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Cornering question


jemery12

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Hi,

 

I'm fairly new to riding and have a question for you more seasoned guys and gals. When going through a long or tight corner, I know you are supposed to look to the end of the corner. My question is, do you keep your head pointed toward the end of the corner and constantly watch the road/traffic with your eyes, or do you look at the end of the corner and watch the road/traffic by glancing or out of you peripheral?

 

Another question. I know most of us keep our brights on all day for added visibility, but at night do you usually keep them on as well, or turn them of for traffic to keep from blinding people?

 

Thanks in advance!

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There is a really great book that will help you with this.

 

Total Control by Lee Parks

 

It’s available in paper or digitally for $10 to $15. Not very long but is excellent instruction.

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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I've never used my brights during the day (LED high beams are Very bright). I only use them at night when appropriate.

 

I keep my head and eyes pointed toward my exit from a curve and beyond. I've trained my brain to be aware of my peripheral vision at the same time to be aware of everything else.

 

As Sweeper stated, there are many important factors to vision through corners. Reading is good, but nothing I've come across has help me more that yearly Advanced Rider Courses offered at a local technical college's (DCTC) one-mile track 30 miles from me. And especially a practice class and half-days ride through The Smokey Mountains at a recent T-Mac gathering in Franklin, NC by VFRD member Corner Carver who was earning a riding coach certificate at the time. That was the frosting on my education to that point. Thanks CC. You're the best.     

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It takes a ton of practice and experience to look through the turn to where you’re going and to ALWAYS have your head on a swivel to

what’s going on around you.

Great habit is ALWAYS be checking your mirrors.

I carried all my riding technique when I started driving big rigs and heavy hauling, and made me a much better driver to be looking waaaaay down the road where I’m headed.

Take a training course, can’t hurt

Hope that made sense, at work and had one minute to respond.

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

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Train your eyes to ride with a steady wide field of vision rather than a short darting field of vision... I concentrate on keeping my field of vision wide... only with wide vision will I
see enough space to stay calm and begin make accurate decisions that boost confidence...

 

 

MrRC45TahoeCloseUpJPG.JPG

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Lots of good advice for you already mentioned.

Can't stress highly enough the benefits of Advanced Rider Training courses, even for the more experienced riders. There are many a good riding technique that is not instinctive and must be learned and practiced. Just like learning a musical instrument - good technique is important.

Good early corner setup, look ahead and nice drive through are just a few of cornering fundamentals. Think it was Casey Stoner that stated "You can't ride what you can't see" so treat blind corners with respect, who knows what might be around that bend!!

Be smooth with all controls - Brakes, gear changing, clutch and throttle this all adds to good riding technique, especially valuable in wet conditions.  

I never use Hi Beam during the day. The 6gen headlights are bright enough without hi beam to be seen by other drivers. The glow of all 4 beams can annoy the hell out of drivers.

My two bobs worth!

Safe Riding.

Cheers.:beer:   

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Nick Ienatsch "Sport Riding Techniques"... Good book with solid info.

As said, nothing better than getting some good Coaching from a real Coach...

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Maybe this might be something good to read on this subject matter (see link below). I have and read quite a few books on riding, ‘Twist of the Wrist’, ‘Total Control’, ‘Sport riding techniques’, just to name a few but nothing beats personal instruction by a quality instructor/coach, IMO. Also, practicing is very important, I often practice some of the skills taught or read, even when I’m not riding. 

 

https://www.motorcyclistonline.com/your-vision-and-riding-motorcycles

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+1 for all the input offered here, especially the encouragements to take advanced riding schools and classes.

 

To answer your first question: yes, keep your head pointed ahead of where you are to where you will be, look as far ahead as you can without sacrificing your awareness of near field events and conditions [See 'wide view' below].

 

On your question on high beams: I use low beams for day. When passing [both day and night] I cover the high beam switch, in case flashing high beams might make an oncoming vehicle aware of me and discourage them from endangering me. At night I use high beams wherever and as much as I can without blasting the eyes of oncoming traffic.

 

My best learning experience with visual technique came from Keith Code's California Superbike School [It's also detailed in the books mentioned in previous posts: 'A Twist of the Wrist' and 'A Twist of the Wrist 2']. In their level 2 riding class, CSS focuses on how to improve your visual perception. They use specific drills to help you train your physiology and psychology to best serve your motorcycling.

