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Old 06-02-15, 09:31 AM   #11
atassiedevil
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

Slow in, fast out.
Remember to take the line that gives you the best visibilty through the corner, unless you know the road well. I tend, when checking my speed to let my eyes sweep up the road, so i've a good sense of what i am facing in terms of road surface.
Running commentry is also good, it helps organise in your mind what to do when, and helps you maintain a rythm.
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Old 06-02-15, 09:46 AM   #12
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

Try your local IAM group and look at a 'Skills for Life' course. They're very good value and will help a lot.
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Old 06-02-15, 10:05 AM   #13
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

Building confidence is a long game so make sure you understand there isn't a quick fix. My personal demon is near-total lack of trust in the tyres when it's vaguely cold or wet, but I'm working on it!

Training is good, for anyone. The Bikesafe I did didn't talk much about machine control but was more about road riding, but IAM/RoSPA will do more on this. Alternatively there are places that train this e.g. Superbike School ART course.

Target fixation is a fairly common problem, some people define it as not looking at all of the near, middle and far distances, just fixating on one, so keep your eyes moving. A good exercise (Keith Code calls it the two-step) is about shifting your vision. Say you are entering a bend and you're looking at the apex, because that's where you're going (there is a strong tendency to go where you're looking as well). At some point you have to stop looking at that and look at your next point e.g. the corner exit, or some other feature. You do this when the first reference point (corner apex) isn't useful any more - it's getting too close to you and now distracting you instead of leading you. With a little practice you realise that you can look away from the first point to the second a lot earlier than you are, without losing your sense of what is around you. Another one they do is called wide vision, which is practising using your peripheral vision more, not to see particular things, but to get you out of the habit of tunnel vision.

Good throttle control will give you confidence, this is what's meant by slow in, fast out. If in doubt go a bit slower and wider, and use a lower gear if you can't decide between two (you won't go in too fast and and rear wheelspin is less likely to get out of hand). Once you're turned in, pick the throttle up gently and drive all the way through the bend. As a technique it gives you more grip at the front, which is what you need, as minor slips at the back can sort themselves out. Chopping the throttle mid-corner is bad, but if you're coming in a bit slower then there's no need (you have to tell yourself this).

Bit long so sorry but maybe something in there that can help.
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Old 06-02-15, 11:42 AM   #14
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

Twist of the wrist 2. Watch it, it has some brilliant tips and advice, horrific acting though.

Target fixation is a difficult thing to overcome as (to me at least) it feels like you are ignoring the road and whats going on immediately around you to look through the turn, and that just feels wrong. But as soon as you do it, you realise why it is the correct way.

Not a very good explanation sorry :/
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Old 06-02-15, 12:42 PM   #15
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

I read somewhere that F1 drivers don't look at the corner that they 're entering but at the next corner. Their minds remember the corner they are in.
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Old 06-02-15, 12:56 PM   #16
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

Target fixation: only advice. Can give is find something else to focus your vision on.

The human brain is very bad at NOT looking at something try not to look and you'll stare, but give it a definite something else to stare at, preferably something in the direction of safety and you can achieve the same effect.
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Old 06-02-15, 05:17 PM   #17
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

A bit of advice that was invaluble to me was from Alan Warner, one of the privateers racing the TT for the love of it on the second 'On Bike TT' video 20 years ago. 'Always look on the inside of the corner and it'll go round', also smoothly does it with throttle and brakes.
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Old 07-02-15, 12:01 AM   #18
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

IAM bike club would be a winner here...gets you out on lots of different roads and you get feedback to improve on
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Old 07-02-15, 10:15 AM   #19
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

Loads more great advice, thanks guys. Is there a difference between IAM and RoSPA riding groups? There is a local RoSPA group that seems more active than the IAM group around here.
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Old 07-02-15, 01:47 PM   #20
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Default Re: help me avoid panic and target fixation

Plenty of good advice here already, but that's never stopped me before...

To pick up on what Heorot said - if you're still trying to work out what to do in a bend while you're in it, you're probably going to be in trouble. By the time you arrive at the turn-in point, you should really have your approach in place as far as you can see to be clear.

On target fixation, I'd add to what johnnyrod said - it's a caveman reaction (from when you needed to keep your eye on what the sabre tooth tiger was doing, so you didn't get eaten), so you've got to try and train yourself into an approach which works better on the roads.

IAM and RoSPA aren't too different in most of their approach - they both aim to give you a grounding in terms of what Roadcraft outlines. Which suits you is more about what the benefits will be.
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