Jasonzilla

No shoulder or anything, and not to keep them from getting crossed up. Oddly enough, his argument is that dropping your chin on exit helps get the bike picked up. I'm glad it's not just me.

Another rider I know, who is as enthusiastic about teaching riders as I am, teaches riders to drop their chin on exit. I've never heard of this and can't, for the life of me, think of how it could benefit a rider who needs to have his eyes up to see where he's going. Has anyone heard of dropping your chin on exit as a way to get the bike to pick itself back up on acceleration? Or for any reason, for that matter?

"I also have better body position on my lefts." I could probably go back to when I frequented this site and cut and paste my response. Honestly. If your body position (BP) isn't even and consistent on both sides, fixing a problem could change from corner to corner, even so you can't pinpoint what the problem is. Whether you're more comfortable in tighter corners or sweepers, if you change your BP from one corner type to the next, the rest of what you're doing is going to be affected. What I hate hearing the most: "put your face where your mirrors would be." Is that what you're trying to do in the pics? If so, you're way off. I was when I was trying it. A friend told me to forget that and work on making it the same on both sides by the cockpit (where you sit on the bike), and to forget about the mirror thing. Bike on stands in the pit, working on it, side to side, I made one side the same as the other and practiced to make it consistent. I did it on the track and it was an instant change in riding and I could start working on the other issues (of which I was still confused about at the times because I hadn't been to a school yet). My butt was in the same place from one side to the other and I started putting my outside shoulder on the gas cap, regardless of the side or corner type. Relax your shoulders and you're in the same place on both sides on every corner. Find a body position that's comfortable, fixed, and measurable, because I can assure you that "your face where your mirror would be" isn't consistent when you're on the track (or twisties) or in the photos. Then where you're looking, steering input, tenseness in left vs right corners can be more easily assessed. When I was coaching during trackdays, getting my students to practice this through the day for a couple of minutes between sessions was a thing, and every rider I've seen, who's progressing through the riding ranks, Lex Hartl, Joe Roberts (former GP Redbull Rookie Cup Rider) and Benny Solis (AMA Pro Road Racer) could be seen practicing this in the pits. That way, once you're riding, it'll feel more natural and take less effort while you're leaned over doing 60 mph. You can work on a bunch of different things to improve, and you will. Consistency should be one of them, and getting the proper BP on both left and right sides is simple to correct and will set the foundation to making your left turns as good as your right.

You also have to factor in having to move that body weight around if you get farther off the bike. I find a nice, generalized body position (BP) and stick with it. Outside shoulder on the gas cap. That lines me up perfectly and decreases the amount of the 6'2, 230 lbs of @$$ I have to shift side to side. Keep it simple. Thinking it's going to make that much of a difference by shifting your weight farther off the bike, ala Dani P, is going to make for a tired pair of calves and thighs. I'd say focusing on just getting that weight low and into the tank should be priority. The only thing I can say about keeping up with the smaller riders is my philosophy on most things: be better. Sounds rough, but I'm in it right now racing go-karts. They're slow, electric, and no horsepower. I'm fighting to get 27.7's while these little punks (I say that out of envy) are putting down 27.1 laps. If I just put it down to weight, I'm done. I need to keep doing what I can to keep up with them and not focus on the 100 lb difference between us. It is what it is. I would bet money that racing with locals minimizes the advantages being lighter has. It's probably more when you get to the front runners in the expert class when weight'll have an effect. Going against most of them, you can get good enough to keep pace with the riders at that level. A few years ago, when CCS Southwest was racing, there was a 320 lb guy who could place top 5 in the expert class with some good riders on the track.

I'm not able to plan my trackdays out that far in advance. I have annual goals. Did a new track last year, as planned (Arroyo Seco CCW in New Mexico and Arizona Motorsports Park), but the rest was a wash (RACING, getting back to Auto Club). This year the goal is still to race at Arroyo and get back to Auto Club. LOVE Auto Club. With my new set-up, I need to break the 1:45 barrier. Make that one of my goals as well. A non-riding goal is to see Moto GP outside the US. Motegi is the plan in October, but with Fukishima acting up and being just north of Motegi, I'm just hoping they still do it.

