I was re-reading Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance after like 30 years and came across this:
“The cycle swings into each curve effortlessly, banking so that our weight is always down through the machine no matter what its angle is to the ground.” -chapter 32, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
Which reminded me of this passage I wrote in Motorcycle Track Day Handbook. Didn't remember Pirsig's observation when I wrote it:
“Cornering, to me, is what motorcycling is all about. Any monkey can twist the throttle and hold on. The art is in the curves.
Cars crash through a corner; their chassis flex, their drivers are thrown to the side, stuff designed to support weight vertically gets strained laterally. Cornering on four wheels is a fight with physics.
In contrast, cornering with a motorcycle is pure poetry. Everything leans to the task and works together. The lateral and vertical forces produce a sum that stays perpendicular to the seat.
Cornering on two wheels is a beautifully balanced dance with gravity.”
When I was twenty-something I had time out on the West coast with motorcycle friends; one of which was an avid surfer. I spent a few days having him teach me to surf.
I did hours of paddling and seconds of surfing. Seeing my frustration, he encouraged me by describing the “Magic Ride.” That time when you suddenly get up and glide and play with waves and have command and just “get” it. Being hit with the magic ride is what turns one from someone who wants to surf into one who has to surf.
I never did find my magic ride on the waves but I have one every time I take out a motorcycle.
Later,
Kent Larson from Minnesota
“The cycle swings into each curve effortlessly, banking so that our weight is always down through the machine no matter what its angle is to the ground.” -chapter 32, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance by Robert M. Pirsig
Which reminded me of this passage I wrote in Motorcycle Track Day Handbook. Didn't remember Pirsig's observation when I wrote it:
“Cornering, to me, is what motorcycling is all about. Any monkey can twist the throttle and hold on. The art is in the curves.
Cars crash through a corner; their chassis flex, their drivers are thrown to the side, stuff designed to support weight vertically gets strained laterally. Cornering on four wheels is a fight with physics.
In contrast, cornering with a motorcycle is pure poetry. Everything leans to the task and works together. The lateral and vertical forces produce a sum that stays perpendicular to the seat.
Cornering on two wheels is a beautifully balanced dance with gravity.”
When I was twenty-something I had time out on the West coast with motorcycle friends; one of which was an avid surfer. I spent a few days having him teach me to surf.
I did hours of paddling and seconds of surfing. Seeing my frustration, he encouraged me by describing the “Magic Ride.” That time when you suddenly get up and glide and play with waves and have command and just “get” it. Being hit with the magic ride is what turns one from someone who wants to surf into one who has to surf.
I never did find my magic ride on the waves but I have one every time I take out a motorcycle.
Later,
Kent Larson from Minnesota
