the plywood is uglier than the linoleum so out it comes. Check it out. A giant hole into the crawl space under the house. Well, a piece of the plywood cut to size and then hidden by a strategically placed loveseat should do the trick. Maybe I'll ask my neighbor, who is a contractor, for a bid to replace the whole floor in the front porch with nice new wood or something. That was last year. I guess he is really busy.
Hmm. That old carpet looks like garbage. I wonder what is underneath it. Torn up, stained, scratched fir. I guess it could be sanded. Read all about it on the interweb and it turns out that sanding floors is actually not that easy and amateurs routinely ruin perfectly good floors. Well, I guess it could wait until I have money to hire a professional. But wait, that other carpet also looks like garbage (and is really gross due to a particular roommate). I think I'll tear it out. Hmmm. Read sentence four above in this paragraph.
Sensing a pattern? I am super good at tearing out old crappy stuff. Not so great at redoing the stuff I expose with my tearing out. Maybe I should buy a new house with new everything. Wouldn't have the character but I wouldn't currently be sitting here typing in order to avoid having to actually restore something since apparently that isn't one of my strengths. Oh well. Soon it will be winter and I will only be home when it's dark. None of this will show quite as much once that happens and I won't have to worry about it until next summer.
Friday, August 12, 2011
The Totally Cool Placemat from Nuclearland in Albuquerque
Explained in this post.
PS It doesn't have stains, those are shadows cast by the evening sun. Still looking for that photographer. Sigh.
PS It doesn't have stains, those are shadows cast by the evening sun. Still looking for that photographer. Sigh.
100 Years of Roofing Technology: A Primer
So I'm having my roof replaced. The current roof loses large swathes of itself every winter when the winds come howling up the Fraser Valley and Blaine is right smack in the way. Fortunately, there is more roof underneath each missing swath so it hasn't really been an issue, but at some point, you just have to bite the bullet.
Well, turns out to be an $18,000 bullet. No, that isn't a typo. The forthcoming pictures will show my house to have a ridiculously steep roof. The one time I climbed on it I thought I was going to die, and I'm not even the slightest bit scared of heights. (If you knew me when I was younger, stop laughing. I grew out of it.)
As a related aside, anyone know how many layers of roofing you are legally allowed to put on your roof before you have to tear it down and start over? Yes, the correct answer is three.
Another related aside. How many roofs (rooves or is that just a Tolkienism) might a house that was built 102 years ago have. Let's see. Figure 20 years per roof, 102/20 is a little over five so we'll go with five.
Hah, hah. Wrong answer. I have six. Six complete rooves. Including what are probably (using the math from above) the original cedar shakes. My contractor told me that he had pulled twenty different colored composite shingles from the roof which means that not only were there six complete rooves, they had been patched with different colored shingles (or one of the rooves was made up of a variety of colors. I just thought of that).
So theoretically, to relate this post back to its title, I could analyze each layer of roofing, assuming a twenty or so year spread between layers, and I could tell something about the civilization that developed that composite shingle. Or I could go to Wikipedia.
Addendum: Turns out (according to the interweb) that cedar shakes can last thirty to forty years if properly installed and maintained. I was thinking when I read the first part that I should quickly call and see if I can switch to cedar shakes, then I read the second part and there is no way I am going up on that roof, ever, to do any maintenance. Whatever that consists of. That also throws my math way off, because that means that each of those composite shingle rooves only lasted, on average, twelve years. That doesn't bode well. I'd better move as soon as I finish the roof.
Well, turns out to be an $18,000 bullet. No, that isn't a typo. The forthcoming pictures will show my house to have a ridiculously steep roof. The one time I climbed on it I thought I was going to die, and I'm not even the slightest bit scared of heights. (If you knew me when I was younger, stop laughing. I grew out of it.)
As a related aside, anyone know how many layers of roofing you are legally allowed to put on your roof before you have to tear it down and start over? Yes, the correct answer is three.
Another related aside. How many roofs (rooves or is that just a Tolkienism) might a house that was built 102 years ago have. Let's see. Figure 20 years per roof, 102/20 is a little over five so we'll go with five.
Hah, hah. Wrong answer. I have six. Six complete rooves. Including what are probably (using the math from above) the original cedar shakes. My contractor told me that he had pulled twenty different colored composite shingles from the roof which means that not only were there six complete rooves, they had been patched with different colored shingles (or one of the rooves was made up of a variety of colors. I just thought of that).
So theoretically, to relate this post back to its title, I could analyze each layer of roofing, assuming a twenty or so year spread between layers, and I could tell something about the civilization that developed that composite shingle. Or I could go to Wikipedia.
Addendum: Turns out (according to the interweb) that cedar shakes can last thirty to forty years if properly installed and maintained. I was thinking when I read the first part that I should quickly call and see if I can switch to cedar shakes, then I read the second part and there is no way I am going up on that roof, ever, to do any maintenance. Whatever that consists of. That also throws my math way off, because that means that each of those composite shingle rooves only lasted, on average, twelve years. That doesn't bode well. I'd better move as soon as I finish the roof.
The Benefits of a Public Education
So my sister Alice goes to stay in our family cabin over in Point Roberts for a week. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Pacific Northwest, Point Roberts is a little spur of land that belongs to the US but, through an accident of geography and politics, is completely isolated from the rest of the United States (insert snide comment about Washington, DC here). To get there you either take a boat or drive through Canada. It is, however, a part of Whatcom County, the same county she in which she lives.
While in Point Roberts, her debit card gets put on hold/suspended/frozen. She makes it through the rest of the week, probably living on frozen peas or something, and then, upon her return to Bellingham, drops by to visit her friendly local banker (are they still called bankers if they work for a credit union? Anyway...)
