Survival reactions?

[Misti]

Survival reactions come from our instinct to avoid injury but often cause the opposite. Keith lists 7 survival reactions in Twist of the Wrist II:

1. rolling off the gas
2. Tighten on the bars
3. Narrowed and frantically hunting field of view
4. fixed attention (on something)
5. Steering in the direction of the fixed attention
6. No steering (frozen) or ineffective (not quick enough or too early) steering
7. Braking errors (both over-and under-braking)

What would you say is YOUR most common survival reaction? What one do you find crops up often and what are you doing to try to reduce or eliminate it?

Misti

[Animal78]

Ah I love that book. It helped me alot when I was taking my R6 to the track.

My biggest reaction was rolling off the throttle. It was easy to fix though. I put masking tape over the speedo. I started going with the flow of traffic on the track and focused less on the entry speeds.

[DEXSPEED]

mine will be chopping gas tighten on the bars i am now focusing on good line choices.i have watched the video over and over and i learn something every time,love that video!!

[JMcDonald]

Yup, rolling off the throttle is about my only consistent problem. I have just been trying to get better at more accurately judging proper entrance speeds so I don't have to worry about it.


It's funny how on a bike all the obvious, instinctive things to do are the absolute worst things you can do in a tense situation :P .

When you feel you are going too fast in a turn, you have to... look AWAY from the thing that you're about to hit (wtf, right?), give it more gas (wtf, right?), and torque to the bars toward the object you are about to hit (wtf, right?).

[spooph]

lol, when you put it that way J, I guess us riders are just a bit backwards... I mean, we do chase speed when the most self-preserving thing to do is to NOT chase speed... LOL. I think you just created a new blog topic for me....

Anyways, Misti, I have yet to read that book (it's on the pile, I'm just moving slow... ), but from that list, I suffer from all those at times. I guess most of the time I'm steering towards the object of target fixation, because I like to rubber neck and take my time looking at something...

I also found out, after riding in the snow the other day, that I have a bad habit of chopping the throttle. Practice later in a parking lot got me over that slightly. But that's kind of an off-example, so never mind on that one....

[00NissanNinja]

1 and 7 are issues for me. Especially 7 but I think braking in general is something I need to work on. I typically can stay decently calm in an emergency. Guess when I start riding everyday again I will practice my braking more. I don't ride as aggressive as I used to so rolling off the throttle isn't a big issue at the moment until I build my confidence back.

[Animal78]

Watch out on chopping the throttle. That's different from rolling off it. Remember Smooth=Fast.

Sudden reactions rarely end well.

[rockNroll]

out of those I'd say I over brake sometimes and then have to accelerate into the corner

[ally99]

Sometimes I have to remind myself to relax, but I have to do that in everyday life, not just on my bike! I keep myself conscious of keeping as loose as possible on the bars in every situation, but at times I find myself more tense than I should be. It's an easy problem to solve once you realize you're doing it! The realizing it part is the toughest!

[gfloyd2002]

I've been trying to practice good survival reaction habits. Under the theory that you do what is habitual when your brain doesn't have time to process an emergency, and that straight line hard braking is the right thing to do in most survival situations on the road (or at least has the fewest downsides), I do a 30 to zero maximum effort brake every time I get to my driveway returning from a ride.

That really helps me with 1, 2 and 7. But it locks me into 6, which I'm okay with as a tradeoff for a street emergency situation. I tend to think that swerving as an avoidance technique is a dangerous first option in most cases, and that braking is a better habit to practice.

[JeffM]

Number 7 for me. I practice threshold braking at what I think is the typical speed, 35-40, where most accidents happen, in an intersection. All well and good; however, what scares me is the thought of not practicing stops at freeway speeds.

I have never had to brake really hard at 75mph. I am afraid that I might just jam on the brakes like a beginner in that situation. It is difficult to find a place to practice at those speeds without going to a track. This aspect is just a big mystery to me when I ride on the highway. Not good.

