Positioning

Giles
You say that you tuck right in to the gutter and this is something I've been trying to do but I have a fear of being too close and it just doesn't feel comfortable or natural.
I think this is from when I fell off my bike. I had passed my test only a couple of months, saw the grass at the side of the road and before I knew it I was on it and came off. It was very low speed but it knocked me for a while. :comfort
I watch videos of advanced guys tucking in but I feel as though I'm still in the middle of my lane (well maybe not that bad) when I try it.
Can you give me any advice about this please. I feel when I turn in I move to the centre of the lane and can't hold the line, maybe I'm not looking in the right place I'm not sure.
I have no problem the other way round, going left seems natural and feels comfortable.
I know it isn't necessary to be in so close all the time but it is something I need to master for myself.
Hope this makes sense.

:beerjug:
JJ
 
Giles
I have no problem the other way round, going left seems natural and feels comfortable.
I know it isn't necessary to be in so close all the time but it is something I need to master for myself.
JJ

I find with many things you need to master the key is to bring down the intensity / speed / pace so it is very easy and then build it back up.

At anywhere near 100% you may get flustered, target fixation and suchlike, concentraiting on the negatives and not the positives - i.e. looking at the edge of the road you fear instead of looking where your going.

You could try slowing right down so you are completely comfortable, despite being on the part of the road that normally you find uncomfortabe, then keep edging up the pace.
 
The secret to this is this wide angle vision. (There's a load of blurb on it in the '.....using your vision' thread - re visit that bit!).

It's the ability to look 100's of yards down the road, but at the same time, seeing stuff in the edge of your vision, where you are on the road, where the verge is, where the paintwork is.. In effect, it's doing two things at once.

It's taken me years to be quite good at it! so it's not something that will suddenly click. There aren't many eureka moments in all of this training stuff, most of it is practice, more practice and on going coaching. (That's why the driving courses at work are three weeks long...!)

As you ride, if you consciously look at the verge, (thinking I should tuck in a bit...) it'll probably be counter productive. It'll give you a 50 pence piece ride because your vision will be short and you'll keep twitching and readjusting, your whole field of concentration will be too insular. Get your vision right up, look at the keyhole of light / road / horizon that is the very extremity of you vision, keep your concentration up there, and then, work on your star wars 'feel the force' peripheral vision. As you read this page, you can 'see' the keyboard below your eyes, but you're not looking at it. That's how I ride and position at the same time. (anal I know, but you can practice this just walking round the house!! start tuning your brain / eyes into seeing skirting board, steps, cracks in the pavement.. without actually looking at them..!!!!)

Oh god I'm sad ........ :toungincheek :D
 
Get your vision right up, look at the keyhole of light / road / horizon that is the very extremity of you vision, keep your concentration up there, and then, work on your star wars 'feel the force' peripheral vision. As you read this page, you can 'see' the keyboard below your eyes, but you're not looking at it. That's how I ride and position at the same time. (anal I know, but you can practice this just walking round the house!! start tuning your brain / eyes into seeing skirting board, steps, cracks in the pavement.. without actually looking at them..!!!!)

Oh god I'm sad ........ :toungincheek :D

Thanks Obi Wan I shall give it a go :D and as Rasher says I will try at low speed which seems to be the most logical and sensible way to build up.

Thanks guys :beerjug:
JJ
 
"....To me, having received all that training, they commit the sin of not taking their knowledge to the next, higher, masters degree, of applying flexibility, experience, adaptability, to different scenarios. There seems to be a need sometimes, to over egg the pudding, rather than paradoxically, being smarter, by being simpler."

Sums it up nicely. Excellent advice throughout the thread Giles.

I was told in my training; 'Never sacrifice safety for positioning'. It does make sense when you think about it - honest!

For example; don't tuck into the nearside for a right-hander (because that's where you have been told and think you HAVE to be) if there's lots of winter crap there. Instead, scrub off speed and move out a bit for the corner if that's where the better grip is. I know it's really, really obvious but it never fails to amaze me what I see....

No prizes for sliding into the ditch but claiming you were in the correct position for the corner :nenau
 
These techniques are all very well, but I have found I get told off EVERY time I go on a course because i am always looking over the hedge/wall into the fields for hares, birds, deer etc, or looking at the scenery - instructors are forever telling me I should be keeping my eyes on the road. WHY, I am out in the country, I want to look at what the country has to offer, not the boring black bit the tyres have to follow.

Thoughts? I want to enjoy my riding, but at the same time enjoy the scenery - I can watch the road out of the corner of my eye.
 
Totally agree KR.

If I decide to ride fast (make progress) it's enjoyment in a different way. The scenery is ignored for want of looking where I'm going.

Basically it's what ever mood, road conditions dictate.

If I fancy a burst all well and good but I can't understand the rider who goes out to set the tarmac alight every time he throws a leg over.

I finished with all the white knuckle stuff many years/incidents ago.

To me the scenery is important, (I just don't want to be a part of it:D).
 
These techniques are all very well, but I have found I get told off EVERY time I go on a course because i am always looking over the hedge/wall into the fields for hares, birds, deer etc, or looking at the scenery - instructors are forever telling me I should be keeping my eyes on the road. WHY, I am out in the country, I want to look at what the country has to offer, not the boring black bit the tyres have to follow.

Thoughts? I want to enjoy my riding, but at the same time enjoy the scenery - I can watch the road out of the corner of my eye.



Ha ha ..

Well, I guess that we all want different things from our riding, and sometimes we want to pick and choose when we want those different things too?

I have a very vivid memory of a trip is Scotland many years ago and we were heading to Rogart?? (where the disused railway carriages are that have turned into a bunk house ??). The sun was slowly going down, it was a beautiful evening, we'd had a proper tear up all day .... and suddenly it was one of those magic evenings where we all thought the same - bimble on this amazing road and lap up the amazing late evening atmosphere. I remember an old stag watching us as we road past, peering down his nose at us with a bit of contempt ... brilliant!

So I hear your pain!

But ... If yer on a bike course of some sort then .... well yer there to work on yer riding and not the scenery aren't you .. ? ;)
 


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