Practice Riding Skills

[illzoni]

The thread on braking and downshifting got me to thinking (dangerous, I know).

So how often do you practice your riding skills?

[EagleSix]

...well when my thumb isn't broken, about every other week....hard braking almost every day.

.

[forgitaboutut]

yeah,that thread has me thinking MSF!

[HankSTer]

I would have gone with "very regularly - always" if it was option...

There are 3 things the MSF course tries to teach:
(1) emergency braking (2) emergency swerving (3) cornering

(and btw yeah that's the test)

okay quiz... how many know what emergency swerving is and how to execute it??? huh huh?

No really, you may (hopefully) may never need it, but if you only needed it once, and you didn't know how to do it... not so good.

Best wishes to all... and practice is a good thing,

[Pat Thompson]

I'm pretty much practicing all the time. I'm always thinking to stay smooth, relaxed and to ride within my limits. When braking for corners and for stops I always try to use both front/rear and not upset the suspension, feeling for when maximum braking and balance is achieved between the two.

While cornering I'm always thinking about entry speed, the line, and looking through the curve. Sometimes I'm more in "the zone" than others. I just read Lee Parks "Total Control" and that gave me some other cornering things to think about like shifting body weight to the inside of the turn, the delayed apex, and the sharper turn in.

To me, from a safety standpoint, staying focused, relaxed and in proper form is the key thing to practice. I don't think about going faster it just seems to gradually happen as my skills become more ingrained and habitual. Also I've not been disappointed in my reactions in near emergency, panic situations.

Knocking on wood - - fingers crossed.

[spd2918]

If you have the time to do it, become an MSF instructor.

It forces you to demo and explain the basic riding skills that we all need to practice. I don't know about you, but when I have to teach something I learn it inside and out. It's also a paid :cool: way to share your two-wheeled love. My state (MN) only requires you teach 4 classes a year.

[Mandel]

Like Pat, I've just discovered two great books, Lee Park's Total Control and Keith Code's A Twist of the Wrist. Both books have greatly improved my riding skills in just a few practice sessions, and the lessons are something you can work on every time you enter a corner.

Although the books are very helpful for riding in control, they don't really address accident-avoidance scenarios.

Mandel

[motomac]

Like you Jon, I am an instructor, so I have to make sure my skills are up in order to do proper demos.

[Gug]

I try to practice quick swerves in the case of an evasive maneuver. I vary my speed on the appropriate road and use manhole covers as the target to maneuver around. I hold my speed stable and wait til the last possible moment to push right or left to avoid it.

The interesting thing for me is that I am better at maneuvering to the right than the left. So I am trying to make a conscious effort to work more on the left. I have never had an MSF class, but I have read More Proficient Motorcycling and the MSF book numerous times in the 3 years I have owned them. So it's a work in progress for me.

[Bones]

There's a great stretch of road not far from home with miles of smooth sweepers. Part of this section has a series of small squares painted on the road, which best I can tell are there to locate catch basins (the road is in a watershed). Because the squares are not uniformly spaced they make for an interesting set of points to avoid in left/right/left/right succession. It lets me practice abrupt and irratic changes in direction in a low risk setting (I limit this to Sunday mornings when there's basically no traffic). There are a few straightaways with good sight lines where I practice hard braking. I should practice both more often.

[Carl_T]

It doesn't hurt to find a parking lot you can use for practicing a bit of the 5 main collision avoidance decisions you have to make. My wife and I take our bikes and do it with tennis balls cut in half (easily carried, put down and carried away. We set out a line of half tennis balls, the size of a sideways car to avoid.

1) Emergency stop alone (we avoid setting out an obstacle for this one, so no one over brakes trying to hit a stopping goal, we just pick an approach speed, begin braking at a marker, practice the best stops we can make, and note the distances for improvement or not after the fact).

We then set out a car size obstacle with tennis balls for the exercises that follow.
2) Swerve alone.
3) Brake, release brakes, and then swerve.
4) Swerve, get bike straight, then brake.
5) Swerve, get bike approaching correct exit line, and accelerate out of zone.

It gives you muscle memory for separating the braking/swerving functions so you don't do both at once when you panic and just go down.

Additionally #5 may not be very often appropriate, but it is a concievably needed strategy and best at your fingertips if you are the rider finding the need for it.

[Burger]

The thread on braking and downshifting got me to thinking (dangerous, I know).

So how often do you practice your riding skills?

Things must be different in the UK or you're just using different terminology. I practice my riding skills every single time I'm on the bike... but I think you meant how often do you practice your incident reaction skills right? Or in other words your skills of control once you're already in an incident.

Rider training in this country is all about not getting into a situation where you'd need those skills in the first place. Which brings me nicely back to riding skills.

Regards,

[HankSTer]

Very imressive Carl, I really like that.

One thing we all need to keep in mind... learned skills deteriorate over time if not practiced and thus kept fresh. It is work, but not so much that it's tedious or anything. And sounds like in Carl (and wifes) case made into fun, very kewl.

Regards,

It doesn't hurt to find a parking lot you can use for practicing a bit of the 5 main collision avoidance decisions you have to make. My wife and I take our bikes and do it with tennis balls cut in half (easily carried, put down and carried away. We set out a line of half tennis balls, the size of a sideways car to avoid.

1) Emergency stop alone (we avoid setting out an obstacle for this one, so no one over brakes trying to hit a stopping goal, we just pick an approach speed, begin braking at a marker, practice the best stops we can make, and note the distances for improvement or not after the fact).

We then set out a car size obstacle with tennis balls for the exercises that follow.
2) Swerve alone.
3) Brake, release brakes, and then swerve.
4) Swerve, get bike straight, then brake.
5) Swerve, get bike approaching correct exit line, and accelerate out of zone.

It gives you muscle memory for separating the braking/swerving functions so you don't do both at once when you panic and just go down.

Additionally #5 may not be very often appropriate, but it is a concievably needed strategy and best at your fingertips if you are the rider finding the need for it.

[Byron]

I was almost at a loss for how to answer this question until I remembered I also ride daily through some of the Greater Los Angeles traffic systems that have me braking, swerving and avoiding hazards of all shapes and sizes and from all directions almost daily. :D

Although I've never attended a riding clinic of any type I know I should but never seem to make the time. I do some reading and I am always willing to listen and then apply gathered tidbits whenever I am riding.

I know it is not the same as participation is sanctioned training but it is the real world. Because I'm also trying to enjoy my rides as much as possible I will work on different skills a little here and a little there. Real world reminders like when I played tag with a Tundra a while back snap me back into realizing how vulnerable we are on a bike.

[Tiny]

I make it a point to do parking lot skills once a month. I do full-lock starts, brake to lockup, 40mph peg drags (alternating), and full-throttle starts/wheelies. I also tip the bike to just past it's COG so I know exactly where it shifts weight and the point of no return is.
I have the luxury of a huge Flea-Market parking lot a mile from my house that is empty during the week.

[DataHawk]

I do it about 3 weekends a month, as a rider/coach, but the challange is at when the students are at lunch and I practice with the ST. Getting off a 300 pound 250cc onto the ST lets you know just how much a challange the extra 400 pounds is to handle. Now if I could just get over my mental handicap on the right hand turn in the box I could shave that extra 18" off to stay in.