Advance training?

I have my BikeSafe booked for June - looking forward to it. £50 isn't bad to spend nearly a whole day with Police motorcycle riders.

I've just started reading twist of the wrist 2 its not advanced training like IAM roadcraft stuff, but I passed my IAM test 3 years ago and in the 30 pages of this book I have read i'm absolutely blown away by what this guy has to say, brilliant.

[yorkie_chris]

My take on it is the advanced stuff prevents you from getting in the sh*t but the "racetrack"* stuff gets you out of it.

*Racetrack, or just knowing how to ride a bike, twisty wrist stuff, whatever.

Well i find it interesting, i tried just one of the techniques on the bike today whilst riding at 75% and swear i was much faster whilst using my IAM **** to be safer. You just never stop learning with bikes i suppose.

[yorkie_chris]

Well as far as the advanced/safety criteria is concerned then if you can see round the corner then you can go nuts.

Well yes this is true, but there's a confidence thing in there too. I've been reading about survival reactions and how the worst thing you can do most of the time is shut the throttle when you go in too hot, and I think this guy really has a point. I've spent most of today cracking the throttle, tipping in then rolling on as soon as possible on all my corners and i've been very impressed with my progress.

YC is correct in what he's saying though - once you've got the hang of trusting the capabilities of the bike, proper application of the Roadcraft system should prevent the need for survival reactions by making the bend a fully analysed and planned maneuver. The key aspect then is to keep the tyre grip trade off (or cornering pie, or a few other ways of saying the same thing) firmly on the side of making the corner by not adding extra forces that will use grip that you can't spare.

When it comes down to it, most post-test training is about overriding the survival instincts of a brain not designed for travelling at more than running speed and replacing them with ones suitable for riding at least 6 times the normal design speed.

Originally Posted by orose

When it comes down to it, most post-test training is about overriding the survival instincts of a brain not designed for travelling at more than running speed and replacing them with ones suitable for riding at least 6 times the normal design speed.

And observation I might add. The sooner the brain gets the information, the less likely is to have a panic reaction as you have more time for planning. I have found that observation is closely conncted to ones ability to comfortably controll the bike and it gets better with time.

You're right, of course - I included observation in that, as training the brain to get used to looking further up the road for hazards is probably the hardest part.

[yorkie_chris]

Originally Posted by orose

(or cornering pie, or a few other ways of saying the same thing)

I wouldn't want to be thinking about pies when the back end is starting to spin up

Most modern tyres are idiot proof enough that you can go in as fast as you want until something drags on the floor so long as you don't do anything stupid like tw*tting the front brake on when leant over or applying 150bhp immediately at full lean!

Problem is with cornering pie etc is how does the diagram mean anything? You don't know what 100% is until you find it. Doing that without falling off is the fun bit