a pre-Deal's Gap Safety lesson....with Photo's from Killboy!!!

O.k. everybody...... here is my pre-GAP safety lesson.... a few things to think about......

30 or so guys from Grand Rapids, MI are headed down to the GAP..... many of these guys are new riders. So, every year I try to put together some safety lesson to get them thinking about how to ride at Deal's Gap, NC......Here's my safety lesson post from this year.....Looks like the pace is back up on the Dragon.....ahhh.... what art!This is pretty much a common occurrence down there.......couldn't tell you how many people have passed me coming the other way in my lane.... just expect cars and heavy cruisers to do this...... Seriously ----- if there is a line of cars coming the other way mid-corner..... you don't have to go knee down.... just take it easy and give them room, there will be plenty more corners to go full-on.Here's an excellent learning shot........don't APEX early......stay wide as long as possible, throw it in, then accelerate out of the corner...... it will give you a route of escape in case a vehicle coming the other way crosses the yellow...... BTW --- the other issue with Apexing early is that....if you're going tooo fast for the corner, it will sling shot you right off the road on the other side. You'll see black marks all over the road from people who have done this the week before.This is what happens if you APEX early and don't make the corner.....Here's a great line......see how wide he is going into the corner....not APEXing early.....this gives you a bigger margin of safety down there... TRUST me, you WILL instinctively turn early and want to apex early..... force yourself not to.Here's another local rule...... don't be tempted to cut corners.....just don't do it --- why straighten a curvy road you just drove 10 hours to get to? This only puts other on-coming riders at risk and highly looked down upon by the LEO's and local riders.So ------ here's another thing to chew on....... Sure --- hanging off the bike looks racey on the street......but hanging off WILL throw your bike more upright and reduce the bike's lean angle and give you more of a contact patch. Get your butt off to the side of the SEAT!!!!He's got nothing left.....and putting his bike and himself at undue risk.....I've seen riders ride this way all day long......they have learned the extreme limits of this riding style.....they wear out tires quicker, obtain higher lean angles sooner, and put their bike and tires at MAX performance every corner. It then only takes one variable to drop the bike.... gravel? tires get too hot? tires not hot enough? accidentally go into a corner too hot? they're leaving a zero margin for error every corner.Check out the difference in lean angle by hanging off the bike. The guy in the photo below has a larger contact patch, less lean angle, the same or faster corner speed, and a higher safety margin.LOL, I have a friend that use to ride like the guy in the photo above (LOL --- I'm not going to say his name, ha ha).....that friend would crash every year and couldn't ever figure out what the cause was. There was also a reason for the crash..... like cold tires, wrong PSI, bad tires, gravel, wet pavement, etc. etc. He probably could have avoided many of his mishaps by increasing his safety margin.