Corner Audience

[No Worries]

I ride by myself most of the time. Today I rode up Lookout Mountain and was on my way down. I got behind a car, but they were nice enough to pull over and let me by. So I felt pretty good as I approached the upper switchbacks.

I downshifted before the first corner and leaned. I went around and accelerated down to the next switchback. I have the stock exhaust, but a modified airbox with the lid taken off. My Suzuki actually makes louder intake noises than exhaust.

At the apex of the next switchback, about 15 sportbikes had pulled over. Most of the riders were off their bikes. When they heard my bike accelerating, they all looked up at me. So I'm zooming down right at them. Fast. One mistake by me and I would wipe out everyone of their bikes. The bad thing is I'm looking at their bikes instead of picking my line.

Now I've taken these corners a zillion times. In the rain, in the snow, with gravel on the road, and in front of and behind other sportbikes. But with all those riders watching me, I started getting a little nervous and started thinking about what I was going to do instead of doing it automatically.

But I brake smoothly, do a perfect downshift, give a nod to the riders, lean off the bike, look into the turn, and accelerate smartly out of the corner. Whew! I wonder if they also gave a sigh of relief that I didn't crash into them.