Episode 3 of what the heck is he talking about

[bryanchurch06]

I've spent the majority of my adult life in search of smooth, not the Carlos Santana song btw although its a great video. what i mean is to be able to perform an act or movement as effortlessly or efficient as possible. its a very hard thing to accomplish at 1st but with time you will become smooth and people will notice. I hate to ride passenger with my wife or almost anyone in a car because they're not smooth, they accelerate and brake harshly and to soon or to late and seem to be unable to break the habit. I tell her time and again to anticipate the stop and slow down and gradually apply the brake and as long as i'm saying the procedure she can mostly do it but left to her normal state of awareness she will knock out your teeth on the dash. it's not just in cars smooth becomes a desired outcome, in almost any sport or activity the ability to be smooth is the key to being good, watch any master of martial arts perform a movement see how they flow effortlessly into the next move. Want a faster draw with your weapon? stop trying to be faster, try to be smoother and it will translate to speed. The thing in my life where i try to be smooth the most is riding a motorcycle, that's where you'll notice it the most. Last year Sneakydingo and i rode together in CO and even though my bike seemed to have more horsepower he always passed me going uphill, when i brought it up he responded he was smoother on gear changes than i was and that was the difference, and he was right just by timing his changes better he was getting more performance from his bike. And it's not just in acceleration that matters, in braking smooth makes all the difference, i grew up like most of you without ABS and if you survived riding a bike then its because you learned to be smooth on that brake pedal. I wish i could tell you i was smooth, I'm always conscientiously trying to be, in my head i can hear Jeremy Clarkson saying smooth and slow is fast, watch the road and anticipate the curve, slow down and hit the apex than accelerate smoothly out. but to be honest most of the time I'm Captain Slow in a world POWER, SPEED YESSSSSS. But when I'm slow sometimes its smooth, and that's alright with me.

 

[Otony]

Reminds me of George Sears, Nessmuk. He always preached ”smoothing” it, as opposed to roughing it. The Great Grandpa of the ultralight camping crowd, one of his key words was minimum.

 

[bryanchurch06]

Reminds me of George Sears, Nessmuk. He always preached ”smoothing” it, as opposed to roughing it. The Great Grandpa of the ultralight camping crowd, one of his key words was minimum.

I've read a lot of his stuff and I'm a big fan of his knife and hatchet design

 

[Kev250R]

I'm also a lousy passenger in vehicles, though I'm surrounded by people who are legit good drivers, I just can seem to never relax when I'm not in the Drivers seat.

My GF's play car is a Porsche Boxster S with a stick. Mine is a Lexus SC430 (the drop-top one Clarkson hates) with an auto. On paper our two cars are pretty equal in terms of performance, but I find that when going fast in the Porsche you know you're going fast (80+) because it's loud, it's suspension sucks it down onto the road more and the steering gets heavier. All good things in a Sports Car. By comparison my Lexus, at the same speeds on the same road never really feels like it's going that fast until you look at the speedometer and realize that you're going well over the speed limit. It delivers it's power in a much smoother fashion then the Porsche does so it doesn't feel as fast, though it actually is.

 

[bryanchurch06]

I'm also a lousy passenger in vehicles, though I'm surrounded by people who are legit good drivers, I just can seem to never relax when I'm not in the Drivers seat.

My GF's play car is a Porsche Boxster S with a stick. Mine is a Lexus SC430 (the drop-top one Clarkson hates) with an auto. On paper our two cars are pretty equal in terms of performance, but I find that when going fast in the Porsche you know you're going fast (80+) because it's loud, it's suspension sucks it down onto the road more and the steering gets heavier. All good things in a Sports Car. By comparison my Lexus, at the same speeds on the same road never really feels like it's going that fast until you look at the speedometer and realize that you're going well over the speed limit. It delivers it's power in a much smoother fashion then the Porsche does so it doesn't feel as fast, though it actually is.

Unfortunately I've never owned a real sports car, I driven a couple over the years with the one that really stands out to me was I believe it to be a 93 or 94 Acura NSX, the most amazing thing on 4 wheels I've personally driven, I have been driven in a shelby cobra clone that was imported from South Africa and built by a company outside Charlotte NC by the owner of the company and I will swear on the Bible that car beat anything on 4 or 2 wheels I've ever experienced, I wish I could remember the gentleman's name and the company. Anyone live near Charlotte familiar with them, I was there in 2004 I believe, he was older at the time in his 60s I think but could still drive better than I ever will

 

[bryanchurch06]

Just did some Google magic and spoke with my x wife who was with me and also went for a ride, the man's name was Bob Olthoff and she said it was 2002, they had a shop name Olthoff racing where they built cars, turns out he was an actual race car driver in South Africa and the US I believe. Tragically he passed away in 2004. Amazing man and amazing cars

 

[bryanchurch06]

Reminds me of George Sears, Nessmuk. He always preached ”smoothing” it, as opposed to roughing it. The Great Grandpa of the ultralight camping crowd, one of his key words was minimum.

If you enjoy Nessmuk try Google Ben Lilly, very interesting woodsman hunter type you might enjoy. He was notorious for his long hunts, one story on him involves his wife telling him to kill a hawk that was killing the chickens, he was gone a year. When he was asked the reason for his long absence he said the hawk just kept flying.

 

[Otony]

If you enjoy Nessmuk try Google Ben Lilly, very interesting woodsman hunter type you might enjoy. He was notorious for his long hunts, one story on him involves his wife telling him to kill a hawk that was killing the chickens, he was gone a year. When he was asked the reason for his long absence he said the hawk just kept flying.

I’ve read of Ben Lilly a small bit, mostly as a passing reference. Teddy Roosevelt was a client of his, and wrote about him, among others. He didn’t author any books himself, did he?

 

[bryanchurch06]

I don't think he did