Intro and question about Turns/Cornering

[PscyclePath]

Reading through things.. I think I'm just afraid of falling, which is silly. Leaning just feels very weird to me. I just need to get comfortable.

Leading into the Quick Turn, we put you you through a couple of preliminary drills... the "rock dodge," which is essentially twitching the bars so as to make a quick "dodge" around an object without leaning or turning the bike, then an "avoidance weave," sort of a little slalom course to help you get used to sterring the bike by leaning and shifting your weight, as well as getting used to the bike while it's leaned a little bit. Then we go into the quick turn.

It takes a little practice, but it's a trick that's saved me from a crash a more more times than I really want to remember ;-)

[Andrea]

Once you learn how to lean into a corner, your turns will get better. If you put your outside pedal down, it will help you balance. If you've ridden horses, the difference between going through a turn "upright" vs. going through a turn "leaning" is like the difference between a "bending" turn like you'd do in dressage or jumping vs. a "haul *ss" turn like you'd see in barrel racing

[MomOnBike]

RE: Leaning at speed.

I like the barrel racing analogy.

I will add that the advice I got (often and with much emphasis) is that your bike/horse/skateboard/etc. WILL go where your nose is pointing.

One other thing. Turning, like everything else, yields to practice. Go to an empty parking lot and ride tight circles around the light poles, and whatever else you find there. Find out where your tolerances are, then push them. Then speed up. (/violin teacher)

[witeowl]

About your fear of falling...

I first learned to lean into fast turns when I was a child on the back of a motorcycle. My natural instinct, of course, was to sit bolt upright. The person giving me a ride stopped immediately and explaned it this way to me: If you're sitting upright, your weight is actually forcing the bike closer to the ground, which actually makes it more likely the bike will "drop". As he showed me with his hands, there are two options (you've really got to use your imagination here):

With leaning:
./ ...<-person
/ .... <-bike

Without leaning:
. I .. <-person
-- ... <-bike

That got my attention enough to get me to always lean with the bike into a fast turn, whether the bike has a motor or not!

[Kalidurga]

That's a great explanation. Diagrams are always helpful

But, as you lean, also remember to put your weight on the outside foot. That makes a huge difference. Once I learned to do that (who'm I kidding? I'm still in the process of learning it), I felt much more comfortable leaning my body.

[OakLeaf]

Countersteering is easier to visualize on a vehicle with wider tires. It's most pronounced on a loose surface, like flat-tracking.



(Click on the image for a full-sized view.)

[lo123]

Thanks everyone. The barrel racing analogy makes sense to me.. I used to ride horses, so that's probably a good place to start with relearning leans. I just had a steroid shot in my hip, so I haven't had a chance to get back onto the bike, but I'm thinking early tomorrow morning I'll give it a go.