[Animal78]

You never know. I have been in that situation on the freeway doing about 70mph when a major accident happened right in front of me and the group of riders I was with. You really can only do so much. You have to be as defensive as possible watching, scanning the roadway constantly. Always looking for a way out. All but 2 of us were able to get out of the way unscathed. My buddy put his helmet and hands thru the back window of a car and another (this is where it got scary) ran over a woman in the road.

It's a much longer story involving some shady people who were drunk and chasing someone who stole their car carrying handguns etc.

I unforunately have way too many stories of things like this. Although I still have many more that were good times and lot's of fun. That's why I still ride!

[PsychoNinja]

I am guilty of 2, 6, and 7. But if I am calm and collected I minimize those reactions.

[Misti]

A popular answer here seems to be that most of you struggle with survival reaction #1 (rolling off the gas) and #7 (braking errors). The first step to fixing these problems is awareness (so knowing that you make the mistake in the first place is half the battle) and the second is figuring out the ROOT cause.

What would you guys say is the root cause or the reason why you roll off the gas or slow down too much (or brake mid turn)?

Misti

[PsychoNinja]

For me, I would have to say not trusting the bike's and my ability to take a turn at a speed that I don't feel comfortable with even though the bike far surpasses my own ability.

I am currently trying to teach myself to trust my bike rather than letting my survival skills control me and possibly cause me to lose control.

It is hard to do.

[Animal78]

Don't want to lowside. I don't know why I myself worries about that having highsided twice and lowsided once. Knowing that a highside crash is much worse! The bike landed on me once. Whoops.

I always come in too slow. Then power out about midway. Which usually results in pissed off people behind me on a track atleast cause even at my slowest on the street cars can't follow.

[Domagoj]

Originally Posted by Misti

A popular answer here seems to be that most of you struggle with survival reaction #1 (rolling off the gas) and #7 (braking errors). The first step to fixing these problems is awareness (so knowing that you make the mistake in the first place is half the battle) and the second is figuring out the ROOT cause.

What would you guys say is the root cause or the reason why you roll off the gas or slow down too much (or brake mid turn)?

Misti

It is fear. I think I may speak for all of us when I say that. No matter how we call it, we are afraid of something which might happen, or something which has happened before. Don't know how to fight it. On the street that is.

[rockNroll]

Originally Posted by Misti

What would you guys say is the root cause or the reason why you roll off the gas or slow down too much (or brake mid turn)?
Misti

Mine is mostly getting used to the 250 in places where I'm used to a 1000. I'm improving

It's odd... there are places where I'm used to strong braking but on this bike I don't have to brake or need very little braking yet I feel the "need" to poke at the brake before I enter the corner. I laugh at myself sometimes.

[Misti]

Originally Posted by Domagoj

It is fear. I think I may speak for all of us when I say that. No matter how we call it, we are afraid of something which might happen, or something which has happened before. Don't know how to fight it. On the street that is.

Yes I think you have nailed it here when you say that some kind of FEAR causes the survival reactions to kick in. Without that feeling of fear we wouldn't have that initial reaction to chop the throttle or over brake for a corner.

Fear usually stems from your perception of speed which then kicks in other fears, fear that you won't be able to turn the bike quickly enough or get through the corner or fear that your tires won't stick or that you will crash. How can you alter or change your perception of speed so that these fears don't kick in in the first place?

Misti

[DEXSPEED]

good throttle control?

[JeffM]

Originally Posted by Misti

Yes I think you have nailed it here when you say that some kind of FEAR causes the survival reactions to kick in. Without that feeling of fear we wouldn't have that initial reaction to chop the throttle or over brake for a corner.

Fear usually stems from your perception of speed which then kicks in other fears, fear that you won't be able to turn the bike quickly enough or get through the corner or fear that your tires won't stick or that you will crash. How can you alter or change your perception of speed so that these fears don't kick in in the first place?

