[ST] Re: Code redux

["Marc Danziger" <marc@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Ken wrote:

>Do you mind if I comment on this a bit? It's the thing that I /don't/ like

>about the Code stuff when learnt in isolation, and IMHO it may be the
>thing 
>that gets a rider hurt or worse. 

As someone who's taken classes from Code (and Reg Pridmore and the WSMC
crew) I'll suggest a qualification on Ken's point. I think track work is
extremely useful to street riders, for two reasons:

1) The standard (if thankfully infrequent) street crash in my riding group
(www.labiker.com) is the "ohmigod I'm going too fast straighten up and
brake ride into the dirt on the outside of the corner [fortunately not yet
through the oncoming car] and fall down". This crash has a simple
solution...steer harder. It is almost a 100% certainty that if the rider in
these events has just been willing to push the bike harder through the
corner everything would have been OK. Track time gives you a sense of how
amazingly fast you can go through corners (Pridmore will take you for a hot
lap on the back of his VFR that will change your world for sure...), which
means that IF YOU DON'T CONSUME THAT MARGIN OF SAFETY BY RIDING AT
NEAR-RACING SPEEDS (note the emphasis), when things get a bit hairy, you
have some confidence that you can just lean a little further and all will
come out OK.

2) The ability to "turn quick" that is taught by Code is EXACTLY the skill
you need when you come upon the (downed rider/tree branch/refrigerator) in
your line.

>That's great on the track, where pushing ones personal limits and that of 
>the motorcycle is as much fun as I've ever had with leathers on, but on
>the 
>road there's really only one safe maximum speed to enter a corner, and 
>that's the speed where you can reliably stop, under control, in the
>distance 
>you can see to be clear on your own side of the road. Any faster than that

>is an act of faith, faith that the road is clear, the surface good and the

>corner doesn't tighten up. The ST will, as you've discovered, go round 
>corners /way/ more quickly than road safety would suggest was sensible. 

Exactly correct. I rode to Laguna two years with lister Jim Schroeder, who
commented to me that I "needed to trust the road more." I replied that the
fact that I _didn't_ trust the road was what kept me feeling safe. (No dig
on Jim who is an _excellent_ rider and taught me a lot on that trip...) I
tend to push the above recommendation slightly (as do many of us) by
stating that I'm willing to hit something at walking speed...so if I can
get down to less than 10mph in the distance I can see, I'm happy. 

>See http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/ASIN/011341143X for more on this,
>my 
>favourite theme...

BUY THIS BOOK!!


MarcD


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End of st-digest V2001 #624
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