STC-II -- Riding w/ Gallop'n Galpin

Susan Galpin
577 Huskey Mountain Rd.
Lacey's Spring, AL 35754
256-498-3772

• Former Road Racer
• Former MSF Instructor
• Former High Milage Competiter and winner.
• Presently: "Queen of Quick"
• Instructor @ Ralleys or individually in GA mountains during summer months.

• Remember ==> riding a motorcycle is a Controlled FALL and that fall is managed with proper Gear Selection & Throttle Controll!!!
• ON throttle the bike STANDS
• OFF throttle the bike FALLS
  

For me (and I believe several others) the highlight of STC-II was Susan Galpin's presence, and the opportunity to talk with her, learn from her, ride with her. What a great person!

To her credit the worst of riders (ce n'est pas moi, n'est-ce pas?) as well as the best all learned a lot and became (I'll speak for myself: much) better riders. If you want to ride better, get in touch with Susan.

On Thursday morning Susan took a few of us (those w/ tread on their tires) out to Deal's Gap and the Tail of the Dragon in the rain (at times torrential). I had been riding somewhat stiff in the mountains this week, and even though I wasn't fast, I was leaned over more in the rain than I had been in the dry. It's about the control that horsepower at your rear wheel gives, pushing rain out of the way. I did the entire road in 1st gear (which on the K1200LT - Susan quipped "LT" stood for "Light Truck" - will get you past 60MPH). The trick was smooth transitions from deceleration to acceleration in first gear.

Just a little rain... until we started up the Tail...

Lunch: Comraderie and story time after the ride.

Britton was (to my knowledge) one of the few that managed to keep up with Susan.

Ok, remember this:

Gear Selection versus Speed (Throttle Control)

1. Too Low Gear + Too Low Speed ==> FALLS
2. Too Low Gear + Too High Speed ==> BRAKES
3. Too High Gear + Too Low Speed ==> WOBBLE (my badness early in the week)
4. Too High Gear + Too High Speed ==> DRIFTS OUT
   

Moral: 1 & 2 can transition to good spot, 3 is not in control, but 4 will get you into this kind of trouble:





Fortunately, Bill didn't seem hurt (put an ice pack on his left knee). Susan gave him a ride back to camp so he could get his truck & trailer. We stayed behind with the bike, and helped load it (it wouldn't roll, as you can see!). I think Susan might have showed Bill how it was supposed to be done on the way back to camp, but I can't be sure - when I asked how the ride back was , Bill just dropped his jaw *grin*.


Dinner after all the excitement.

My cousin, Larrysa, complains of gardening with her 55 year old knees.

Susan was on the road race circuit (the only woman motorcycle racer when she started, I think she said) until age 47, and now at 60... well, if I could keep up with her I'd date her *grin*.

You can find some of Susan's routes at MileageSlaves.com