Fearless Riding Book First Draft

Well folks, I'm nearly done with my first draft of the "Fearless Riding" book. All the parking lot exercises are written. I might put in two more quick parking lot games to make practicing more fun. Next up, is the three essential Road Games. I didn't want to even suggest Road Games until my readers had a good understanding of using Vision and Relaxation to control the ride. But, with that covered, we can now get these techniques on their feet, up and out into the real world. More soon.

Curves and Corner Part 2

Okay, so last time we talked about curves. Curves are bends in the road that require no speed change, or just a slight roll off of the throttle to negotiate fearlessly. Now corners, for the sake of this discussion, are bends in the road that require you to use the brakes.

What difference does it make?

Well, people rarely get scared and ride off the road when rounding a gentle curve at a normal speed. But more often than you would think, people run up to a corner, feel like they are coming in too hot, get scared, panic, jam on their rear brake and low side, or panic, stiffen up on the bars and run off the road. According to the Hurt Report (published 35 years ago), it's the number one cause of single bike accidents. But there is a solution: Get in the habit of entering corners with your brakes on.

What? Enter a corner with your brakes on? Are you daft? Are you insane? Have you been hiding under a rock for the last 35 years? You can't use your brakes in a corner or you'll fall down and die! It's about traction pie, man. If you use up all your traction cornering, you won't have any traction left for braking!

Yeah, Yeah. It is true that IF you are, in fact, using up ALL your traction cornering, you won't have ANY left for braking. However, normal riders, on normal bikes entering normal corner at anything near the normal speed limit are nowhere near using up all the available traction on their tires.

Here's why: The typical motorcycle street tire can handle about 1.1 Gs of sideways force. At 40 degrees of lean angle--the maximum lean angle for a Honda Gold Wing--the tire is subject to about .9 Gs of sideways force. In theory, that leaves about .2 Gs of force available for braking or accelerating at full lean. At 20 degrees of lean, which is as much as most people riding near the speed limit ever use, the tires only feel about .4 Gs of cornering force. That leaves .7 Gs available for braking or acceleration.

Can you over brake in a corner, or entering a corner, and fall down? Absolutely.

Can you over brake going straight down the middle of a clean dry road and fall down? Absolutely.

Can you get most of your heavy braking done on the straight, then taper off the brakes as you get close to and enter a corner? Almost certainly. People have been doing it for ages.

The question is, why would you want to?

The real world answer is that entering a corner with just a touch of brakes allows you to adjust your cornering speed all the way down to the apex and beyond. In a very real sense, trail braking means never having to be afraid of any corner ever again. 

If you get close to a corner and it feels too fast, leave the brakes on a little longer then turn in at a slower speed.

If you get INTO a corner and it feels too fast, ease on a touch of brakes until if feels good, then ride on comfortably.

If you are in a corner and everything feels good, but suddenly the corner closes up, ease on a bit more brake and slow down until you have the proper speed for the new, tighter corner.

Should you always enter every corner with the brakes on? Well, in theory, you probably could, but in the real world you don't have to. If you are at the turn in point and your speed feels fine, let the brakes go and turn the motorcycle. If you are in a corner and find a dusting of sand across the entire lane, you might not want to split your traction between cornering and braking, so you might choose to be off the brakes before you hit the sand.

Remember, I'm not saying you should grab, stab or slam on your brakes going into a corner. I'm saying that if you are on the brakes approaching a corner, you might want to keep the brakes on slightly as you turn in. You'll have a better steering angle for quicker turning. Your brake pads will be pre-loaded against the brake disks for quicker response to all inputs. You'll have much better control of your bike's turning speed. Perhaps most importantly, by allowing yourself to adjust your speed all the way to the apex, you'll be able to ride comfortably, safely and fearlessly around any corner in the world.

Ride safe and keep one eye on your future.

***

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Tip In, Turn In

Do you ever feel anxious entering a turn? I sure do. Until only a few years ago, it used to be much worse. When I got good and tired of that, I decided to learn more about riding. So, I studied a famous book on cornering, and the racing-based instructor said I should always get my turning down all at once, and to always turn as quickly as possible! Of course, I am naturally suspicious of anything always being the correct technique, but I tried it. And you know what?

My anxiety got worse!

What? How could that be? This guy was famous. He was a winning racer. A big shot author. So, I figured I was doing it wrong, and went and practiced some more. But when you want to turn as quickly as possible, you have to run into the corner deeper and deeper. That created even more fear. And my problems got worse instead of better.

"No. No," I told myself. "This must be the way. Go watch some real motorcycle racers ride, and you'll see they all do it this way." Well, that's what the author of that book said anyway.

He was wrong.

What I saw, over and over and over again when I watched videos of the top riders In The World, was that NONE of them rode that way. Not one. Zip. Zero. Nada. Zilch. What were they doing differently than me? What did they do differently than that book author recommended? The fastest motorcycle racers in the world would blast down the straight, slow down, tip in a little, get started into the curve, then finally actually turn in and scrape their knees on the ground.

Watch it for yourself below. You'll see it in the very first corner of this American Superbike race. The riders tip in, and turn in.

When I tried riding that same way, I found it worked great! Way better than it had any right to. By initiating my turn slowly and gently, instead of trying my darndest to slam the bike down to full lean angle, I was much more relaxed. The bike behaved better. My hands, arms, face and eyes were all much more relaxed. It felt like the bike was coasting effortlessly down and back up. I found I was often using more lean angle with less effort. Best of all, my rides become longer and more enjoyable.

So, go for a ride! Hey, any excuse for a ride, right? Keep your eyes up, watching the vanishing point and checking for road hazards well ahead of the bike. Setup early for the corners by moving to the outside lane position. Then when you are close to the entrance of the corner, somewhere before the place where you would usually start to feel apprehensive, and just tip in slightly.

Going left? Push gently forward on that left hand grip. Don't push hard enough to make the bike dart across the lane or cut in too early. Just break the bike off that 90-degree angle. Get the bike leaned, just a little, Get the  bike just a smidgen off of perpendicular. Then, add more lean angle as necessary to safely make your corner.

• You may find that your initial lean is about all the lean angle you need for certain corners.
• You may find that once the bike is leaned a little, it is much easier to lean it a little more.
• You may find that your fear of sliding out is not attached to how far you lean over, but the very act of leaning at all. Once you get the bike leaned, even a little, without falling down, you may suddenly feel like everything is going to be okay.
• You might also find that once the bike is leaned over, even a little bit, you can relax and get your eyes up. Even that tiny change in your vision can make you suddenly feel much more comfortable on the bike.

Spring is here. Get out there and ride. Carefully and gently try new things. Report back here with your results.

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Look in. Set up. Ride on.

Fearless Riding on the Dragon

I don't know who this guy is, but he looks pretty darned smooth (even fearless) riding Route 129 in North Carolina and Tennessee. Notice the wide disciplined lines, and the mild-but-effective way he "hangs off" his R1200RT Beemer. Watch his head, and you'll see he's looking well into the turns. Nothing surprises him. He's relaxed and able to steer effortlessly. If you turn up your speakers, you'll hear the way he uses the throttle to keep things moving--without risking a low side. Well done.