-
Posts
79 -
Joined
-
Last visited
-
Days Won
13
CoffeeFirst last won the day on March 26
CoffeeFirst had the most liked content!
Previous Fields
-
Have you attended a California Superbike School school?
Yes. Consider me an L4 devotee.
Profile Information
-
Gender
Male
-
Location
Atlanta
-
Interests
Track, road and off-road riding. Photography and videography. Physical fitness. Travel. Skiing. Time with family.
Recent Profile Visitors
The recent visitors block is disabled and is not being shown to other users.
CoffeeFirst's Achievements
-
I guess an alternative theory could be the geometry of the foot pegs, seat and lock-on points of the gas tank are designed to precisely match the dimensions of the rider's leg when they are in their optimal hang-off position and lock-on is initiated with the arch of the foot on the pegs and extends to their preferred leg position on the tank. In theory this could eliminate the need to be constantly executing calf-raises throughout a race to achieve leg lock, and might also reduce some movement on the bike and save the rider some energy.
-
After watching various MotoGP & Moto2 sessions in Portimao this morning I agree with your observation. Almost every single rider has their outside foot positioned with the arch of their foot on the peg when in a corner - and better than 50% with the heel of their boot right up against the peg. The only thing I can hypothesize is they hang so far off the inside of the bike, which results in the contact of their inner thigh (on the outside leg) being so far around the back of the gas tank, that having the heel of their boot hooked on the peg somehow helps them hang on. Many of the riders are so far inside that the angle of their upper leg (so knee to hip) is almost fully perpendicular to the longitudinal line of the bike. I couldn't find any articles on why they do it. Would be cool to hear a professional rider explain it.
-
Aging riders--what bikes are best?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
Loved the 1600GT while I had it but definitely prefer the XR. I like having the engine performance and light weight of a "RR" in a far more comfortable ride. Saddle sits me "in" the bike and not "on" it. The windscreen is small but can be moved up in a way that gets me out of the wind and weather so all day rides are enjoyable. Arms are nice and relaxed to the bars / grips. Wheel base length and the front fork rake are still sport bike spec so it is flickable and steering is quick side-to-side. Also has a set of discrete side racks and hard saddlebags for extended travel. Only wish I could go GP shift but unfortunately the structure of the frame makes it impossible which is probably why there are no aftermarket solutions. Surprisingly my brain keeps GP shift on track and standard shift on street straight these days. Go figure. To your comment about a few coaches asking for a single "R" for the track, I have a friend here in Atlanta who has a 2022 and loves it for both street and track. I've heard him talk about why and it has a lot to do with not being all bent forward in the more aggressive "RR" riding position allowing him to more easily achieve the "harmony, freedom and control" body position / movement goals Keith talks about. -
CoffeeFirst started following Why become a CSS Coach? , Balls of Feet or Instep , Aging riders--what bikes are best? and 1 other
-
I find engaging the calf muscles to move my body position around on the bike and optimizing my leg lock-on is central to the "harmony, freedom and control" goals. I can't really do it with the arch of my foot on the pegs - only with the balls of my feet on the pegs as my point of leverage to raise my heels.
-
Aging riders--what bikes are best?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
For all day rides into the north Georgia and western NC mountains I ride a 2016 BMW S1000XR. A very comfortable upright riding position with decent wind / weather protection and essentially the handling and power of the "RR". I've toured the east coast on this bike and loved it. Also perfect for twisty mountain roads. I've thought about moving to a newer version of this bike many times but just really like this particular vintage. For longer touring rides (including four cross country trips) I've had a few BMW RTs and GSs over the years - all were great bikes - reliable, comfortable, could carry a ton and roll with the best of them! Even had a K1600GT for several years. That bike was a rocket ship but very competent in the twisties for such a big bike. For shorter around town scoots these days I ride a 2018 R9T. Fun bike. Kinda low and small. Has a very old school cafe racer feel. -
Glad I could join the crew and help you out on this one … 😉
-
Why become a CSS Coach?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in School Questions/General Discussion
Primary reason is I enjoy working with people and helping them grow their riding skills. It is pretty cool witnessing the improvements students make and hearing someone say they just had one of their very best days on a motorcycle. Plus riding a variety of tracks and getting plenty of track time is also great! 😁 -
Aging riders...what's techniques are priority?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
The other thing I remember from some auto track training is when drivers panic they sometimes hold their breath and forget to breathe, which exacerbates the state of panic. Good breathing skills help maintain a state of calm, which in turn helps decision-making. -
Aging riders...what's techniques are priority?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
I think about SR’s as being things you do on the bike when your immediate riding situation triggers your panic buttons (can be mild or sever trigger). Could be from charging a corner or just a situation that is quickly unfolding in front of you that creates concern. The list of 7 SRs hits the bad things we tend to do with three of the five controls on a motorcycle (throttle, bars, brakes) and implosion of our good vision skills. I doubt it has something to do with clutch or gear shifter. I don’t remember the 8th SR but will have chase it down when I get some time. If I had to guess I would say it has something to do with moving our body in a way that is counter productive, or doing something like rolling on the throttle and braking at the same time. -
Aging riders...what's techniques are priority?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
Great choice of words … "dynamically open" vs. "commute-style grind" visual skills. A nice way to think about the "distance is time" concept. I'll have to remember this! Also fully agree regarding lane positioning strategies being able to provide both reaction time and physical cover. I've found when you apply it as a key part of every ride it eventually just becomes second nature, using very little of your $10 of mental bandwidth. Gotta keep those seven survival reactions at bay! -
Aging riders...what's techniques are priority?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
Interesting exercise. I guess I tend to think about creating more "reaction time" as having two core concepts. When you have more actual physical distance, or space, between you and another vehicle it can help increase the amount of time you have to react. As a simple example, imagine you're coming up to an intersection and look to your left once your car has come to a stop. You now see two cars traveling perpendicular to you coming towards the same intersection, both traveling at 60 mph … one is 200 feet from the intersection, the other is 20 feet. Math says the car 200 feet away from you will cross your path in 2.27 seconds, the one 20 feet away will cross your path in 0.23 seconds. Physical space, all else being equal, creates more time to react. BUT, and this is where the second concept comes in and is HUGE, is exactly WHEN during the "passage of time" do you actually "see" the vehicles? If you were able to "see" the second (closer) car in your peripheral vision while you're coming towards the intersection (not once you've stopped) you'd be picking it up sooner in the passage of time so the car would be further from the intersection in the example above. So now maybe it is 30 ft, 50 ft, 100 ft away when you pick it up … ipso facto, you've just given yourself more time to make a decision about the car and time to react. Cobie, this is your 70's driver who saw the other car coming to cut him off long before it happened. A more relevant example would be how closely we're following a rider on track. If we're three feet off a rider's rear wheel at 60 mph, we'd have 0.033 seconds to react before our front wheel is in the space their rear wheel just vacated. We back off 10 or 15 feet and we've exponentially increased our reaction window. Better yet, have great wide view and "see" an emerging problem long before the rider in front of you has to confront it. -
Aging riders...what's techniques are priority?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
And as Jaybird180 points out, the third ingredient of that secret sauce is to get some well qualified, proper training! -
Aging riders...what's techniques are priority?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
And just to add an exclamation mark to this point, love this photo / article from the most recent issue of the AMA newsletter … 77-years young "Rocky" Spano still rocking east coast enduro … -
Aging riders...what's techniques are priority?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
Being one of your older knuckleheads on track, my no filter reaction was a double dose of WTF, but the calmer me agrees with both you and Jaybird180. To Jaybird's point, you never know what is going on between the rider's ears and physical situation. Case in point, I have a brother in-law who was an outstanding rider. He would ride everything and anywhere … city streets, canyons, track, off-road, motocross. He is now in his late 60's and dialed his riding way back to the point of being almost non-existent. His reasons are several, but the rise in distracted driving has turned him off of road riding big time. He also doesn't trust his body like he once did. While he has some physical issues (i.e. challenging knees) I would argue this is far more mental (loss of confidence) than physical. But regardless, the secret sauce has at least two ingredients … staying somewhat fit (as all the prior posts in this thread have highlighted) and as you point out, applying solid visual skills to give yourself more useful information and as much reaction time as possible. I will add, applying great visual skills (ie. wide-view / wide-view transitions) is hugely helpful in ANY activity or sport where your body is moving through space. I have been working with my 8-year old grandson this winter on applying WV / WVT skills to his skiing. The kid is ripping up black diamond expert runs and IMHO WV/WVT is a vital skill when pounding away with pace on challenging mogul runs or in the trees and glades. -
Aging riders...what's techniques are priority?
CoffeeFirst replied to Cobie Fair's topic in Cornering and Techniques
yup … less lean angle used (for any given speed), less physical wear and tear … rock on …