So after work on Sunday I wanted to go on a ride, it was a beautiful day outside. I am taking my usual route, South Side Rd to Highway 25 all the way out to Pinnacles National Monument. On my way out a newish looking Zx6r fly's by me. I am thinking this guy wants to play, so I speed up and stay with him on the straight all the way out but once it started getting twisty he was going to slow for me so I pass him and let him follow.
At Pinnacles I pull over we talk, exchange numbers all that good stuff and I offered to show him another road to ride. On our way back from Pinnacles, about 3 turns in he goes down.
I feel like he was trying to keep up with me instead of riding at his own pace. I offered to follow behind him but he said it was ok, so I went ahead and was in front.
His bike was ok, windscreen and mirrors were off, but his fram sliders saved his bike. Hopefully he will still be up for riding with me again guy was a cool dude.
Any tips on riding with someone learning??
First and foremost, YOU need to be an EXPERIENCED rider... otherwise, it's the blind leading the blind, and someone is going to get hurt, or worse.
If you're the experienced rider, you lead... don't follow. And you are no longer riding YOUR ride, you are towing them... that means you may well be riding at a third or less of your regular pace. I tow a lot of Newbies, I enjoy it, haven't had one bin yet- but I'm watching them like a hawk in my rearviews. If you don't have the expertise to recognise when someone is setting up incorrectly for a corner at even slow speeds, then you have no business mentoring them.
Towing and mentoring a Newbie is something I take really, really seriously. I want to make sure they finish up their riding having learned some good foundational skills, and really wanting to continue riding. I do NOT want them feeling like they fell short... like they had to ride over their comfort level to keep up... like they're going to get killed by their wife/girlfriend/parent because they just tossed their bike down the road (not to mention I don't want to have to haul them home in my truck and explain to the wife/girlfriend/parent that I dropped the ball and didn't keep them safe).
I absolutely don't have the riding skills to mentor this guy, I am 21 and I only have a year of riding experience and 3 months on a gixxer 600. I started on a 250 and then moved up, the first season of riding on the 250 really helped me.
Now I was riding slow on the straights and right before turns I would pick up speed, for him it was the opposite. He was riding to close to me and I usually don't break too much just engine break and he came in to the turn to hot, went off on the other side of road hit the dirt and SWOOP bike went out from under him.
He was ok, first thing he says " My Wife is going to be pissed!"
Lol
You're right- with that little amount of experience, you shouldn't have been towing him.
And while there's no reason two less-experienced riders can't go out and enjoy a ride together, it needs to be clearly communicated that the more-experienced n00b is NOT "towing" the other... each rider is responsible for riding their own ride... and no one is going to try to keep up with anyone.
Generally, my suggestion to newer riders is that they ride solo, or with a very experienced (and patient) mentor, or in a
newbie group ride, until they get a few thousand miles under their belts. At that point, I'd encourage them to do at least one track day- they'll learn more about cornering and body positioning in one day than they would in 6 months trying it on their own.
One last thing... when someone is following you, and they're less experienced than you, it's fine to use compression braking- but tap your brakes, so they see the flash of the brake lights. Good way to ensure you don't get ass-packed by someone who doesn't realize you're slowing.
Hopefully the guy's wife didn't actually kill him...
"Dude, I'll blow your doors off on anything, and the fact that you don't recognize that scares me and shows an utter lack of judgement and an real ego problem".