Misti

Looking through turns and keeping your vision up and out to where your are going reduces the perception of speed.

[Havok]

Brakeing for me. I tend to get on the front harder then I should.

[Misti]

Originally Posted by JeffM

Looking through turns and keeping your vision up and out to where your are going reduces the perception of speed.

Absolutely. Whenever I am struggling with over braking or feel like I am entering into a corner too slow I look to my visual skills to see where I am going wrong. When my visual skills aren't perfect then it feels as if I am going faster than I really am and my fear kicks in. When I have good visual skills and am able to keep my vision up and looking through the turns nice and early then my perception of speed goes down and I don't feel as scared going faster in that corner.

Are there ways to practice improving your visual skills? How do you ensure that you are looking far enough up the road or track?

Misti

[gfloyd2002]

Originally Posted by Misti

Are there ways to practice improving your visual skills? How do you ensure that you are looking far enough up the road or track?

I find myself practicing looking through corners in the family car, too. Looking through the corner is one of the first things they teach you, not only in MSF, but also if you take a car control class. (Those are super fun, btw. Fewer consequences for losing control than in the bike courses. ) That way, I'm always looking through the corner, and build the habit.

Great comment on poor visual skills being precursor to fear, Misti. Hadn't made that connection in my riding, but it is totally true now that I think about it.

[JeffM]

Originally Posted by Misti

Are there ways to practice improving your visual skills? How do you ensure that you are looking far enough up the road or track?Misti

I practice using my peripheral vision.

Having good peripheral vision allows you to look way up the road and not be as worried about what is immediately around you.

I try to pick my vision up early when going around a corner - Spot my apex (and road irregularities) in advance and use peripheral vision to see the apex as I look up the road.

[Animal78]

Yeah they say to remember to keep scanning the track. You don't want to devlope tunnel or fixed vision. It will basically lock you up. I constantly scan the roadway always making sure I have a out if things get hairy also moving my field of view further down the road or track. Just being proactive and remembering you have control of the bike and thus the outcome makes for a huge improvement. Almost every bike on the road can do more than you are physically and mentally able to. I don't ever worry about the what if the bike can't do it. You have to focus on where you want to be and trust the bike to get you there. If you question the machine you will never get far. Provided it's in good working order.

[Misti]

Originally Posted by gfloyd2002

I find myself practicing looking through corners in the family car, too. Looking through the corner is one of the first things they teach you, not only in MSF, but also if you take a car control class. (Those are super fun, btw. Fewer consequences for losing control than in the bike courses. ) That way, I'm always looking through the corner, and build the habit.

Great comment on poor visual skills being precursor to fear, Misti. Hadn't made that connection in my riding, but it is totally true now that I think about it.

For sure, you can practice when driving your car or riding a bicycle or even walking down the street. When I first started driving I had a great instructor that used to randomly quiz me on what was going on around me. He would say things like, "what color is the car behind you, how many people are waiting to cross the street, where is the guy on the bike?" He taught me to keep my vision open wide and to see what was going on around me without frantically searching around or getting stuck on specific things. It is the same concept that is taught at the Superbike School and the more you can practice it in a variety of situations the better your visual skills will get.

Glad that the comment about poor visual skills resonated with you and your own riding. Improving your visual skills can help prevent that feeling of fear or that feeling of too much speed from cropping up in the first place and THAT can prevent sudden survival reactions from kicking in

Ride safe!

Originally Posted by JeffM

I practice using my peripheral vision.

Having good peripheral vision allows you to look way up the road and not be as worried about what is immediately around you.

I try to pick my vision up early when going around a corner - Spot my apex (and road irregularities) in advance and use peripheral vision to see the apex as I look up the road.

Yes, good point. You want to be able to spot where (exactly) you want to go and look at it (so you go there) while also being able to see what is around you. We call it wide vision at the Superbike School and Keith often tells his students it is like "Pulling the curtains open WIDE so that you can see more of the road/track."

Misti