What do you know about.......

What do you know about knocking over cones with your mirrors?

Yesterday I went to a bike "rodeo" for all the Military riders in the Kanto Plain region of Japan. The activities scheduled were Gymkahna (parking lot cone obstacle course or Autocross...), a slow race (who could go the slowest), and a poker run.

Unfortunately no one showed up except rider coaches, so we did what any self respecting bike nut would do:crazy:- we went to town on the Gymkahna course!:thumbsup:

It was definitely something different from anything I had done before, usually when there's cones in a parking lot i am coaching riders during a safety course, and going slowly. This was the exact opposite and we were hauling a$$.

Gymkhana/Autocross is basically about your skill and knowledge of a course, and not about horse power. everything from hair pins to decreasing radius turns were in this course, and it was just as much a challenge in the beginning as it was in the end.

The first two runs through were led by the course creator as a group, and then we were sent out one at a time without being timed. This allowed everyone to become familiar with the layout without any pressure. After a couple laps were timed and then took a break. after the first session it was apparent that- 1. pegs were eventually going to touch down, 2. cones were going to get knocked around by my mirrors, 3. what chicken strips?

Since we were doing this for the first time in Japan (I don't know of any other military organizations that are doing this, anywhere) a public affairs officer (military for reporter) stopped in and started taking pics and shooting video. To make the footage look a little more exciting we took one of the sessions in pairs, so we were teamed up with another rider of the same time bracket. I think everyone's times were improved after that.

for the last session of the day they made some changes in the layout that made it flow better, and safer so that we could be sent out at 7 second intervals. with this setup, we didn't even stop anymore because by the time we were done there was no line.

over all it was a blast and I can't wait for the next one. The highlight of my day was when I went to wipe this white stuff off the sidewall edge of my tire and i realized it was chalk from the course.

I made a map using MSpaint but it's too big, but I 'll post the two pics I took and add the ones others took when I get them.

The ole' 6th gen can hang!