tmckeen
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Posts posted by tmckeen
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I know most of the responses have been centered around correcting your issue with a helmet fix but I though I would mention one other thing regarding actual body position. In LvL 2 and 3 when working on locking into the tank and getting your body position sorted out one of the things taught at the school is to angle your hips into the turn to help lock your outside leg into the tank, or as a few coaches put it point your "junk" into the corner. Obviously if you pivot your hips your upper body is going to follow somewhat, especially if you have your inside leg cranked way out as lean angle gauge.
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This past round at SoW there was a guy on a Harley VRod with forward controls and perhaps a raked out front end and some custom exhaust that didn't improve ground clearance a bit. He wasn't setting any lap records but he was looking pretty smooth through the corners. Props to whoever he was for taking that thing to the school.
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My advice for your next track day would be to pick 1 corner to really focus on, not a fast sweeper or a slow tight one but something you could realistically carry a lot of lean angle through at a moderate speed and have good clear vision for the entire corner. Start by perfecting your throttle roll on in that corner, once you have that down pick some good reference points for the corner so you are consistently turning in at the same point and apexing at the same point and apply the 2 Step. At this point you should pretty much feel like the bike is gliding on a rail through this corner and you should be very relaxed and confident that everything is working as it should be. Then just gradually up your pace through the corner, as your pace increases you will have to turn in a little harder and carry a little more lean angle. Motorcycling takes a lot of confidence, confidence in yourself, your bike, your tires, the road. Its not something you can build on your own in leaps and bounds and its much easier to lose it then gain.
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Its a 4 corner section that I think of as slow- fast- medium- fast.
The most fun section of the entire track I think, even better when you do it 7 6 5 4 tho
you can really carry a lot more speed in 6 then you initially think, Its one of the places I'm more confident passing going wider and harder on the throttle there and then taking a more inside line through 7. That section is also a perfect example of a small error in one corner resulting in a much bigger error 2 corners later ( yes I know that discussion is from a different thread ) if your off a little on 4 and take a funky line through 5 you can end up way off in 6
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You can pick up about 100 waterproof gloves at your local Auto-parts store for 15-20$, I've yet to find a "Waterproof" glove that actually lives up to its name, but slip on a pair of Nitrile/latex gloves under any pair of gloves and your hands will only be damp from your own sweat, they are also fantastic if you head out with your summer gloves on and find its just a touch too cold for your gloves choice.
As for actual motorcycle gloves, I really like Icon's I had a pair of Merc Long's forever, took about 4 years to wear through the leather on my throttle palm, I don't think they make them anymore but you can find leftover's on Ebay or some discount sites. I'm currently using the Icon Overlord Long for my track gloves and they held up quite nicely after a little face time with turn 3 this Saturday so I'd give them a big Thumbs Up in my book
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Welcome to the Forums Prince. Nice looking pic's there, you must be pretty quick to keep the #8 bike behind ya like that
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I would reckon that the reasons for which some racers would talk down on the Streets are in fact the very same ones that make it such a good place to take CSS, I'd venture to guess there's no better place to learn good technique then on a technical track
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Hey T-McKeen, one part of your post especially caught my attention so I have a question for you - do you actually do the two step in a track environment using the below technique? Do you think that is correct execution of the two step?
Yes and Yes however I think you may have misunderstood what I meant by "focus on it until I knew I was going to hit that exact turn point" I may be mistaken but I recall a student at school asking the question when do you switch your focus from one RP to another, and the answer the Instructor lead us around too was you move to the next RP when you are certain the criteria for your current one is going to be accomplished, IE once you know your going to hit your TP you focus on your Apex, once you know your going to hit you apex you focus on your exit,
From TWOTW II
1. You Spot your Turn Point as Early as possible. This could be before you brake, while braking, anywhere-as early as possible (thats one step).
2. Just before arriving at your turn point you look into the turn to see where (exactly) the bike should go. (That's the second step)
I'm still of the opinion that if I wait until "Just before arriving at your turn point" before looking into a turn which is completely foreign and unknown to me I'll end up causing more SR's then I have eliminated by using the Two Step technique
On the subject of reference points, do you really think it's necessary to have a reference point in order to execute good vision? (Let's not forget that the Two Step is a vision technique.) Do you need a reference point to use a "wide view"? Why/why not?
Wide view and good vision is not dependant on having a reference point at all. I maintain a wide view on the freeway everyday, but I have no RP's for the Lanes of traffic I'm riding between. I would say you do not need to have a reference point , but you do need a focus point, your eyes are always focus'd at something, if you are truly not focusing your eyesight at anything your not going to see anything.
So far no one has taken up my earlier pop quiz challenge. If everyone re-read the relevant TOTW II chapter with the current topic in mind, I'm certain that alot of questions regarding RP's would be answered. So I'll pose the challenge again: look up TOTW II, Chapter 23 - The Two-Step and let us know how many times Reference Points are mentioned.
4 or 5 depending on if you Count the headline. All the talk about RP's in that chapter is based around how having too many and letting your vision get hung up on one detail of the road/track serves to invite the SR's to creep out. My take on this drill is that it's all about reducing the extra Visual clutter and only spending your focus on the bare minimum of visual ques required to traverse a corner, which works wonders for your consistency and pace on a familiar road or track corner, but in the context of a completely unfamiliar one I'm not inclined to gloss over all the minor details that are coming into view.
I'll make a few assumptions about how you do each of the things you've described, but with that in mind, yes this is exactly a 2-step. This is very similar to how we explain the concept to our Marines in our ARTD and AMOS programs.
If you rode the camera bike down a completly foriegn road and then sat down with the coach to review the footage how do you think he would rate your 2 step technique, do you have the obvious pronounced movement of your helmet that shows your vision snapping from your turn point to your Apex "Just before arriving at your turn point" ?
My question too you, Does simply looking somewhere and then looking somewhere else constitute a 2 step ? Or does the technique and drill have more substance then that ?
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It was a black and white, artistically made photograph of a slender young man, or rather, a teenager, who looked like a cross between the Abercrombie and Fitch types and Harry Potter, astride a motorcycle with an old-fashioned helmet in his hands
It wasn't this guy was it ?
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I kinda disagree to a extent about the 2 step on a unfamiliar road,
to fully apply the 2(3) Step you need good reference points and its all about consistency, every lap your focusing on the same turn point and the same apex point same exit point, while of course maintaining a nice wide view to slow things down and have a good sense of speed. However on a unfamiliar road there is no consistency you may never take that particular corner again. Also on the track you don't really have to spend too much of you dollar's worth of attention on whats between your reference points as your riding in a closed course so the likely-hood of a patch of sand or a downed tree branch or the front bumper of a F-250 coming into view is pretty minimal, while on the street , especially a unfamiliar twisty one there's a good chance any number of things could be around the bend so you will no doubt spend a lot more of you dollar on every detail that comes into view. If I were to pick a exact turn point for the next corner and focus on it until I knew I was going to hit that exact turn point I would more then likely know very little about what the rest of the road/corner had in store for me. I believe my technique is more like choosing a turn area, not a neat little X on the road but more of a larger circle of about where I plan to turn, it's usually towards the outside and a little deep for a road I've never been down. By focusing little on exactly where i'm going to turn I am keeping almost all of my attention focus'd on what's coming into view, Debris , Road condition, Traffic etc. etc. and by the time I've arrived at the turn in area I was aiming for I have a pretty good idea of what kind of line I'm going to take through the corner and make a steering input based on that. Now you may say in some manner this is a version of the two step but I'm fairly sure if you were to ride around using a similar technique during the 2 Step track session your Coach would most likely flag you down and ask why you are not doing the assigned drill
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I think Rea's move was a tad on the shady side, tho I totally agree with the thinking that Melandri should have been protecting his team and his teammate, taking a second and nailing a double BMW 1-2 would have been better for both his and BMW's points standings then going for glory and the double win.
This weekends incident I dont see any issue with and think the reversal of the penalty was the right call, I'm pretty sure Marquez wouldn't intentionally ram into a fellow rider with the force he did after pulling off such a brilliant save mere seconds prior, He was likely as suprised by the impact as Esparago was.
and the rule as Brad suggested sounds good until you end up with say Chris Clark trading paint with Josh Hayes to help Blake's shot at the title
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I believe during one of the class room sessions at the school one of the instructors made the comment that tires are like Union Workers, they only do one job at a time. They are very good at braking and steering but if you ask them to do both at once they are quite likely to go on strike
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Guess I got it all to myself!
I'll be out there over the weekend to help Blue Flag all the "creative riding"
Blue and Red R-6 should be easy to spot
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I'll take warm over wet
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It's murdering my confidence in turns. Can the camp help with this?
ABSOLUTELY, After even a 1 Day camp your confidence with turning the motorcycle will improve dramatically. I have had the opportunity to attend a 2 day camp and I'm pretty sure we still had to give them a CC for the deposit.
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its just that it seemed to me quite impossible the speed he came past me whilst I was full on the brakes.
I'm sure many a professional race has had the same thought whilst being passed by a fellow racer who was much later on the brakes yet still made the next corner without dificulty
You mentioned he was a instructor so how would you say his track experience with this corner and entry relates to yours ? Also are you using the same turn point or is he turning in later then you, If you combine a little bit more experience with the turn and a little bit more practice braking late with a slightly higher entry speed I'm sure the result will seem like he's blowing past you at a insane rate of speed
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I will warn you, after spending a day or a weekend riding one of those S1000RR's around the track you just might find your bike back home a bit lacking
if your a serious rider taking the CSS course will be one of the best decisions you've made since you decided to start riding a motorcycle, you will be amazed at the difference it will have on your riding
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1337099411[/url]' post='27423']
It is an 09,I also had an 05. When i figure it out I will use it for my photo! What about yourself?
Nice, I've got a 05 for my street bike, would like to upgrade it but never was crazy about the exhaust on the Gen II version
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Welcome to the forums, what year is your FZ-1
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it seems that Ducati have really nailed the shape of the tank cutouts.
Have you seen the tank on the KTM RC8 ?? In Austria tank locks onto you
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Welcome, Tyler.
Nice to hear from you. You've done three levels. What would you like to work on if/when you do Level 4? Just curious.
I'd say my Vision Skills need the most work, track riding vision is more what I'd call point and shoot whereas street riding is more of a constant scanning of what comes into view, that and I have a habit of hanging onto the hand grip too much in right handed turns
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Hello,
My Names Tyler and I'm A Motorcycle-a-hollic and I'm sick of not being able to see half the pictures posted around here so I decided to actually register
A little about me, I'm from southern California, a Daily Motorcycle Commuter and habitual split-er of lanes. I ride a 2005 FZ-1 as my commuter bike and have a 2007 R-6 as my Track Bike. I've done the CSS School out at willow springs up through level 3 and had a absolute blast doing it, and am absolutely a better rider because of it.
Thanks again
Tyler
And On The Seventh Day He Created The S 1000Rr
in School Questions/General Discussion
Posted
On a side note, the S1000RR just took top prize in RoadRacing World's Liter bike shootout, not too shabby for what is still a relatively new entry in the superbike market