When I was a newer rider, it was a bit much. I've been listening to music for a while now, and it's set real low. I've never owned a helmet (Scorpion, Shoei, Arai and now even Bell) that kept the wind from giving me tinnitus after a moderate ride. I started with earplugs and graduated to headphones. As long as their not blaring I'm comfortable with them on. It's just like in a car. If you're paying attention to the road in a car (like going through heavy traffic) you don't always know what's on the radio. My ex-wife used to do it to me all the time. If I'm in heavy enough traffic, she could put it on country and I wouldn't even know it was playing. When I'm in an open space, I can refocus on the music. If you're focusing on heavy traffic, music playing with headphones on won't distract you at all. I tried over 10 different types of headphones, and still occasionally experiment with them with my friends headphones. Skull Candy (without the mic on the cord) are far and away the best ones I've used. I could hear music up to 140 mph. That's not turning it up, either. They also keep my ears from ringing for days after long rides. Living in Arizona, Nevada, and Texas before that, I can go LONG distances between points, and having some music playing helps me keep the little sanity I have left.

Time. I've been riding track for 6-years 1-2 trackdays a month. Familiar tracks. I'm at a new track right now and hate having to learn new points. I stay in the advanced group while I'm learning the track, but get anxious because I know I'm probably getting in people's way. And I know the photos are going to suck. For certain corners I go through what I'm doing over and over so I beat it into my thick skull what I'm supposed to do. 1,000 times and all... I think mental laps count toward that somewhat.

I was thinking RDP was maybe focused more on the Suzuki. Espargaro picked it up a little, but RDP has clearly lost something. Age? I never would have thought Rossi wouldn't be able to keep pace with the "aliens" anymore at 33.

The ones doing 60 in a 65 tucked under the windscreen.

You can learn a few things from watching GP. They're all doing almost the same thing now-a-days and it's good reinforcement for the observing rider. No, there are a number of things we can't do that they're doing, but getting that body position down and the subtle differences between them are note-worthy. Small changes were made to Smith's BP during testing before Aragon, for example. If you watched Tony Elias a couple of years ago, you would have seen an exaggeration of BP that doesn't work with the current technology in GP. Watching Pedrosa throw that bike up coming out of corners is good reinforcement of the pick-up drill. One thing I'm working on right now is something Rossi used to do, but doesn't anymore. He used to throw the bike over and not guide it down with his knee, like every other rider does, but his knee would scrape right at the limit. He was truly one with the bike. I almost did it once today, and am working on that in one corner specifically all day. Then I'll try doing it in another corner, then another. Also, regardless what some people tell you, and the special gloves that are sold capitalizing on this myth, some things can be done differently and are not "right or wrong." Watching, again, Rossi brake, you can see you can use as many fingers as you want to brake. Some riders change it up depending on the corner, some (Vale) just grab a fistful of brake lever and work it that way.

They have a photo of all the riders in the same corner doing the same thing. Wicked cool though, you're right.

The more I trail brake, the longer it takes to get back on the throttle. I came up with TOTW books and the school, so when I'm not paying attention, I'll still get back on the throttle way before the apex. Riders get very used to being lazy on the throttle when street riding. They don't understand Kamm's Circle as well as they should, and I'd argue that very few learn to take full advantage of this. Just learning and beginning to apply the throttle when leaned over is a huge hurdle to jump.

We call understeering a "lowside." Hahaha!

If that's your BP during your first track day, you're head and shoulders above 99% of the other first time riders I've ridden with. Working on getting farther down on the tank and, if you're having problems locking in, slide your butt back to get your leg closer to the tank, is about all I could give you without watching you ride. And as Cobie said, you look like a kid wearing his dads helmet. Those are very good photos.

