Welcome to the forum
Tips on how to conqueror the fear of descents & fast corners & target fixation.
I thought I might impart some lessons (some of them hard won and rather expensive) I have learned whilst firstly racing & track daying m'cycles and more recently mountain bikes (which require a great deal more cerebral and physical input into the bike), less so road riding to get the darn thing to go where you want it go.
Level 2
This is the level most who attend these courses do, time and time again, year in, year out. i've done this level too many times - at £399 a day too. It's about how you see ahead.
This gives you the confidence to bung it into corners with absolute confidence, or maybe, down an incline.
Your bike will always * out perform the rider, so have confidence.
The same principles apply: if you look too close to the bike, or the skis or whatever you are trying to go faster on, then the brain simply can't process the amount of information at speed.
video here
The lower your eye-line the slower you will always be - the brain simply can't cope.
The solution: chin up = your eye-line raises a little and lo! Your speed will increase because you are not trying to micro manage the trail / road just ahead of you. I promise you this works, talk yourself into it, say: "Chin. UP"
Check out any images of m'cycle or skiing racers in action in Google images for example and you will see what I mean.
Lastly, look at your exit point (where you want to go) NOT where you are going, that's micro managing, your eye-line is lowered and will therefore limit your speed.
HERE
Taget fixation:
If you are surprised by a car / bike / obstacle in your path or similar, look away!
Do not look at the potential threat, it's blooming' difficult and it's something you simply have to practise.
Look at your exit point. Only at your exit point.
Allow your peripheral vision to inform you of where you are but do not look as this biker does
Be warned - he crashes his bike and it's not pretty.
YouTube has both examples and lessons if you want more.
How do you steer a bike at speed?
A valid question I think.
HERE
"What?"
To make your bike turn faster, to get it to drop into the corner faster, you push down on the inside bar.
To turn right, press down on the right bar.
The wider the bars, the more this becomes blatantly obvious; so m'cycle and m'tn bikes especially.
For some reading this, it's going to sound worse than idiotic, but try it, but gently, next time you're out as I don't want to be responsible for you executing a sharp 90 degree right hander straight into a hedge!
Lastly: breathe! If you are tense in a corner, you likely apply the vice like grip o' a maniac but you will also likely ceasing breathing, odd, but it is true. that doesn't mean your heart stops, it means you cease taking in any oxygen.
Relax your grip, try it, just hold gently and guide the bars, don't fight and wrestle it, it means you're too tense, your muscles are spastic or tense and you won't react well to any unforeseen errors ahead, be able to tighten your line or move quickly as required.
I can't say I do any of these skill particularly well, but being aware of them helps me work on them when I am out riding.
I hope this may be of some help.
Level 2
This is the level most who attend these courses do, time and time again, year in, year out. i've done this level too many times - at £399 a day too. It's about how you see ahead.
This gives you the confidence to bung it into corners with absolute confidence, or maybe, down an incline.
Your bike will always * out perform the rider, so have confidence.
The same principles apply: if you look too close to the bike, or the skis or whatever you are trying to go faster on, then the brain simply can't process the amount of information at speed.
video here
The lower your eye-line the slower you will always be - the brain simply can't cope.
The solution: chin up = your eye-line raises a little and lo! Your speed will increase because you are not trying to micro manage the trail / road just ahead of you. I promise you this works, talk yourself into it, say: "Chin. UP"
Check out any images of m'cycle or skiing racers in action in Google images for example and you will see what I mean.
Lastly, look at your exit point (where you want to go) NOT where you are going, that's micro managing, your eye-line is lowered and will therefore limit your speed.
HERE
Taget fixation:
If you are surprised by a car / bike / obstacle in your path or similar, look away!
Do not look at the potential threat, it's blooming' difficult and it's something you simply have to practise.
Look at your exit point. Only at your exit point.
Allow your peripheral vision to inform you of where you are but do not look as this biker does
Be warned - he crashes his bike and it's not pretty.
YouTube has both examples and lessons if you want more.
How do you steer a bike at speed?
A valid question I think.
HERE
"What?"
To make your bike turn faster, to get it to drop into the corner faster, you push down on the inside bar.
To turn right, press down on the right bar.
The wider the bars, the more this becomes blatantly obvious; so m'cycle and m'tn bikes especially.
For some reading this, it's going to sound worse than idiotic, but try it, but gently, next time you're out as I don't want to be responsible for you executing a sharp 90 degree right hander straight into a hedge!
Lastly: breathe! If you are tense in a corner, you likely apply the vice like grip o' a maniac but you will also likely ceasing breathing, odd, but it is true. that doesn't mean your heart stops, it means you cease taking in any oxygen.
Relax your grip, try it, just hold gently and guide the bars, don't fight and wrestle it, it means you're too tense, your muscles are spastic or tense and you won't react well to any unforeseen errors ahead, be able to tighten your line or move quickly as required.
I can't say I do any of these skill particularly well, but being aware of them helps me work on them when I am out riding.
I hope this may be of some help.
Comments
I know a Dutchman who is convinced all steering on a bicycle must start with a small amount of counter steer. It is a strange phenominon and I expect we all do it without realising.
Daniel
In all seriousness, 'Doc' teaches Lightning McQueen the counter steer trick in Cars The Movie to great effect come the big Piston Cup race at the end.
What are you all talking about
You learn 5 skills.
You practise these out on 5x track sessions.
5x down-time sessions.
You then go away and put them into practise. And practise them some more.
Having gone from m'cycles to mtn bikes and and now The Dark Side (road riding, as mtn bikers call us), I thought some may benefit from some of this information, which may / may not be new to them.
I think the "chin-UP" drill and the knowledge about Target Fixation may be of the most benefit to road riding.
PS - huge kudos Jane, who in the space of one week conquered the Chiltern 100, a pb in the TT and slayed the friendly Welsh Dragon.