Going to school on a lead rider

[No Worries]

I rode up Lookout Mountain today with my friend Dean. He has a Gixxer 1000. He pulled a nice lead away from me. I have to downshift to first gear on the switchbacks. If I stay in second gear, the engine bogs because it's so steep. His Gixxer can take them in second. When I downshift into first before the turn, I rev it up but still get some shake from the rear tire.

On top, we met some riders on a Ducati 1098 and a BMW 1200S. Dean's an instructor for Total Control and gave them his card. They liked my old Suzuki. Dean said that I go pretty fast on those skinny tires. Trying to jinx me. They followed us down for a ways, but we pulled away.

Oh, yeah, the schooling. Half of the tight corners are blind as the road weaves in between the ridges and valleys of the mountains. Going down, with Dean in the lead, I watched his brake lights around blind corners. If they went out, I could take the corner at a faster speed than I would if I was alone or in the lead. I learned from his actions or as we used to call it, I went to school on him.