You've added a step by not having your butt hanging off before you even start all of this. The only place you'll see my arse in the seat is on a long straight. It cuts out a step, no matter how insignificant it seems as Van Horn pointed out). I think the three key points to a good quick turn are: a good understanding of the two-step, good reference points, and redundancy. When I went to the Superbike School the first time, I wanted to throw my frickin' helmet across the parking lot after the quick turn drill. It got me nowhere. When I learned the two-step, the quick turning became automatic. Even my instructor knew why I was frustrated. He told me to be patient after the quick turn drill because I was going to learn something that would help things make sense later.

I'd say the blind corners take a lot of work and you'd benefit from making that one of the corners you work on using that technique. A good line is very important when going through a blind corner because of the trust you have to have going through that corner. I've done Chuckwalla Valley Raceway and have had a number of problems on one blind corner and keep forgetting to work on it. I'm doing OK times on a stock bike, but could probably take off a full second if I got that one corner down. I'm that bad at it.

My brother works on bikes that struggle to do the ton. I had a trackday at Auto Club and just for laughs sent him a pick of the last corner leading onto the NASCAR bank doing over 100 mph with Ton Up stickers on my bike. Glad you're having a good time.

When you're turning. I noticed your very good with knee/knee discipline. It may look twisted up while your hip is off the bike while hard braking and locking into the tank, but a nice rhythmic leaning into the turn and opening your hips while giving your steering input. You can even ease your inside leg off the tank when you start easing up on the brakes. That's why so many people think they're "body steering," because you're steering the bike and leaning into the corner together. Moto GP is the example I like to give. Think of any of them going into an average corner. They trail in and lean a little. You can tell when they're done steering the bike because that's when they lay on the tank and relax their arms.

Yeah. One of the big limiters to progress is when a (track) rider doesn't keep his head up and well in front of the bike. That's not really one of those things you can work on in the street environment. When you've made your turn and are in the corner thinking "damn, I could have gone in so much faster," your problem started way back before you even got to your turn-point.

On trackdays, I've thought about the previous trackday and come up with at least 6 things I can work on. You'll always know my bike because I have them taped on the tank and written out so I remember them. When I was reviewing equipment for a now defunct website, I'd even write down things to remember to test. If I can give you a friendly thought: don't focus on the chicken strips so much. If you work on the drills provided you'll get better and more comfortable. Just trying to push the bike down further isn't really going to equate to progression in skill. Learning things like two-step and quick turn will delete the need to even think about your chicken strips, because they'll be gone.

