jsan08What about my posts makes for scary stories and why does it seem that I am bent on learning to run before I can walk? To me that would be like if I had just learned the bare minimums in a parking lot and then decided to go on a freeway… I have just simply been documenting my practice sessions in this thread and trying to critique myself…nothing super scary has really happened(knock on wood) and I have practiced a bunch. First in a small parking lot doing laps in first gear, then on a big black top practicing with my clutch, slow speed maneuvering, turning/cornering and shifting for about a week, then around a couple of large parking lots with stop signs and small intersections for about 2 days. After I felt confident enough I took it out on the road just to get gas and ride back (5 min ride to the gas station with a few stop signs/lights). That built my confidence enough so the next day I rode it around base even more which gave me a lot of practice at stop signs/lights, intersections, shifting and keeping my situational awareness up. I also did a bunch of practice starting on some steep hills. After doing a lot of that for about 3 days I felt confident enough for a short freeway ride. My buddy led the ride and everything went pretty smoothly except the last part which was a minor scare for me. That’s how experience is gained though. I feel I have been taking this pretty slow, but if you feel otherwise I would sincerely be interested in why you feel that way.
And as for leaning. I was incorrect in saying that I “should have done that” of course I leaned around that turn, if I hadn’t I would have run off the road. What I was really thinking when I wrote that was maybe I should have leaned more to make up for coming in too fast but instead I pulled the clutch and used the brakes (which I now realize is a big no-no). Now that I have that experience I am confident that I will do the correct thing next time.
Anyway…I must have some sense of counter steering because it’s not like I haven’t turned my bike while at speed. Thinking about it confuses me, but today when I was riding I was thinking about it then at a turn did it and it just felt automatic.
Before I left to go ride (it was a city ride, on my way back to work) I watched this video about 3 times.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVa2Ax-Dins
It confused me at first but when I did it on the road it made sense. It’s a hard concept to actually understand and grasp because it’s counter intuitive. However, I am reading that it is automatic for mostly everybody who has been on anything with just 2 wheels. I’ll accept it for what it is, even though it may not make any sense at first thought.
Here’s another good video I found.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8IdTq3_3WI
And a wiki article explaining the physics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Countersteering
To turn right you would need to push the right bar to the left (or pull the left bar right). Then all of these forces happen and cause you and the bike to lean to the right, so you then achieve your right turn…in a simple explanation.
That first you tube video makes a good point about how counter-steering initiates a turn and leaning sustains it.
But perhaps you guys are right about staying off the highway until I am fully licensed. It’s probably best…I’ll make a promise to myself to stick to base and riding to and from work in the noon time. It is a short 10 min city ride with stop signs/lights and makes for good practice. Plus traffic is low around those times. I take a shuttle in the morning because traffic is bad in the mornings.
