ANDYVH
New member
Effective riding, in the twisties or in traffic, is about constant analysis of your environment, and always evaluating everything that affects your riding environment. It is a never ending, really never relaxed process.
In the twisties I use a bunch of tactics for four-second+ planning:
1. I read the terrain, grades, slopes, road pitch/crown/camber, shoudlers (gravel or paved)
2. I read tree lines or power pole lines, for clues about turn radius, slope, pitch, runoff, sightlines
3. I evaluate potential sightline issues before I get to the turn, determine if I'll be able to see-through before I get to the entry, shadows, shaded areas
4. I read the road surface, cracks, tar strips, changes in pavement color, indications for gravel/sand/debris
Most all of this happens before the entry to the turn, and I certainly make adjustments well before my apex choice and "press-in" point of the turn.
In traffic I evaluate/assess anything that impacts my riding environment:
1. Traffic load and motion patterns, which lane is faster or more steady (may be the fast lane)
2. Watch for any traffic flow path changes due to markings, signs, time of day, traffic load, cross-traffic issues
3. Look for/evaluate anything that impacts my sightlines, trucks, signs roadside visual blocks ( for me AND for other road users), time of day/sun position in the sky, shadows, bright direct sunlight (for me and other road users)
4. Watch vehicle trends, cars that hug the lane line, even just vaguely. Quite often vague actions of cars lead to DIRECT actions within seconds or less, watch the tires as they almost never lie
Big thing is, and I could add so much more, is that effective riding is a highly intensive activity. When you think about the level of brain action, motor skills, evaluation/execution, sensory input/decisions that we do while riding it can easily overwhelm some people into a stupor about riding (like saying its too intense for me) or activate some people into a high level of concentration (like everything slows down and we can "see" it all) that removes all the crap of day to day. That is what riding does for me. I get so deeply involved in the riding, that everything else becomes secondary and unimportant. Probably the main reason I will NEVER consider using a Bluetooth device in my helmet to answer a phone. I feed on the high level of involvement in riding, to the point it relaxes the rest of me.
In the twisties I use a bunch of tactics for four-second+ planning:
1. I read the terrain, grades, slopes, road pitch/crown/camber, shoudlers (gravel or paved)
2. I read tree lines or power pole lines, for clues about turn radius, slope, pitch, runoff, sightlines
3. I evaluate potential sightline issues before I get to the turn, determine if I'll be able to see-through before I get to the entry, shadows, shaded areas
4. I read the road surface, cracks, tar strips, changes in pavement color, indications for gravel/sand/debris
Most all of this happens before the entry to the turn, and I certainly make adjustments well before my apex choice and "press-in" point of the turn.
In traffic I evaluate/assess anything that impacts my riding environment:
1. Traffic load and motion patterns, which lane is faster or more steady (may be the fast lane)
2. Watch for any traffic flow path changes due to markings, signs, time of day, traffic load, cross-traffic issues
3. Look for/evaluate anything that impacts my sightlines, trucks, signs roadside visual blocks ( for me AND for other road users), time of day/sun position in the sky, shadows, bright direct sunlight (for me and other road users)
4. Watch vehicle trends, cars that hug the lane line, even just vaguely. Quite often vague actions of cars lead to DIRECT actions within seconds or less, watch the tires as they almost never lie
Big thing is, and I could add so much more, is that effective riding is a highly intensive activity. When you think about the level of brain action, motor skills, evaluation/execution, sensory input/decisions that we do while riding it can easily overwhelm some people into a stupor about riding (like saying its too intense for me) or activate some people into a high level of concentration (like everything slows down and we can "see" it all) that removes all the crap of day to day. That is what riding does for me. I get so deeply involved in the riding, that everything else becomes secondary and unimportant. Probably the main reason I will NEVER consider using a Bluetooth device in my helmet to answer a phone. I feed on the high level of involvement in riding, to the point it relaxes the rest of me.