Incremental Increases In Entry Speed

[racer]

i did read the part about the lining, ie. being softer is a good thing. and the part about people not wanting to wear a helmet that is six feet wide.

 

so, what did the article say about why there is a shell? besides being able to paint cool designs on it?

 

but perhaps more to the point you seem to be alluding to, isn't styro-foam, also called poly-styrene? and isn't that a plastic?

[harnois]

I am looking for some ideas on making small adjustments to entry speeds on sharp corners. I'm a Level 4 student, and I do a good job (I think) of practicing no-brakes drills and doing everything early to avoid being rushed when approaching a turn. Now I'm trying to start creeping up my entry speed but I find that on tight corners, mainly sharp corners after a fast straight, I have trouble judging small differences in entry speed so somewhere in the middle of the turn I realize I just rode it at EXACTLY the same speed as before. On high speed turns I find it much easier because I can hear or feel the difference in engine RPM, plus I can make a larger incremental change withour triggering SRs. Any specific tips on ways to get comfortable with sensing small changes? Obviously looking at the speedo (or even the tach) is not my preferred approach.

 

I do recognize that very little gains in lap times are acheived by working on tight-corner entry speeds, however the reason I am concerned is because it is limiting my speed on the fast straight PRIOR to the turn, which definitely affects my laptimes, and also because in turns of this type I am getting riders running up on me at the end of a fast stretch, which I don't enjoy. Those riders are not riding faster then me elsewhere, ergo SOMETHING is keeping me from riding through these corners up to my own ability.

 

How do YOU do it? What concrete, measurable data helps you tell if you did make a real change in your entry speed? What senses are you using? I am considering adding some pricey electronics to my bike so I can measure this, but I would much rather use my own built-in sensors.

 

As far as what senses are being used I think it is mostly visual. One reason I think this is because I can go into the same turn in different gears and it doesn't create any trouble for me in judging entry speed.

 

You mention that you have trouble judging small differences in entry speed. Personally I think I and most other humans are not that good at "incrementally increasing" turn entry speeds. Whenever I consciously try to do this I end up having some sort of bad line and tense feeling. We just aren't that good at consciously making the very very small changes we need to make in order to slowly improve our speed. When we consciously try to step it up we inevitably make too big of a change. What works for me is to just go into the turns at 100% of my comfortable speed. We can always judge what is comfortable. So then how can I get any faster? Well because "comfortable" speed is always going up due to just practicing and focusing on the right things.

 

So then there the question of what is the right thing to be focusing on. For me it is the "visual skills." I have recently been working on something which I think is related. I notice that I sometimes revert back to a sort of "reference point tunnel vision," where I look at the turn-in point until I get there, then I look at the apex until I get there, and then I finally look up out of the turn. I can repeat good laps doing this, but as soon as I remind myself to look much further through the turn and to "broaden my vision," I feel like I start going faster into the turns and getting on the throttle sooner and using up more of the track, and have a lot less of that "damn I could have been going faster" feeling that jrock mentioned.

 

It makes sense because by broadening my vision I can now judge my speed and line and so forth all in reference to the "whole picture." Plus it is just more visual information for the human brain to do its "pattern matching" thing.

 

By focusing on broadening my vision my turn entry speeds naturally go up, without me having to consciously force anything. And the riding gets more fun because I feel like I can *see* all sorts of new ways to go faster.

 

Chapter 21 and 22 from Twist of the Wrist II is what spurred me on to this and it has been immensely useful. The term used there is "wide screen view" and then it goes on to describe the "two step." If you are Level 4 then you've no doubt already heard of this. I've only done Level 1.

 

These techniques are also extremely useful when playing racing video games, and for me that has even been an interesting way to practice the vision broadening skill. Even when playing the games I have to consciously remind myself to do it otherwise I revert back to my old tunnel vision habits.

 

I also remember reading about some study that showed that one of the differences between experienced street riders and new riders was that the experienced riders looked further ahead and used their peripheral vision more to assess the current position. On the track, it can be a challenge when looking really far ahead around the turn to "pay attention" to where I am at relative to the apex without actually pointing my eyeballs at it, but I expect it will get easier with practice.

[Cobie Fair]

harnois,

 

You are right on target for what most of Level 2 is devoted to. It's broken down into the component parts, with the wide view being one of them.

 

C

[Hotfoot]

Thanks, harnois, your insights are appreciated, and you are certainly right about wide view. I got a chance to get back on the track and work on this stuff, and made really big improvements, so I'm pretty stoked about that. Wide view really helped, and I think that I had gotten so focused on working on the entry to a particular turn that I was doing exactly what you said - staring at my turn point and then staring at my apex. So I lost the flow, which makes it way harder to judge speed.

 

I ran no-brakes all day, and that helped, of course. I did try taking two of the sharp, slow turns in a lower gear, and it did help, but not in the way I expected. I thought I would be able to hear and the feel the RPM difference better, but what actually happened was that I had a much better feel on the throttle - more response for both deceleration and acceleration - so I felt much more in control of the bike and therefore a lot more confident. Before, I was off the brakes early and then sort of coasting to the turn point in a higher gear (which felt like sliding on ice when I thought I was too fast!), so there was little engine braking, and the throttle response was a bit weak when I came back onto it. In the lower gear, the engine braking allowed me to modulate the throttle as I approached so I could more precisely control the speed without feeling inclined to reach for the brake, and then when I rolled back on the response was better so the whole turn flowed smoother.

 

It felt great, and I'm excited about seeing real results. The ideas from all of you on the board helped me, and made me really think through the problem, so thanks to all!

 

Update on the helmet - racer, you asked if I ended up with the angel design - no, I opted for the curlicues instead. You know, that airbrushed elaborate stone carving design Shoei favors this year? It does have some understated skulls worked into the design if you look close... And WOW is it loud, holy cow. I suspected my old helmet was rather quiet - this new one is well-ventilated and comfy but I definitely hear things I didn't before - lots of wind noise, and now I can clearly hear my own bike, and bikes behind me, and I can tell how close they are - it's a whole different experience. It was interesting because I could easily tell when bikes got closer to me and when they fell back, which was REALLY useful information in finding out where I could be going faster. Anyway, I have a much better understanding of why people wear earplugs - I'll almost certainly have to wear them from now on.