More Pace Principles, by Mark Folsom.
Written in 1996 as a handout for Ride the Divide.

Okay - you've gotten a taste of Nick's handiwork; here's some of my own:

In addition to having the right attitude toward riding on public roads, it's important to be physically and mechanically prepared before you go riding. Suffice it to say that if either you or your machine are not up to par, there's no way that your riding can be. The Ride the Divide tour is about 1200 miles plus whatever it takes to get to and from the trip. These miles eat tires, brakes, gas and sometimes even oil. Make sure that your bike is well suited for the trip. Take some time to get your suspension dialed - realize that the extra weight that you're packing along for this trip will change the behavior characteristics of the bike as compared to the setup that you're used to for regular day trips. The center of gravity will probably be a little higher, the whole package is definitely heavier, and the weight will likely be biased more toward the rear (especially if you're carrying a passenger). Take some time to get used to the bike in touring trim before you try to go hard. Likewise, if you're not up to par yourself, you're in for a tough time. Our days are "only" about 300 miles, but they're challenging ones - every day! Our experience has been that by the time you get on the road, stop for some pictures, have a leisurely lunch, do a little "tourist-ing", and get to the day's end point, you've really had about all you want for a day. If you're sick, out of shape, hungover, or had a beer or two with lunch, don't even try to push it - just sit back in the saddle and enjoy the day at a moderate pace.

Over the last couple of years, we've had as few as 6 and as many as 24 riders on this tour (we pick up a few and drop off a few each day). The only time that everyone has all been together is at the beginning of the very first day, when we all roll out of town. Other than that, we seem to naturally break off into smaller groups. We all tend toward our comfort zone, and I urge every one to reassess this every couple of hours. When riding along, it's common to find other parts of our group along the way - some of the group you're in will stop, some of the other group will fire up and join your group... and so it goes. It's just another example of assessing your own pace on a regular basis. This is very healthy riding practice, and it gives you the opportunity to ride with every one in the group at one time or another.

When you find yourself out with a group that's going faster than you're able or willing to go, don't force it just to stay with the group. Let 'em go. There is no room for egos on public roads. There's no glory in getting tickets, crashing or getting hurt. To me, the cardinal rule of sport riding is - take a risk if you so choose, but don't ever, under any circumstances, put anyone else at risk - not your passenger, not one of your riding buddies, and absolutely never-ever someone unrelated to you or your group. If the group you're with is running a little slower than you'd like to go, it's kind of a personal decision whether to relax and hang with them or break free and chase down one of the other groups. Personally, I prefer riding sedately with someone to blazing by myself. Then again, I really prefer blazing with a couple of other competent riders...

As far as riding technique goes, Nick spent a fair amount of effort referring to limited or ideally no use of brakes. Believe it or not, this actually works. Sure, there's the occasional hairpin or road hazard to brake for, but by and large, intelligent riding doesn't require brakes. One of the common drills that is taught in racing or high performance schools is the no-brakes drill. Yep, you go around a race track without using your brakes - you gradually go faster and faster until you're going as fast as you can go without ever touching your brakes. Good riders can go within a second or two of their race lap times in this drill. It just goes to show that brakes are used only for going slow - not for going fast. For those with a little sport in their blood (and that's you, or you wouldn't have this article in your hand) it wouldn't hurt to spend a little time with Kieth Code's first book, "A Twist of the Wrist." It's written using a lot of racing terminology and rationale, but it translates very well to sport riding. His other books are also good, but they deal more directly with racing technique.