I'll try to keep the long-windedness to a minimum. The first video won't allow me to view it. It says "private video," so this is based on your Go Pro. Besides one comment, I'll keep this about body position (BP). And that one comment is: You're turning your head, aka two-step WITH the bike, or even after you start turning in some cases (vision is my thing, you should have seen this coming). You need to be looking into the corner well before you get to your turn point. That alone will make a massive difference. I'll digress, but that's a huge issue for you. Otherwise, I'll start you out going into the turn. You shift your hips right before you steer. You're messing with the suspension while you're going into a turn. You're lifting your weight off the suspension then reapplying it, right before you turn, while trying to taper the brakes. It also takes, no matter how much or how little, attention from your braking and steering. If you're burning into a corner and have even a slight panic while braking, it'll be loads more obvious then. You'd have to shift your weight before you even thought about trying to make the turn to keep the bike on track while uncomfortably braking and probably looking straight on. I'll give you this one: you WILL NOT be able to keep the bike on the track. That's just an example to show you that it does take your attention. This should be done before you even sit up to brake and downshift. It should go: shift buttocks, sit up, initiate braking, downshift, turn. Staying on the hips and buttocks theme, you're putting your butt back in the middle of the seat when you don't need to. To give you an example, look at :56 sec. It's a right followed by a left with a SMALL instance of throttle in between. It's taking attention and bike stability, as mentioned just a minute ago, to put your bum in the middle of the bike THEN to the left side. Why not just shift it to the other side and be done with it? One of my things is knowing where I'm going to have and shift my butt in every corner. And it's rarely in the middle of the seat. If a straight is short enough and if it's a fast enough turn at the end of the straight, I won't even put my butt back in the middle of the seat. Then I don't have to worry about it. It's pretty basic for the most part, but some corners require a little work. Staying on your hips: you look like you're trying to wrap your body around the tank. You need to have your hips opened to the corner. It allows you to get your body lined up with the bike better, untwist your torso allowing you to relax on the bars more, and lock your outside leg into the bike better (look at the outside leg on the 1:39 right hander and tell me you can lock that in). Turning left (I'll get to your left/right issues in a minute) your upper body is in a good enough spot that'll let you relax on the bars in a turn (if you opened your hips). But if you can, get your upper body more to the inside to help shift the weight to the inside. Your upper torso is a large percentage of weight distribution that you can control. Comfort and relaxing on the bars are bigger deals than a little weight shifting though. You don't need to get all the way over if you don't want to. It's been proven by pro-racers in every class you don't have to be all the way down and to the inside to be fast. Shaky Byrne is a great example of someone with horrible upper body position who can make it to the GP level, and Mladin didn't do so bad in AMA either. Now for consistency. Look at how far you're sticking your butt off the bike to the right versus the left. You're crossed up to the right, when you're not to the left. It's mainly because of how far you're hanging your backside off to the right versus left. I always teach that your cockpit, where you're sitting on the bike, is consistently the same. You need to be also. One cheek off the bike turning left= one cheek off the bike when to the right. You're almost to your knee on the seat when you're turning right. If your shoulder is in one place turning left, it needs to be the same turning to the right. What I mean by this is that I put my right shoulder on the fuel cap when I'm turning left and left shoulder on the cap when turning right. Same/same. I hate that "put your face where your mirror would be," because it doesn't help until you're looking at photos three days after your trackday, and it won't get you consistent like positioning yourself off the hard parts will. Lay on the tank and put a shoulder on the cap, or where ever you're comfortable, and you'll get the same thing every time on either side. You can even practice this when you're in the pits. I've watched all the racers do it, especially younger racers. From Peter Lenz to Lex Hartl and Joe Roberts, while their bike is on stands, they practice their body position. Shifting left to right and getting their bodies where they need to be so the left and right are consistently the same while in the pit saves track-time working on it. You can even do it at home. Look at all the differences in left to right in a corner. Everything from that outside leg, hips, arms, everything is different. Comfortable taking rights or not, you should really work on that. Watch your video at :52. It's a right-left-right. Jacked up right, needs work left, back to horrible right body position. It's also a great way to see if you're comfortable in a corner. When I'm following someone, when they start crossing up and demonstrate inconsistent body position, I know they're having trouble with that corner, and that's when we can work on brake points, turn points, apex, etc, until they're consistent and look and feel comfortable. I can also tell corners I'm uncomfortable I'm in myself by how tense and out of normal alignment I am. It's been 100% reliable so far. I work on the corner and can stay in alignment when I have a good enough line.

You had me laughing with the pass attempts. Thanks for that. The racing part that got me is that in CCS Southwest, CRMA and ASMA, if you're lapped, your race is done when the checkered flag is out, 80% of the race done or not, and it's a complete race, not DNF. That's confusing. I'd at least take a look at the rulebook for that instead of the 80% of the race, because that doesn't sound right. Maybe you can show them and challenge it. And the other thing is that you would have completed 2+7 laps out of 10 (including the first two laps). That makes 90%. I don't know what place you finished in, but something like this could mean points. Granted it wouldn't be a huge deal, but it's points you can say you've earned.

I haven't been to the school in a couple of years now. Have a good time and welcome to the forum.

