RidingSmart on the Cherohala - Check In Thread

[StretchMark]

We had a great weekend of RidingSmart on the Cherohala this weekend. We had a fantastic group of students. Great job guys!!

 

Jim Williams will post a group picture and hopefully some of the others will post some of their shots. I'll capture some stills from the videos and post them later this week.

 

Please check in here and let us know you made it home ok.

 

Thanks to Steve Foot, Ken Insley, Jim Williams, Chris Kinney and Shawn Goulding for helping with the class.

[jimwms]

Mike Tobias and I made it back to Knoxville around 11:00. He's already left for the remainder of his journey that will take him back to Kingston, New York.

 

It was a truly wonderful, incident-free weekend. The only difficult weather was a fierce thunderstorm Friday night after dinner. It knocked out power to the area for a couple of hours, but the parking lot hang endured under the hotel's cover. Here's this weekend's gang:

 

 

Shawn overhear's his name being used:

 

Ken demonstrates proper position for riding:

 

Mark demonstrates proper position for the official salute to that other board:

 

We invaded Cascades Riverside Grill at the Bistro for lunch:

 

 

 

Steve explains why the yellow GS's are fastest.

 

 

One example of the effectiveness of the training can be see here, as Jim runs a couple of tourists off the Cherohala.

 

 

Mark and Steve did an outstanding job of delivering a weekend of quality instruction. It was really gratifying to see the change in everyone's riding. Through it all, you could feel the presence of David Baker and his vision of more proficient, safer riders.

 

We're sorry for the loss of your friend, Christopher, and hope you'll be able to join us next time.

[gamecock]

Just in. I rode back with Ken Insley and we took a 250 mile scenic route. Thank you to all the instructors for volunteering your time to make us better. And thank you to David Baker for being the "founding father" of Ride Smart. The only think missing was you.

 

I hope to see many of you at BBB and El Paseo!

[Lone_RT_rider]

I'm home safe. I Left the hotel about 8:15 this morning and hi the door here in Greenville at 12:20. I also added about 30 miles to my original route to the event. I watched the Doppler this morning and there was a nice big patch of thunderstorms over the Blairsville and Hiawassee area. So, I stayed on 64 north of the mess and then cut south on 107 and several other roads home.

 

Thanks to everyone that came out for the event and great thanks to Mark Davis, Steve Foot and Dave Baker for making these classes possible. It was good to get a chance to work with the great students that showed up. Hopefully everyone got home without any issues.

 

Shawn

[Kinsley]

I tested some new roads south of Athens on the way to Atlanta with Andy (gamecock). We kept his duc dry and have some new roads for El Paseo VIII routes.

 

Here are some photos.

1st Stop, Steve shows how to bow to the GS when approaching from behind.

What you lookin at?

Captive audience.

The biggest curve was the learing curve.

Post lunch, pre-video discussion, it's coming together now.

[Wolfy]

All,

I had a great weekend. I left the hotel at about 7am this morning. I decided to stay on 75N until Lexington, KY then I practiced my new skills on US27N. I arrived home at noon, safe.

 

The instructors did an excellent job communicating the material and giving good pointers through-out the day. Many thanks to everyone. I learned how to ride again. It may take a few more weeks for my muscles to adjust to the new style, but I sure know I am riding smoother and safer.

 

Looking forward to the next event.

[Chris K]

Got in around 1:45 after taking the sceneic route home. Just in time to start watching 5 hours of racing. (way to go Nicky!)

Had a great run on the Skyway and Wayah road with Mike Waldeck, then down 28 all the way to the end in SC and the backroads home.

I was great to see all the progress between the first and last session on Saturday! What a great bunch, keep practicing guys!

[steve.foote]

Home after suffering brutal heat and frog-strangling rain. Fortunately, the bike was safely tucked away in the trailer and I was enjoying ambient 70 degree temps in the truck.

 

Excellent class and much learning and fun was had by all.

[David]

It's exciting just reading about this! I admire all of you. The teachers for such effort behind the scenes, and having the courage to think out loud in front of people, with everybody learning together. And the students who care enough about their riding.

 

Great work, everybody. I almost made it when Steve thought a business emergency might keep him away, but it all worked out well.

 

I spent the day at the Barber Race Track...but I did think about you all, especially when I looked at the weather last night.

[lawnchairboy]

We had a great weekend of RidingSmart on the Cherohala this weekend. We had a fantastic group of students. Great job guys!!

 

Jim Williams will post a group picture and hopefully some of the others will post some of their shots. I'll capture some stills from the videos and post them later this week.

 

Please check in here and let us know you made it home ok.

 

Thanks to Steve Foot, Ken Insley, Jim Williams, Chris Kinney and Shawn Goulding for helping with the class.

 

to quote someone famous from this board me and my "leather wrapped-air conditioned butt" made it home safely, although I thought I might have to swim for part of it.

 

Speaking of that famous person... THANKS for RIDING SMART. Truly the single best thing that has ever happened in my motorcycling life.

[mcwaldeck]

Had a fantastic weekend. Many thanks to all the instructors and coaches for the time and effort to teach a valuable program. The significant changes to my riding technique were taught in a logical, digestible format, and on a perfect road for trying them out. Great job, and thanks, again!

