Wheelie, Emergency Braking, Launch practice

Originally Posted by CephasGT

^ That's absolutely the truth. I noticed last year that I was turning times on my warm-up lap that I used to have to work my tail off to get! I was still working pretty hard to run my best times, but running my best times from my previous year required almost no effort at all. I found that because I was able to run faster times, I was so relaxed at the reduced pace. This tells me that the more relaxed I can be, the faster I can go!

If only it was that easy to do...

It can be easy to do Just takes some practice. A major factor in allowing yourself to stay relaxed on the bike has to do with how stable and secure your lower body is on the bike, like we mentioned. A stable lower body allows you to keep the weight off your arms...but there are other things that determine whether or not you are going to be tense or relaxed on the bike.

For me, it usually has to do with my visual skills, if I'm not keeping my vision open wide and seeing ALL of the road or the track my sense of speed goes up and I get tense on the bike. By improving my visual skills I can maintain a relaxed composure on my bike.

What do you think are some other reasons why riders get tense on the bike and tend to work too hard...what are some of the reasons why YOU find yourself exerting too much energy while riding?

Misti

My biggest problem with staying relaxed is how comfortable I am with the pace I'm running (I know, sounds circular to what I mentioned before). If I'm out of practice, particularly, I tend to be more tense, as it takes awhile for me to trust the tires (especially the front) to do their thing. If I'm pushing for a faster lap time, I tend to start to tense up as well, as some part of me in the back of my head somehow thinks that by working harder, I'll go faster.

Just a matter of seat time, I think, as you've said.

Originally Posted by CephasGT

My biggest problem with staying relaxed is how comfortable I am with the pace I'm running (I know, sounds circular to what I mentioned before). If I'm out of practice, particularly, I tend to be more tense, as it takes awhile for me to trust the tires (especially the front) to do their thing. If I'm pushing for a faster lap time, I tend to start to tense up as well, as some part of me in the back of my head somehow thinks that by working harder, I'll go faster.

Just a matter of seat time, I think, as you've said.

Take a look at what changes with your visual skills when the pace goes up. A lot of time, when the pace changes and you start going faster your vision will narrow down a little bit and you will feel like you are going "too fast" and the survival reaction of getting tense on the bike will kick in.

Anytime you start to feel yourself getting tight on the bike, look at what changed and see if you can work through that area so that the next time around you go through nice and relaxed...

so many things are linked when riding...you don't just get tense on the bike for the sake of getting tense, something CAUSES you to tense up on the bike and seat time alone won't cure it unless you find out why you are getting tense in the first place

Misti

Timing. That's what changes and makes me tense up. I noticed yesterday at Putnam Park that when I would up the pace in a certain section, my timing was off, as far as looking for my reference points, which meant that I caught them later than I wanted to, so I wasn't looking far enough ahead, and everything started happening too fast, and then I'd tense up. Later in the day, as I picked different reference points/looked for them earlier, I relaxed more.

I worked pretty hard on reference points in general at Putnam this past weekend, and it really helped me get back in the groove I was in last year. A couple of sessions, I would turn a fast lap of, say, a 1:21, and my average lap time was a 1:22, for about 10 laps. Nice and consistent. Heck, I even discovered a new kind of reference point (for me)! It's the "time to turn on the gas" marker. T8 is a 180 degree left, that goes down hill on entry and up hill on exit, so you can't see an exit point. Instead, I had to find a point in the second half of the corner where I could turn on the gas, and not run off the track. I didn't perfect it by the end of the day, but it was working...

Originally Posted by misti

It can be easy to do Just takes some practice. A major factor in allowing yourself to stay relaxed on the bike has to do with how stable and secure your lower body is on the bike, like we mentioned. A stable lower body allows you to keep the weight off your arms...but there are other things that determine whether or not you are going to be tense or relaxed on the bike.

For me, it usually has to do with my visual skills, if I'm not keeping my vision open wide and seeing ALL of the road or the track my sense of speed goes up and I get tense on the bike. By improving my visual skills I can maintain a relaxed composure on my bike.

