Body Position

[jmccready]

I've been thinking about all the different pictures I see of guys hanging off, some with a twisted torso, some who look as though there shoulders and head are more "squared to the corner", but many different styles seem to appear when it comes to there specific "head" position.

 

Even the picture at the top of this very page ( CSS banner) I see two guys on the right. The first guy (leading) with the maroon helmet has his head UP. The guy behind him has his head DOWN.

 

The rider on the left side of the banner looks to have his CHIN glued to the gas cap.

 

MAN, that's alot of variations in one banner....... Are they ALL doing it "right"?

 

Do I just pick one and go with it?

 

OK. I think the guy on the right, following, seems to have better form. But....... I'm a NOOBIE, and I can't be held resposible for my own decisions (yet). Isn't that part of being a "squid"?

 

I was at a two-day "Fly-and-Ride" test event a few years ago, and had the opportunity to ride the inner track at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, and the instructor told us to "lead with your head" when cornering.

 

I've read other places where riders say your head should be where your mirrors would be.

 

I'm so confused I think I'll just leave my head in my helmet bag when I saddle up!

 

Please don't tell me to get my head out of my ***.

[hubbard_28]

I'm not sure about the picture on top, whether #17 is coming out of the corner or not, but if he's in the corner, the ideal place to be would be lower. You want to help the bike have as low a center of gravity as possible. The #28 on the left up there has pretty good BP, but since he's about bottomed out where he's at and not leaning off the bike as much as he's getting his body to the tank, if he leaned off the bike more, he would be farther from bottoming out, because he would be holding the bike up more, and he could carry more speed through the corner.

As far as how your body should be, I have a picture on another post, because we've talked about this before, but I'm not on my home computer, so I can't repost it right now, but I'll explain it as well as I can. Picture a straight line from the tip of your rear plastics to the bottom center of your wheel. That's the straight line of your bike. Even when the bike is leaning, ideally you will want the imaginary line from the middle of your neck to your butt bone to be either in line with the bikes line, or a little farther out.

I was trying to learn the "put your face where your mirror would be" thing, and I couldn't get into the correct BP with that. I started focusing on getting my chest into the tank, and after that worked on getting my outside shoulder on the inside of my tank while cornering. For instance, if you are turning left, you want your right shoulder as far to the left side of the tank as possible, and it put me in great position. The biggest thing is getting low. It helps the rider from interfering with the bike.

[Cobie Fair]

Hi ABR,

 

There are a few factors that come into play with the whole body position on the bike aspect of riding. Honestly, can't all be covered in one simple piece. I don't think the paddock is available at Laguna for the upcoming schools, so we might not get your Steering Drill done, but we'll for sure try. This exercise addresses one key part of this. The next key part is addressed when we get you on the Lean Bike, which is normally part of Level 2. Again done in the skid pad, which we might not have. But we can have your coach work with you on this as a fall back.

 

For sure come say hello to me at Laguna, keep me posted on your progress on this stuff.

 

Best,

Cobie