 

A primary key to visual skills is always using the wide view described in a previous post by BusyLittleShop. An exercise to play with this concept and develop this perception is to sit in a comfortable chair in your mancave [Or womancave] and look at a fixed object around mid wall height across the room...let's say it's a clock, but it could be a doorknob, etc. [Do not look a TV that is tuned in to motorcycle racing for this exercise]. Without moving your eyes from the clock, shift your attention to a point about 20 degrees to the right. This could be the previously mentioned doorknob, a spot on the wall, a book on a shelf, etc. What you will discover is that while your eyes remain fixed on the clock, you can shift your awareness to other objects within your peripheral view. Practice this with objects above, below, and to either side of the clock. This introduces you to the habit of including much more data in your perception without having to shift the actual focus of your eye off of your target [The clock]. You will find that you can shift your attention from one object to another literally at the speed of thought; much faster than you can move your eyes back and forth. So in this example, the clock is your path of travel, the doorknob is the gravel-covered shoulder of the road, the book high on a shelf is a rider ahead of you, etc.

 

Once you are comfortable with using a wider view and processing the newly increased data stream, then break a corner down into three key geographic segments: [1] turn-in point, [2] apex, and [3] exit.

 

Turn-in points

A motorcyclist always uses a turn-in point, because it's impossible to turn unless you begin that turn, and that beginning must occur at some point. But a visually untrained motorcyclist does not often choose a turn-in point. They usually just 'go around the corner'. So to overcome the lazy tendency of not selecting a turn-in point, when approaching every single turn establish a consistent practice of selecting a turn-in point. A turn-in point can be a painted 'XING' on the road, a seam in the pavement, an oil stain large enough be noticeable, a 'deer crossing' sign beside the road, any other reference point at which you decide to begin that turn. Here's a key point: selecting an incorrect turn-in point is better than not selecting one at all. Selecting a turn-in point is taking control of your riding, it's making a definite one-turn-at-a-time decision about where you will begin each and every turn. If when starting out you find you are selecting turn-in points that are too early, then take charge of your riding and consciously move the turn-in points you choose a little later, ie closer to the turn. If you find that you are selecting turn-in points that are too late, reverse the process and consciously choose turn-in points that are earlier, ie further ahead of the turn.

 

The two-step drill

Once you've locked in the practice of always selecting a turn-in point for each turn,  you can begin to develop a conscious, smooth movement of your vision forward. Do this by:

 

step [1] selecting your turn-in point, say "One" to yourself

 

step [2] as soon as you are confident that you will hit your turn-in point, say "Two" to yourself, and smoothly sweep your vision forward to the apex

[For street riding purposes, the apex can be loosely defined as the midpoint of the corner, about halfway through]

 

During this exercise, you say "One" to yourself when you know you will make your turn-in point, and "Two" as you sweep your vision forward to the apex because saying "One" and "Two" builds the sequence into your riding practice and makes sure you choose to consciously take both steps. Deciding you will make your turn-in point needs to happen well before you reach that point. Do not fixate on your turn-in point too long; it is all too easy to watch it go all the way under your wheels, then find your vision adn awareness completely behind your path of travel.

 

Regarding eye movement, think in terms of smoothly sweeping your eyes, not jumping or darting them from point to point. BusyLittleShop makes this same important recommendation in his previous post. Most importantly, do not dart them backward and forward from far ahead to close in, or vice versa.. Your brain interprets visual information in a steady stream, but when you move your eyes suddenly, your brain pauses its visual input stream to save you from perceiving blurred jumbled visual information gathered as your eye muscles move your eyeballs. You can verify this brain behavior by looking at your eyes in a mirror, then moving them quickly away, to another object or target. Or look at another object and jump your focus from that object to your eyes. You cannot see your eyes move, because your brain is not allowing you to perceive visual information during your actual eye movement. Large chunks of visual information are lost when the brain pauses its input stream while you jump your eyes from one spot to another. The best racers in the world all have 'lazy eyes' - they are rock steady and smoothly sweeping with their eyes. Their gaze is so steady that when recorded on video, it actually looks like their eyes are in slow motion.

 

I'll save the three-step drill and corner exits for another longwinded diatribe.

 

Ride safe, always be practicing, seek improvement. Riding better means riding safer.

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