I'm going to race for the first time in September and have never ridden race tires. I'm looking at the Michelin Power Ones because it's the only non-Pirelli 180's I can find. I'm staying with them because besides having my brakes, suspension, gearing and tire choice changed, I want SOMETHING to stay consistent. Are there any other options? I'm a HUGE fan of Dunlop, but they don't have any 180's I can find and as much as I love my Q2's, am not racing on them.

Except for the "body steering" comment, there are a bunch of helpful answers on the turning part. Vision is the key for me. I teach it over and over and stress it constantly to newer riders (and sometimes remind older ones). The first thing I'd recommend is to back off the other bikes. You should have started working on not making staring at other bikes "habit" before it became a word you'd use to describe what you're doing, but you don't know what you don't know. If you were to attend the school as CSmith12 recommended, you'd learn that if there is something to improve, you should consciously work on it. With something as dangerous as staring down another bike in a corner, I'd make this priority. Figure out what works for you and lock that in so when you feel you're staring at a bike, or going to even, you can change your view back to where it should be: in the corner. With the variety of riders and lines you'll come across in any given corner, with any level rider, you're at the mercy of the rider in front of you getting that corner right when you're staring at them. If they pick the bike up, go wide, or wreck, you're likely going to duplicate their actions. No bueno. And if you stay up when they go down, you'll likely hit them as you'll STILL be staring at them. I don't know how far ahead of entering the corner you are when you start to look at your apex, but it needs to be way in advance of the actual entry (aka the two-step). I'd bet it's sooner than you are now. That could help you significantly, along with the backing off I've previously recommended. One of my favorite feelings on-track is being close to another rider in a corner WHILE WATCHING HIM OUT OF MY PERIPHERY. It reminds me of how much control I have over the bike. Another thing I teach people is that if anything questionable happens (you think you're going in too hot, you're leaning farther than you're comfortable leaning, a rider crashes in front of you, etc, etc), anything that's going to start your SR's to make you look anywhere other than where you're going, CRANK YOUR HEAD INTO THE CORNER!!! Really exaggerate your head turning if you start looking up for any reason. That should be the first thing you do when you get the urge to look straight or at another bike. Stretch your neck even. We are still at the mercy of our primal instincts, which is to direct our gaze towards a threat. Think of a cat playing or intently looking at something (a bird or another cat), and how easy it is to startle him. His primal instinct is to stare at and focus on the threat (even if it's play). He's really focused on whatever he's perceived a threat. If you pay attention after you've scared him, you'll probably see him refocusing on the other thing as soon as he's aware you're no threat, or run because he can't focus on two threats at once. Like you. The perfect human example is a traffic accident. It's instinct to look at it. Next time you're driving by an accident on the interstate, make a conscious effort not to look at it. And don't. You'll see it's hard. Just like getting your eyes off the other motorcycle that you've somehow identified as a threat to your safety. You can't break instinct, but you can train a reaction to it into habit. Want to look: crank your head. Like not looking at an accident. You're initially INCLINED to. URGED to, even. Only after you get that urge can you react to it and make yourself not. As I've advanced through the years, this has saved me going off the track, or shortened my offtrack excursions many times. I like to give examples you can see, and in this instance I'll use WSBK riders (it's seen more often than Moto GP). If they go wide, or know they're going to go slightly off track (not when they blatantly overshoot), you'll seen them braking on the pavement as long as possible WITH THEIR HEADS CRANKED IN THE CORNER. At the last second if they're going off, as they're using their periphery to gauge when they're about to exit the track, They'll pop their heads up, straighten the bike up, go off the track and finish their braking before returning to the race. Whatever it is that works for you to stop doig this, you can probably find a way to practice it on the street, in a parking lot, or where ever you feel safe doing it. The more you do something 1. the more it gets locked into habit, and 2. the better you become at it. It'll also spare you some costly sessions breaking your bad habits on the track. Good luck.