Rear wheel skids and highsiders
#21
08-09-2009, 08:40 PM
Ultimate HDF Member
I've seen enough riders lock up the rear tire and go sideways all over the road to know it's not something I want to experience.
I prefer to stay out of those oh chit situations. My over 35 years of driving has given me exceptional defensive riding skills (if I say so myself) and I trust those more than I do my braking or bike handling skills.
MSF says lock the rear brakes and keep them locked. Keith Code says master the front brake and limit the use of the rear during "panic" stops. Don't know which school is right but the Code method has worked well for me so far.
I prefer to stay out of those oh chit situations. My over 35 years of driving has given me exceptional defensive riding skills (if I say so myself) and I trust those more than I do my braking or bike handling skills.
MSF says lock the rear brakes and keep them locked. Keith Code says master the front brake and limit the use of the rear during "panic" stops. Don't know which school is right but the Code method has worked well for me so far.
#22
08-10-2009, 12:05 AM
Tourer
Good Answer
Yeah.. sorry.. I used a term from my competitive archery library. I should have used the term "target fixation".
Target panic is a term we use when an archer "locks up" visually when trying to hit the bulls eye. Essentially he becomes so fixated on hitting the bulls eye, he cannot effectively see it. For some, the pressure results in a mild panic situation.
The mind takes over the body and due to fear, performance anxiety, nerves, or other mental issues, the archer becomes incapable -- mentally anyway -- of hitting the target. This results of course, in a physical failure of the same.
With training (mental work) and practice (physical work), the archer becomes confident and regains the power to defeat the target and then can hit it at will. Some work at this process for years, some overcome it very fast with the right coach.
The process is eerily similar to riding through a hard curve or handling the bike in a panic situation. The rider becomes so fixated on missing the target, or they are not mentally confident in the bike and their ability to handle it, that they fail or lock up mentally.
"Missing the bulls eye" as it were, on a bike can have fatal consequences.
This is where situational awareness and a good history of playing mental "what if" games can come in handy. The physical body responds to the mental programming and if you have already fought the demons in your mind, you have a better chance of beating them when you finally do meet.
Training and practice always results in a better chance of a positive outcome, but again, recovering from a side slide on a bike, I think, is a near impossibility from even the most highly trained riders.....
The most one could probably hope for in an aggressive slide situation is that your training would help you mentally prepare for the end of flight/slide/etc.
As posted above, at that point you are in survival, not recovery, mode and a cool head might do more to save you than anything else.
I did not set out to get so deep in this answer...but there it is anyway. Enjoy.
.
Target panic is a term we use when an archer "locks up" visually when trying to hit the bulls eye. Essentially he becomes so fixated on hitting the bulls eye, he cannot effectively see it. For some, the pressure results in a mild panic situation.
The mind takes over the body and due to fear, performance anxiety, nerves, or other mental issues, the archer becomes incapable -- mentally anyway -- of hitting the target. This results of course, in a physical failure of the same.
With training (mental work) and practice (physical work), the archer becomes confident and regains the power to defeat the target and then can hit it at will. Some work at this process for years, some overcome it very fast with the right coach.
The process is eerily similar to riding through a hard curve or handling the bike in a panic situation. The rider becomes so fixated on missing the target, or they are not mentally confident in the bike and their ability to handle it, that they fail or lock up mentally.
"Missing the bulls eye" as it were, on a bike can have fatal consequences.
This is where situational awareness and a good history of playing mental "what if" games can come in handy. The physical body responds to the mental programming and if you have already fought the demons in your mind, you have a better chance of beating them when you finally do meet.
Training and practice always results in a better chance of a positive outcome, but again, recovering from a side slide on a bike, I think, is a near impossibility from even the most highly trained riders.....
The most one could probably hope for in an aggressive slide situation is that your training would help you mentally prepare for the end of flight/slide/etc.
As posted above, at that point you are in survival, not recovery, mode and a cool head might do more to save you than anything else.
I did not set out to get so deep in this answer...but there it is anyway. Enjoy.
.
After a few years of not riding and recently getting my new RKC. I experienced this very phenomena and was lucky to pull a few of them out. I found myself "icing up" (as we used to say in a land far, far away) and gutting around a few corners that I felt should have been instinct.
Granted, I learned real fast to not let ego get in the way of safety and my memories of other close calls in the past crept back into my memory and has all came together to in effect slow me down a bit and make me a more defensive driver.
I believe that overconfidence leads to not driving defensively, which is really our first line of survival.
I reference the post in this thread where the rider is driving 60 on a hilly, tree lined low vis road, where two bikers had been killed that very morning, yet he was still not driving what I feel as defensively as the conditions called for. I do admire his skill to get out of the situation, but may not have been needed if he were driving 45.
Thanks.
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