Glendora Mountain Road Practice Run
Glendora Mountain Road (GMR) – Practice Run
A few weeks ago, while leading a small group of riders through GMR (Glendora Mountain Road), we had a new rider go down. Ever since we pulled his bike out from the side of the mountain, my riding has been off. This was the first time that I’ve encountered someone going down, while riding with me.
Me on my Suzuki GSX-R600
Luckily he was fine, although he did low-side again on the way back down and scraped his hand/arm up. He was still able to ride home. But like I said, ever since that incident, it threw me a curveball and ruined the way that I ride. I was a lot more aware of my vulnerability, my riding confidence was shattered. This was a problem, since you know, I like riding.
Well, enter the solution: More riding. This past weekend, I went up with a buddy of mine to practice a little bit. We went back up to Glendora Mountain Road and found ourselves a nice corner. I brought along a mini-camcorder to document our lines and body positioning. Most importantly, I wanted to re-learn what I had completely forgotten since the incident.
On May 20th, 2012, we went up and found this spot about a third of the way up the front side of Glendora Mountain Road and took turns making runs through that corner. Naturally, I started off slow, at about 20% then probably made it up to about 60% ability by the time we were done. Every time I rode through the corner, I found myself noting that I could take it faster. However, each following run would only gain minimal speed. Either way, I regained my riding confidence, and most importantly I was able to make it home in one piece.
I found myself a little stiff on the bike, but as I became more accustomed to that corner, the looser I got, the smoother I rode. I’ll probably head back up to that same corner on Glendora Mountain Road again next weekend to further improve my riding. Videos from the day below.
My Run:
Adrian’s Run: