fastmax97 Posted May 8, 2012 Report Share Posted May 8, 2012 Hey... new to the forum. I am an ex-racer that competed in CCS & FUSA events in 2002-04. Although I have had a lot of racing success, I have alwyas had a problem with looking far enough through the corner... getting transfixed on things way to close. It totally messes up proper head and upper body position. I have had eight years off and now that I am back doing track days the problem is even worse... on top of the lean angle/traction issues it seems to be causing motion sickness as well. Do you have any suggestions... drills, techniques, etc. to help me improve on this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mugget Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 Hi fastmax, first off - welcome to the forum! So motion sickness, eh? That sounds like a fairly intense result of vision problems! Have you read either of the Twist books, or watched the DVD? I would start out there. Or have you attended CSS, that would be even better. The books/DVD/school will answer your questions much more comprehensively, but I'll try: If you're in a corner and realise that your vision is not correct, for example you've dropped your sight to just in front of the bike - I'm not sure that there's any 'tips' or 'tricks' here other than sheer force of will to make yourself look where you should be. Interesting that you mention "looking far enough through the corner". It's not good to fixate on the area just in front of you, but it's also possible to look too far ahead. For example - would it be an advantage to look to the next corner entry if you haven't even finished with your current corner? As a general rule, I would look ahead to my next reference point once I was sure I'm going to hit my current reference point. For example - once you know you're going to hit your turn point, look to your apex. (As you reach your turn point, you're already looking to your apex.) Then when you know you're going to reach your apex, look to your exit. (Once you actually reach your apex, you're already looking to the exit.) Also - are you trying to keep your head level throughout the corner? Some people lean their head with the bike, I can imagine that being very disconcerting. But the best advice I could give would be to get your hands on the Twist books and get out to a School! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hotfoot Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 Hey... new to the forum. I am an ex-racer that competed in CCS & FUSA events in 2002-04. Although I have had a lot of racing success, I have alwyas had a problem with looking far enough through the corner... getting transfixed on things way to close. It totally messes up proper head and upper body position. I have had eight years off and now that I am back doing track days the problem is even worse... on top of the lean angle/traction issues it seems to be causing motion sickness as well. Do you have any suggestions... drills, techniques, etc. to help me improve on this. Well, vision is a very big subject - a whole section of Twist of the Wrist II (4 chapters!) and pretty much all of Level 2 at the school is devoted to it. At least four of the Level 2 drills would be helpful, and at least one from Level 1 - maybe some of our lurkers can jump in and list them. Mugget already mentioned a great one - reference points. Let's start there - how many reference points should you have (minimum) per corner? If you only have ONE reference point, what do you tend to look at? There is another drill that might be helpful with the motion sickness - the "relax" drill. If your arms and upper body are tense, they can transmit an excessive amount of motion to your head and eyes; combine that with target fixation and I could see how that could lead to motion sickness. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comptonchinee Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 Vision is SOOO important. I knew it before but it has come up again, because I sold my CBR600F and bought a Fireblade. My vision was too slow for the new bike, and I have had to put in more work for my vision to catch up to the new faster speed of the Fireblade. So, I'll give it a shot... Level One Drill 2-Step... Explained by Mugget Level Two Drills - Reference Points - Knowing where you are on the track, and where you want to be going - If you only have ONE ref Point you will Target Fixate on it, and you go where you look. Wide View - to slow things down visually... 3 Step - to move from Ref Point to Ref Point Ooops... Can't put my finger on the last Level 2 Vision drill... But I got you started, anyone want to finish this off?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Rutter Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 Seem to remember the final drill being changing lines and experimenting with different areas of the track. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comptonchinee Posted May 9, 2012 Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 Yeah, that one never really seemed like a vision drill to me, maybe that's why I forgot it... It definitely shows that areas of the track off your normal line is not as scary as it at first appears... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fastmax97 Posted May 9, 2012 Author Report Share Posted May 9, 2012 I appreciate the help. I have read the books before I started racing. I will dig them out and review. I seem to remember something to do with peripheral vision. Sounds like the reference points are a good idea. Looks like I will have to develop some patients to move forward. Kind of sucks right now I am 10 sec off my race time. An eternity. I will be at PBIR on the 20th and will see if I can put some of this to use. Thanks again to all for responding Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
comptonchinee Posted May 10, 2012 Report Share Posted May 10, 2012 Peripheral vision, you are talking about Wide View... Not focusing on one reference point, not target fixating, not frantic hunting of vision... There is an exercise in the Twist books... Look at a spot on a wall from a distance, then while still looking at that spot, NOTICING other things around the room, using your wide view or peripheral vision... This also allows you to look into the corner while using your peripheral vision to keep track of your pre-selected turn-in point (2-Step), so you can look ahead, and still keep track of your turn point... Also keeping your vision high and further down the track makes things seem slower giving you time to plan your next control actions, as opposed to looking in front of your front wheel where things go by very very quickly and make you feel rushed. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnnyrod Posted May 14, 2012 Report Share Posted May 14, 2012 Cobie also swears by adjusting the padding in your helmet to help your vision, do a search on here for that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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