Re: [ST] Re: Code redux

[Richard & Lisa White <RedRiders@xxxxxxx>]

> 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.

Exactly!!  Before I took Code, I did not have a good sense of what I and
my bike can do.  With more training, I know I can even do better.  The
key, as you put it, is not riding at the speeds you would on the
track!!  I haven't taken Pridmore, but a variety of these classes could
only help, as far as I'm concerned.

> 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.
 
So true!  It's a refinement of how they teach you to swerve in the MSF
course, and it would be more effective, in my opinion, in avoiding an
obstacle in the raod.

> 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.

Yes, at times we all push it.  We're human after all.

Lisa


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