Crashing: No one likes to think about it, but it's a real part of motorcycling. It's never a question of whether you'll ever crash, but when, where, how, and how badly. Almost every single-bike accident that's ever happened could have been avoided. As Nick described in his article, it's usually a mental thing that causes you to crash. We've all overcooked a corner entrance from time to time. How you deal with it will determine crash-or-cruise. One thing I can tell you is that if you ever once think, "I'm going to crash!", you're absolutely right. Predetermined destiny, self fulfilling prophecy, whatever. If you think you're done for, you're done for. On the other hand, if you think, "Oh shit! I'm too hot going in! Hoo boy, it's gonna be a tight one!", then chances are you'll make the turn then back off the gas and think about it while your heart gets back to normal, the adrenaline dissipates, and you unpinch that naugahyde from your butt-cheeks. Once in a great while, something way beyond control happens, and you do crash. Never crash on purpose. If you gotta go down, go down trying like hell to make the turn. If you go down while cranked way over, then you're likely to low-side, and you can almost always walk away from a low-side. Unless the runoff is rocks or cliffs, your bike will also probably still be ridable. Motorcycles are far more capable than even experienced riders generally give them credit for. I know that my Connie has saved my skin more than once.

If you think about it, Nick's Pace keeps you in a relaxed and responsive frame of mind. If you're barreling along with a head full of testosterone and steroids, you're not likely to be thinking clearly enough to react appropriately to dire situations. If you're carefully and deliberately running at a strong clip, and a tough situation comes up, it's just a natural matter of course to make the proper adjustments, deal with it, and get ready for the next turn.

One thing that is standard technique for all performance riders, but relatively uncommon among street riders, is to look as far around the corner as you can. You know the old saying about how you go where you look? Well, it's true. If you can see all the way around the turn, look there, even if it's looking directly sideways from the direction you're going at the time. Sure, on the street you have to scan back and forth from as far ahead as you can see to just ahead of where you are and back again all the time - streets are full of little surprises to keep an eye out for, but scanning far ahead will set you and the bike right to just sweep effortlessly around the turn.

Other things you should do is to keep the gas on in the turns - especially if you're going fast. Kieth Code pointed out something really obvious to me once: Did you ever notice how the rear tire on a sportbike is so much larger than the front? If you're just coasting around a corner, or worse yet, with trailing brakes, you're overloading the front tire with respect to the rear. Put just a little power to the rear tire, and you lighten up the traction load from the front tire and put it on the back tire - and that allows the front tire to steer just that much harder! Yeah, I know - it's hard to talk yourself into using the throttle instead of the brakes when you're going a little too hard, but it works. One trick Kieth recommends is to set your idle up until you're able to modulate the throttle yourself. That way, when you shut off the twist grip, there's still a trickle of power rolling off of the engine - just enough to drive the back end of the bike. The other thing to do is to keep the bike quiet in the turns. That is, don't be making a lot of steering corrections mid-turn. Get your cornering speed set before you throw the bike over into the turn, set your throttle, commit to your line and lighten up on the handle bars. This way, the suspension can do the ugly work for you. As Kieth told me, motorcycles work really well all by themselves - if you do something they don't like, they'll get rid of you! Therefore, don't do anything more than the minimum to get through the turn. Let the bike do its job - that's what you spent all that money for, remember?

One last little tidbit of wisdom: I heard a great quote at the racetrack one year when a friend had crashed while trailing brakes into a wicked fast corner. A photographer was reviewing the crash with the racer and said, "Y'know, I try to never go any where any faster than I can brake for." I know that photographer - he rides hard. He knows whereof he speaks, and he speaks the truth. That's good practice any time and anywhere, but especially in the mountains. Mountain roads have all the evils that you'll ever find on a road - decreasing-radius, off-camber, turns with wet gravel or animals in them and a Winnebago coming toward you around a blind turn halfway into your lane. Oh God!!!! Consider yourself warned.

Basically what all of this amounts to is manners. Motorcyclists have a pretty bad reputation all in all, and we need to do what we can to bolster the good parts of our image every chance we get. Ride hard and have fun, but do it only where it's appropriate. Don't blaze in dense traffic. Do give a wave to every car you pass. Don't force bad passes. Do wear helmets, gloves, boots and more. Don't be a jerk. Do be a good neighbor. We're all in this together - let's have a helluva good time!

See ya 'round the bend...