Mike

[Michael Tobias]

I just wanted to thank all of you for your time and efforts to do this class...diverse as we are, sharing a passion for riding it a great thing. Great to make new acquaintances. I think I will be a much better rider for having shared the weekend with you all. I hope everyone got back dry and safely. I still have another 4 or 5 days to practice on the way home.

 

W.Va should turn out to be great fun!

 

If you ever get to the Catskills and need a place to land. let me know.

[Chris K]

Home after suffering brutal heat and frog-strangling rain. Fortunately, the bike was safely tucked away in the trailer and I was enjoying ambient 70 degree temps in the truck.

 

Way to take one for the team Steve!

[Lone_RT_rider]

Home after suffering brutal heat and frog-strangling rain. Fortunately, the bike was safely tucked away in the trailer and I was enjoying ambient 70 degree temps in the truck.

 

Way to take one for the team Steve!

 

Yes...with a high temp of 81F on the way home, I was just suffering out in the open on that bike on routes 39, 68, 64, 107, 130......and so on....and so on. It was just a miserable ride home! I hope you really enjoyed that truck!

 

Shawn

[Tasker]

Through it all, you could feel the presence of David Baker

 

Yeah, I've had that feeling. My doc told me to take a Pepcid Complete when I feel it coming on the next time.

 

It's nice to see a RS being presented again.

 

Nice job, everyone!

[Slumgullion]

Congradulations to the RideSmart instructors in that nobody crashed! Although when viewing the pics I thought other than Ken it was an ugly convention! Please keep Chris K BEHIND the camera!

[Albert]

Home safe! I just want to reiterate everyone's comments here. Great job by the instructors and a wonderful course that David put together. Thanks to Jim's urging to try NC28 on the way home I wound up doing a marathon. Left around 7:30 from the hotel and wound over to 28 via the dragon (odd that early when you're alone). After 28 I decided I'd better catch the lower end of the BRP to Ashville. After that it was slab time. Rolled into Pittsburgh around 7:30 that night.

 

Once again thanks for the time our instructors graciously donated for our benefit. Thanks to David for caring enough to share his knowledge. And thanks to all the other riders whos great company made the weekend special. Now, where's the next one?

[jrlunsford]

Just wanted to let everyone know I really had a great time and it was most educational. I also would like to thank all of the instructors for their effort and their time. This was a great group of folks to be around and to learn from and I really had a fantastic time. Thanks again for all of your knowledge and time that was share with all of us. Oh, sorry for checking in late but I also had a good ride home with no problems or rain.

[Jkrakau]

Made it back in fine form around 10:30 Sunday morning. With guidance from Ken and Mark, found route 315 and others for practicing my new skills.

 

Thanks to all of the instructors for patiently explaining the Riding Smart skills. The on-the-road feedback and video evidence was essential to reinforcing the concepts.

 

Also, thanks for welcoming a non-BMW rider to the group.

 

Jim

[StretchMark]

Some stills caught from the video to show the progress. Some student's changes were more dramatic than others, but it sometimes takes a while to perfect the technique.

 

Full Size photos can be found here:

Before Riding Smart

After Module 5

After Module 6

 

Mike Tobias before:

and after module 5:

 

Mike Waldeck Before:

and after module 5:

 

Al Olsen before:

and after module 5:

 

Andy Raye before:

and after module 5:

 

Chris Oudekerk before:

and after module 5:

 

Eric Puleo before:

and after module 5:

 

Eric Weinstein before:

and after module 5:

 

Jim Krakau before:

and after module 5:

 

JR Lunsford before:

and after module 5:

[Id's_OK]

Christopher, and hope you'll be able to join us next time.

 

So, when are you free? Seriously, sorry I had to back out at the last minute, but glad you guys had a great (and safe) time. Kudos to the organizers and instructors for continuing the 'grass roots' life that the RS Creator had in mind. Me so jealous! Let's do it again soon!

[pedro cerveza]

Just got back to Florida. I would have checked in from the road but I forgot my password. Many many thanks to all of the instructors who volunteered for the course. Thanks to David Baker for getting this started. It was a great weekend! Outstanding instruction, super riding & great company. On the Cherhola headed back to Asheville I met a guy who had the same custom paint job on his S that I have. We managed to turn the ride back into a 300 mile adventure. We did the Cherhola, 129, 143 & 28.

On Monday I had to put on new tires. I called Jerry over at Pirates Lair to see if they knew where I could get some new rubber. They called around to find me some new tires. No one would mount them on the bike. No Problem! Says the Pirate. Bring you bike over here, we’ll pull the wheels off and Amber (Mrs. Pirate) will take you over to the tire shop in her car to get them put on the wheels. It turned out to be an all day ordeal with Jerry & Amber bending over backwards to get me back on the road. They really are first class folks. If you haven’t heard of Pirates Lair, it’s worth a look at their site. Hey Lundsford, I really am sorry about the short jokes : )

[Lone_RT_rider]

On the Cherhola headed back to Asheville I met a guy who had the same custom paint job on his S that I have.

 

 

I saw that guy headed the oppisite dirrection as I was headed east on 64 that day. Now hearing this I would guess that he was headed up 68 to the TN side of the Cherahala.

 

Shawn