What do you think are some other reasons why riders get tense on the bike and tend to work too hard...what are some of the reasons why YOU find yourself exerting too much energy while riding?

Misti

+100 on the vision. That is the only thing that makes me tense. We are so visual that are brains rely on our vision for 90% percent of our information (pulled that out of my butt). I often try to get people to realize how much their vision plays into their comfort level. I think most riders blow it off because they are tired of hearing, "look through the turn" and things like that but they forget that its not just about looking through the turn but also looking ahead, and not at the ground, even when traveling straight. I find that most riders really struggle with vision when riding downhill and under breaking due to being pushed forward.

Originally Posted by CephasGT

Timing. That's what changes and makes me tense up. I noticed yesterday at Putnam Park that when I would up the pace in a certain section, my timing was off, as far as looking for my reference points, which meant that I caught them later than I wanted to, so I wasn't looking far enough ahead, and everything started happening too fast, and then I'd tense up. Later in the day, as I picked different reference points/looked for them earlier, I relaxed more.

I worked pretty hard on reference points in general at Putnam this past weekend, and it really helped me get back in the groove I was in last year. A couple of sessions, I would turn a fast lap of, say, a 1:21, and my average lap time was a 1:22, for about 10 laps. Nice and consistent. Heck, I even discovered a new kind of reference point (for me)! It's the "time to turn on the gas" marker. T8 is a 180 degree left, that goes down hill on entry and up hill on exit, so you can't see an exit point. Instead, I had to find a point in the second half of the corner where I could turn on the gas, and not run off the track. I didn't perfect it by the end of the day, but it was working...

Awesome! This is really good to hear and I'm glad you were able to make some positive changes by really analyzing your own riding and breaking it down into sizable chunks.

I hear a lot of riders saying that they are tense in certain areas of a track and that they just need to "Relax" but I always say that it is not just a matter of telling yourself to relax, it is a matter of finding out WHY you are getting tense in the first place. You experienced what a lot of riders, myself included, go through and that is feeling like you are going faster than you really are when you don't look far enough ahead...your sense of speed goes up and it causes survival reactions like getting tense.

It is also something that you need to continue to work on each and every time you are on the track. Your speed will change in one area and you will need to readjust some of your reference points or how far ahead you are looking and make that second nature before you can move to something else.

Keep working at the RP's and try drawing out the track every time you are there and adding RP's for any area that is vague for you or where you are having issues.


Misti

^ That's something I keep meaning to do, but haven't got around to it yet. I think documenting what I'm doing in a more detailed fashion would help out a lot with committing it all to memory.

I have to mention though, taking video footage of most of my on track sessions has been great for reinforcement and self-analysis this year also. I think just about everybody who's serious about their riding should invest in a GoPro (because they're cheap and effective) and study the "game" footage.

^+1, the GoPro has helped me as well.

Misti,

Are there any specials for Superbike School?

Originally Posted by CephasGT

^ That's something I keep meaning to do, but haven't got around to it yet. I think documenting what I'm doing in a more detailed fashion would help out a lot with committing it all to memory.

I have to mention though, taking video footage of most of my on track sessions has been great for reinforcement and self-analysis this year also. I think just about everybody who's serious about their riding should invest in a GoPro (because they're cheap and effective) and study the "game" footage.

Get on it! Start drawing out the track, it will help a LOT with your visual skills and with pinpointing the areas that you need more reference points or more refined RP's.

I agree that video footage is huge in helping you see what you are doing on the bike. We use it at the Superbike School during the two day camp classes. Riders ride our camera bike and then have their footage reviewed by one of the coaches. It makes a big difference when riders can actually SEE what they are doing as it makes things a bit more REAL to them. It can be tough to analyze yourself though....sometimes having another perspective is good.

R6SSV650S,

Call the Superbike School office and ask the girls there....I don't handle any of the registration stuff.

Misti