[Sirref]

Originally Posted by Misti

Having good technical skills is the only sane route to mastering the bands of traction and reading their signs. In other words, without a firm grounding in basics, it’s easy for riders to misidentify what they think is a loss of traction when it isn’t or because of poor technique they may skip a band or two and get themselves into trouble."

Just saying "practice" to me doesn't cut it though. There has to be more to it than just "practice." What do you do when you practice? Is it just seat time, track days, riding around doing the same things you've been doing all along? Is it reading books, talking to people, doing drills, getting instruction?

This made me think about a trait of the students that I see advancing quicker than the average

Many intermediate riders looking to go to advanced and be able to ride advanced pace ask for tricks to be faster, while many such tricks and techniques do exist their focus on the quick and easy way of gaining pace tends to hinder them. Meanwhile the students who realize that the fundamentals are the key to everything are the ones that impress me at that level. The discipline and willingness to work hard to improve the right way is impressive in itself.