The advice she is given is...
wait for it...
she should probably contact the credit union before she travels so they don't flag her credit card activity while she's gone.
What? Anyone read the part where Point Roberts is in the SAME COUNTY as Bellingham?
Really. Like the "sugar coated Satan sandwich", you just can't make this stuff up. It's great.
While in Point Roberts, her debit card gets put on hold/suspended/frozen. She makes it through the rest of the week, probably living on frozen peas or something, and then, upon her return to Bellingham, drops by to visit her friendly local banker (are they still called bankers if they work for a credit union? Anyway...)
The advice she is given is...
wait for it...
she should probably contact the credit union before she travels so they don't flag her credit card activity while she's gone.
What? Anyone read the part where Point Roberts is in the SAME COUNTY as Bellingham?
Really. Like the "sugar coated Satan sandwich", you just can't make this stuff up. It's great.
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Fast cornering on your motorcycle: a self help guide
So perhaps you are a new rider. Perhaps you have been riding for years but never really thought about going a little faster. Perhaps you have just forgotten. Here are a couple tips for getting through those twisties a little quicker.
First of all, we all know you have to lean your motorcycle. That's just the way it works. We have all experienced, however, that moment when you are halfway through a curve and suddenly realize that leaning isn't enough. That brief panic when you think you are leaned as far as those guys on the Racing Channel, but your bike is slowly drifting towards the oncoming traffic. What do you do now?
Lean more. No seriously. Try this on a gentle curve on a smooth road with little traffic. Lean your bike to go through the curve, then lean your body just a little more than the bike. What just happened? You lowered the center of gravity of the bike by moving your body in the direction of the turn. At first it feels weird but pretty quickly you discover that if you lean your body more, you can actually lean the bike less for the same turn at the same speed. You are now keeping your tires closer to the center patch and improving your handling and stability. (PS If you really want to go through fast, shift your butt off the seat until it is hanging in the air, racing style. That really lowers your CoG. Looks a bit strange on a street bike though.)
So. I promised you a couple and here is tip two of two. Tip your head in the opposite direction of the lean. That's it. Seems simple, doesn't it? So why does that help? Well, if you are leaned into a hard corner and you have followed tip one, your body might be over at a 25 or 30 degree angle. The world, it turns out, looks weird from that angle. Tip your head back until it is straight up and down, and all of a sudden your brain doesn't have to process a tilted world. Bam. Reactions are quicker, you corner better, ...
Finally, a bonus, not included in the "couple" tip. Look in the direction of the turn. No seriously. Look way the heck over in the direction of the turn. If you are on one of those crazy 180º bends, you should be looking at the road that is going in the other direction. (OK, that might be a slight exaggeration.) Try this. Go find a decent isolated road that has a few sharpish bends. Try going around them a couple times the way you normally do, which generally is that you are looking at the road about thirty feet in front of you. Then go through again and look all the way across the curve. Look at where you are going to be when you are most of the way around the curve. What happened? Chances are when you turned your head sharply in the direction of the corner, you suddenly shot across into the oncoming lane because your turn radius suddenly decreased dramatically. (I did tell you to do this on an isolated road, remember.) Turns out that you generally go in the direction you are looking. Look straight ahead, you will pretty much go straight ahead. Look across the curve and you will go through that curve much faster.
You'll want to play around and practice all three of these but I find that I generally rocket through curves dramatically faster than the guys I ride with who haven't quite got this all down.
First of all, we all know you have to lean your motorcycle. That's just the way it works. We have all experienced, however, that moment when you are halfway through a curve and suddenly realize that leaning isn't enough. That brief panic when you think you are leaned as far as those guys on the Racing Channel, but your bike is slowly drifting towards the oncoming traffic. What do you do now?
Lean more. No seriously. Try this on a gentle curve on a smooth road with little traffic. Lean your bike to go through the curve, then lean your body just a little more than the bike. What just happened? You lowered the center of gravity of the bike by moving your body in the direction of the turn. At first it feels weird but pretty quickly you discover that if you lean your body more, you can actually lean the bike less for the same turn at the same speed. You are now keeping your tires closer to the center patch and improving your handling and stability. (PS If you really want to go through fast, shift your butt off the seat until it is hanging in the air, racing style. That really lowers your CoG. Looks a bit strange on a street bike though.)
So. I promised you a couple and here is tip two of two. Tip your head in the opposite direction of the lean. That's it. Seems simple, doesn't it? So why does that help? Well, if you are leaned into a hard corner and you have followed tip one, your body might be over at a 25 or 30 degree angle. The world, it turns out, looks weird from that angle. Tip your head back until it is straight up and down, and all of a sudden your brain doesn't have to process a tilted world. Bam. Reactions are quicker, you corner better, ...
Finally, a bonus, not included in the "couple" tip. Look in the direction of the turn. No seriously. Look way the heck over in the direction of the turn. If you are on one of those crazy 180º bends, you should be looking at the road that is going in the other direction. (OK, that might be a slight exaggeration.) Try this. Go find a decent isolated road that has a few sharpish bends. Try going around them a couple times the way you normally do, which generally is that you are looking at the road about thirty feet in front of you. Then go through again and look all the way across the curve. Look at where you are going to be when you are most of the way around the curve. What happened? Chances are when you turned your head sharply in the direction of the corner, you suddenly shot across into the oncoming lane because your turn radius suddenly decreased dramatically. (I did tell you to do this on an isolated road, remember.) Turns out that you generally go in the direction you are looking. Look straight ahead, you will pretty much go straight ahead. Look across the curve and you will go through that curve much faster.
You'll want to play around and practice all three of these but I find that I generally rocket through curves dramatically faster than the guys I ride with who haven't quite got this all down.
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