Quote:
Originally Posted by Misti
Situation 2.....getting a downshift right/consistently. Hint: What if you knew EXACTLY where you needed to downshift into second gear? Would that help with accuracy and consistency? what skill am I talking about here?
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Vision, methinks... spotting (and hitting) reference points for roll-off, braking and tip-in.
The way I perceive the issue is that there's a mismatch between what makes the bike happy and what I want to do. I'm having trouble getting the whole speed management/timing thing right.
At my pace the bike wants to be in second gear to power up through that steeply-climbing corner. In third I'm at maybe 4 or 5k rpm. Not lugging per se but definitely not up where the power is.
But there's a big jump from third gear down to second. I feel like I'm in that "no-man's land" where the right speed at corner entry isn't the right speed for the gear I need.
When I blow the corner it's because I'm going just a bit too fast as I let out the clutch. It upsets the rear, which is a Bad Thing. So bleed off more speed before making the shift, right? Right.
I can of course get the downshift done cleanly before tip-in by slowing earlier (while the bike is still straight up and down), but then I've killed my momentum. Note that the track is climbing steeply all through here. The result is that my entry is slow and those behind me get packed up (I have photos to prove it).
So I try to get the downshift done as quickly as possible, as late as possible to maintain that precious momentum.
That leads me to try to do several things more or less at once... modulate clutch, shift, modulate brake, make steering input, fall into corner.
And therein lies my dilemma. I'm just not sharp enough to make it all work consistently. It's gotten into my head to the point that I dread that corner.
The proper approach, I think, is to make my life simpler. Get more comfortable carrying speed up the hill into that corner, so I don't have to downshift to 2nd in the first place.
Which leads back to... vision. Look up, make everything slow down....