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27/06/2005: "You Are Where You Look"

Since racers are more often than not traveling at warp speed, they must anticipate what their racebike is going to do long before it happens-which means looking far ahead of their present location.

We know we're constantly harping on this subject, but we've seen one too many accidents lately that were caused by a rider getting into a corner a little too hot, locking up the brakes and/or straightening the bike, then running off the road. We can't emphasize enough how important it is to not only look where you want to go, but also to scan far enough ahead of yourself; this is basically a recital of the racing mantra, "Don't ride the front wheel."

Riding a sportbike well means being in control, and although it may not appear that way, it's vitally important for a racer to constantly be on top of his motorcycle's handling. Since racers are more often than not traveling at warp speed, they must anticipate what their racebike is going to do long before it happens-which means looking far ahead of their present location. This is why racers seem to be checking out spectators on the side of the track when entering hairpins. Instead, they're looking at where they'd like to be in a 10th of a second.

Try practicing your vision skills at a fairly tight corner, either on your favorite canyon road or racetrack. As you approach the apex (or a fixed, readily visible point on the pavement), note how close you are to that mark before you begin to scan ahead for your next reference point. If you are staring at that point until you are nearly on top of it, you're target fixating-if the corner ahead tightened up or if you found an obstacle in your path, it would be difficult to correct. In fact, if you're looking at that point even 25 to 35 feet before you get there, you're still not looking far enough ahead.