With the new year just starting, have you made the commitment to being a better motorcycle rider? “Yes, of course,” I hear you say but did you really? Becoming better isn’t automatic and it requires more than heading out with your buddies for a weekend ride or making that daily commute to work, those things keep your current skills fresh and sharp but stepping up to a higher skill level requires a real decision to improve and it takes effort and practice. Whether you’re just starting out or you’ve been riding for years, everyone can improve.
More miles might mean you repeat the same mistakes until they become habit. Becoming better requires learning new habits and consciously and intentionally practicing until they’re second nature.
Have you ever traveled for several miles and suddenly realized you don’t really remember much about it, your mind wandered a bit and there you were miles away? What did you miss? Did you see everything that might have caused a problem? Was your riding improving just because you put in those miles? Probably not.
Try something different. Take a ride by yourself or maybe with a friend for the express purpose of practicing a particular skill. For example, perhaps you want to be smoother through the turns especially in those little decreasing radius surprises. Practice looking further ahead, it’s amazing how a little thing like that can dramatically improve your riding but many riders keep their eyes focused too close on the road immediately in front. Study photos of Rossi or Stoner in the middle of a turn, their gaze is way out in front of where they are, is that what you do? Try it, you’ll see a difference immediately, you’ll find yourself taking a better line and adjusting your speed and lean angle precisely but unless you make an effort to practice, your skills will stagnate and you’ll be running wide or making abrupt mid corner corrections over and over again.
Not sure what you need to learn to get better? There are some really good books
available, pick up one or two, it’s an investment in skill development with a guaranteed great return. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation offers both basic and advanced training courses, too, well worth your time.
Your motorcycle requires more from you than your car and your exposed position demands a much higher degree of attention if you plan to stay alive and injury free. Decide now to make this year the year you take your riding skills to the next level and we’ll be able to discuss the finer points of motorcycle design and technology for many years to come.
Matt in NC says
Great post Paul, and timely too!
I tend to find myself mentally drifting on longer stretches of highway, which there’s plenty of out her in East NC. It takes a bit of traveling to find a technical stretch of road to practice rider skills on, but there are some public surface streets that can be technical in their own right, and one doesn’t need to break any laws to practice good riding techniques on them.
I also find that really focusing on my exit line makes me a smoother rider. One technique I use is to not simply look at my line, but to make an effort to physically point my chin at the exit point. This focuses my attention on the turn, and if you watch the pros, it’s not their eyes we’re seeing pointed ahead, it’s the whole helmet fixed on the exit of the turn. Making a commitment with your whole head like that really makes the rest of the body and bike follow right along under you.
Dana A. Bachman says
I agree with Matt in the timeliness and topic of the post…
A lot of New Years resolutions are made, and most are along the lines of losing weight or something similar. Committing to riding safer is a step above those resolutions, as it has the impact of actually saving lives in the long run. Something that goes above and beyond cutting back on the number of Twinkies one consumes….
Ron in Cleveland says
Signing up for a day at the track was the most beneficial for me.I highly recommend it. Instructors lead you to discover your weaknesses and offer corrections. You will learn what your motorcycle is capable of and it’s limitations. Most importantly you will learn what you are capable of and your limits as well. Track days are not cheap, BUT well worth the time and money. It is also one of the most fun ways to spend a day on your bike.
nic says
ah! classic mistake!! you used Rossi as a case study for body position and technic….bad move, Rossi style will contradict everything they teach about ridding.
Rossi brakes a lot of rules, main one….Looking ahead of the turn to where youre going. Rossi does the opposite, he looks almost down, right at his front tire sometimes, and just ahead of it at the most. If you look at his pictures hes looking just barely ahead with an occasional look ahead with JUST his eyes, not his head., and he comes right back at looking the ground OR at the rear tire of the the bike ahead of him.
Its actually a bit of a game for photographers to catch Rossis looks inside his helmet…catching him looking ahead is a bit of a price picture.
nic says
ONE day at the track will teach anyone more about him and his bike than 5 years of street ridding IMO
Ted says
A timely reminder, thanks. I try to take at least one track-day class a year; there’s nothing better than track time with a good instructor to tune up old skills and shed bad habits.
One thing, though: Rossi is a bad example. When cornering, he looks down right at the track. He has his reasons, but he also has an extraterrestrial nervous system. For everyone else on the planet, studying and imitating the way every great rider — except Rossi — looks ahead through the turns is good advice.
