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Old July 29th, 2012, 09:44 PM   #30
Misti
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Name: Misti
Location: Vancouver, BC
Join Date: Oct 2010

Motorcycle(s): currently: Yamaha YZF 250 dirt/motard

Posts: 787
Quote:
Originally Posted by csmith12 View Post
Hmmmm...

Let's see here, what I am currently doing.

I see approaching corner
I look for turn in point/reference
I look for apex
I turn in
I look for exit/reference (if can be seen)
I hit apex
I scan to find next corner and entry point/reference
I hit exit

My goal, for vision to stay at least one step ahead.

Although on the street, just before turn in, I scan ahead as much as possible for anything that might be labeled as "trouble". Maybe I let my eyes linger to long while scanning. Just felt kinda odd to have to look back, sometimes requiring me to move my head when my reference point is out of my FOV. Everything I have done so far has always been look once and "connect the dots" or "point and shoot". Maybe I was oversensitive to it that day but the closest thing I can describe it to is; it left me with a "rushed" feeling while entering the corners.

EDIT: I left out throttle and braking markers for brevity
This is a really good description of how you should allow your eyes to track from one point to the next and always try to stay one step ahead. I'd agree with all your points in that for every given corner you should have a turn in point, an apex point and an exit RP to look at.

You make a good point too about how you can get caught out looking a bit too far ahead and lose sight of where you are in the moment, you had a "rushed feeling" and this is common. A lot of people tell you to look as far ahead through the corner as you can but I think you have to be careful to not look too far ahead too soon or you will end up lost mid corner.

A good pattern is to look through the corner to the exit (or as far ahead as you can see) once you are certain you are going to hit your mid point RP. Do you think that would help you avoid that "rushed" or "lost" feeling?

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lychee View Post
Per those wonderful riding books/videos by Lee parks and Keith Code, a good strategy is to look and find a reference point at the turn in point, then look into the turn before you hit the turn in point, and (while watching your reference point in your peripheral vision) start your turn at your turn in point without actually looking at it.
Try the turn at a slow pace while learning the technique.
Yes

Quote:
Originally Posted by alex.s View Post
very interesting point to think about. reference point selection can help or hurt you a lot it seems. if you are wasting your time looking around, its harder to focus on the next steps and setting up for them correctly.

i've heard some people, even some people at top level racing say they dont use individual markers... instead they use larger scale, more vaguely defined markers. hearing them talk about it makes me wonder if focusing on the exact right turn in point or braking point isnt really as important as preparing for the next step... because with the speed you do things on a motorcycle, if you are messing something up now, chances are its from something you did a few steps back, so focusing on the current step is just going to screw up steps down the line... so just focus on the next step
I often say to my students that when you first start trying to find reference points they can be distracting and it can feel like you are riding from point to point but as you progress with your visual skills it changes so that it becomes more fluid. Even though your eyes are still finding very very specific reference points they are moving smoothly from one to the next so that it feels like they are less defined.

When I'm racing I'm looking at very specific reference points and aiming for them (the cone, the brake marker board, the crack in the pavement, the seam, the tree in the distance, whatever) but it flows from one to the next without me getting stuck staring at one point.

Back to the original point though, if you try to look too far ahead, say from your turn in reference point all the way to the exit without touching on where you want your bike to be at the apex, you might not make it there.

Which brings us to another question, how long do you look at your RP? When do you look from your turn point to the apex, or from the apex to the exit?

Misti
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