Nicolas says
I need a course for emergency braking. Not the one I learned on a closed course between plastic cones, the real life one …
kneeslider says
After a quick check, images of Rossi in the turns always show him wearing a tinted visor so where he’s really looking will be for him to know and everyone else to guess. So it seems, as the comments above suggest, bad example, better to ignore Rossi and look again at the photo of Stoner above or any other racer. As Ted mentions, Rossi just may be extraterrestrial because most humans can’t ride like that.
Mike says
I agree with Nicolas. What more riders need to work on is Braking.
Going fast and choosing the best line doesn’t mean much if you think “laying it down” is the best way to avoid an accident. (You ARE the accident.)
akbar biberkopf says
great post. It might just be age, I am 41, but now I want to be the most graceful rider on the road, not necessarily the fastest. Thus, I practice my corners constantly, strangely this means turning off thought but somehow being more aware of each aspect of the road at the same time.
As far as New Year’s resolutions; ride more and with grace
pete says
The tools to go to work, and a willingness to do so, just what the whole country needs.
Art says
I wouldn’t look too close at Stoner either. Watch the videos and both him and Rossi often have their inside foot right off the peg when turning in… not something most riders want to do. And of course, they both steer with the rear wheel and can brake like demons. Works for them, but not great technique when cruisin’ for burger.
How will I improve? More track schools and days. Stay smooth, keep my weight off the bars and on the pegs where it belongs.
nic says
rossi does use a tinted visor, in the rain and even at night races…. its part of his game since funny enough, the topic of where he looks in the turn happens to be the subject a lot of discussions…so he likes to make it a point of not letting the photographers catch his eyes…just one more of his many games..like all the little things he puts on his leathers that no one knows what they mean.
But, no matter what, in a lot of his pictures his head is aimed sooo far down at the ground that he would need to have eyes in his forehead to be able to see ahead of the turn from that angle.
nic says
the foot coming off the pegs has a lot more to do with reverse shift patterns than anything…. anyone thats done a hot lap and cooked the entry while still downshifting is familiar with having to hang a leg out because you need to focus on saving the entry rather than try and get your foot back on
Jason says
Foot off is more for balance. You’ll notice the bike is being backed in and the foot off give more balance/feel of what the bike is doing. Motocross style.
nic says
uuh, not in moto gp, trust me Rossi is not sticking a boot out on purpose, he even mentions in some interviews how hot he went into a turn by mentioning he had to leave his leg out til he gain better control of entry…of course its a balance thing in either scenario, but hes not doing ala motard, no.
Fergus Finn says
Forget it guys. Rossi is not an example to follow. You/i ride on the road not the track. Road racing is totaly differant from riding on the road. Rossi follows his eyes. In other words he looks where he wants to go. All good riders do this. In a turn you look where you want to go and you and the bike will follow. Never look directly in front of you. look up into the distance and get the big picture. Your periperal vision will see everything in between. Thats the way your eyesight works. This will give advance warning of hazzards. If you want to improve your riding get the bible on motorcycle riding. Its called “Roadcraft” Its the English police motorcycle riders handbook. )Available on the net)They are the best in the world and there college trains the top instructors from police forces from around the world including Amercia. I have done the ROSPA test (Royal Society for Prevantion of Accidents) which is conducted by police instructors and boy is it tough. Two hour test on the bike with no mistakes at all to achive Gold.
Test is in heavy traffic and then into the countryside approx 40 miles in total. I Only got gold on the second attempt and you have to retest every three years to keep your standard. Only then will you be a compentant rider and you will be evaluating yourself every ride you do. As they say “Every day is a learning day”
Ride Safe, Fast Fergie. Dublin, Ireland.
Andii says
As an instructor this is something I have always told my (new) students – Riding is a lifelong journey of learning and improvement – After 33 years of riding I learn new techniques (or remember old ones) all the time. I often use racers as an example but not as comparison. At those speeds, technique changes just a little. But the basics are the same and if you don’t know or have them – you gotta learn them and practice…
Plenty of good reading out there for these snowy months (for Us up north).
nic says
A Twist of the Wrist I & II, get it
Den says
Timely post, it is not always how much you ride but how you ride that can improve your skill, practice makes habit, perfect practice makes perfect.
I can’t totally agree about the track day comments, yes they make you a better rider on the track which of course will help you on the road but when I took an advanced rider training course I really felt my real world skills improve.