QuestionI am a relatively new rider. (18 mo.) I have put 25,000 miles on my HD road king and am still experiencing fear when cornering. If I see a highway sign that illustrates a windy road 15-30 miles per hour, I become fearful and basically slow down t, or below(!) the sign speed. I panic even more if it is a blind corner that is (view obscured by rock, trees etc). HELP! How do I overcome this "phobia"?
Thanks is advance for your reply
AnswerDo you remember how Charlie Brown's kite would always get stuck in the tree?
Corners and intersections are the motorcycle versions of Charles Schultz' "kite-eating tree."
I don't think it's irrational at all to use greater care in a sharp turn, especially if it's a blind turn. But your question is about fear, and confidence.
As in anything, fear is best conquered by knowledge and understanding. Many children fear the dark. As they grow more experienced, they come to understand that there's nothing to fear except banging your knee on an open drawer.
If you are fearful of corners, however, there is probably good reason. You may not have the knowledge needed to understand how a bike negotiates a corner. You may not have the skills and training to turn the bike on the line you want, when you want, and how you want.
Your best bet is to take an MSF Experienced Rider Course and learn the basics of motorcycle cornering. If you've never taken the basic course, I'd recommend that one instead. Even though you have lots of miles and experience under your belt, it's apparent that there's lots about riding that you haven't learned yet, and that's most manifest in your fear of corners. I'd also recommend reading David Hough's Proficient Motorcycling, Lee Parks' Total Control, and Keith Code's Twist of the Wrist. All are good books that go into elaborate detail about cornering.
For now, I want you to practice cornering and come up with a system. The sequence is "slow, roll, look, and press." You're going to repeat those words during every corner. Yes, I'm telling you to talk to yourself out there--talk yourself through it.
SLOW. As you're approaching the corner, you need to slow to a suitable entry speed. A suitable entry speed is one that allows you to roll on the throttle and accelerate all the way through the curve. As you slow, you're going to position your bike for the turn. Position it to the outside of the turn. This means for a right turn, you're going to position your bike 2-4 feet from the left side, the centerline. (Oncoming traffic may require you to move farther right.) For a left turn, position your bike 2-4 feet from the right side, the fog (white) line.
ROLL. Once you've set your entry speed, it is critical that you're back on the throttle. You don't have to whack it open, but it needs to be "open"--that is, positive throttle--all the way through the turn. Decelerating or rolling off mid-turn destabilizes the bike, reduces traction, and reduces cornering clearance. Smooth, open throttle is what you want. NOTE: You haven't started turning yet! You've only slowed down, then opened the throttle back up.
LOOK. You have to focus your head and eyes on where your bike is going to be in 2-4 seconds. Your bike will want to go where you're looking. Look as far through the turn as you can to find the exit--the point on the road where the turn is finished and you're going straight again. Since your bike will want to go where you're looking, you want to avoid staring down at the ground in front of the front tire. You don't want to go there. You also want to avoid looking at the edge of the road, the ditch, the oncoming traffic, the trees, the gravel shoulder, etc. Stare at those things long enough and guess what? Your bike will go there. Focus on where you want your bike to be in 2-4 seconds. NOTE: You still haven't turned in yet. You're still set up on the outside of the turn and you're following the curve of the road only.
PRESS. Press on the handlebar to lean the bike into the turn. This requires countersteering. To lean right, press forward on the RIGHT handlebar (or pull backward on the left handlebar, if that makes more sense.) To lean left, press forward on the LEFT handlebar, or pull back on the right.
This might sound backwards, but it's the only way to steer a motorcycle at speed. Initially, you point the front tire AWAY from the turn. This leans the bike into the turn quickly. Once the bike is leaned over, the front tire naturally points into the turn (right for a right turn, left for a left turn) but to get it leaned over quickly and efficiently, you have to use this backwards method, otherwise known as countersteering.
When you initially turn the bike in, you're "aiming" for the inside of the turn. Even though you're starting from the outside, you want to use all the road so you want to be on the opposite side of the road during the middle of the turn. (The ideal line through a turn doesn't follow the exact curve of the road. It straightens the turn somewhat.) You want to finish the turn on the outside again. Outside-inside-outside.
This is hard to describe without a diagram. Draw yourself a picture of a 90-degree turn in a road. Pick a point on the outside of the turn just before the curve, and pick a point on the outside of the turn just after the curve, and make a little dot at each of those two points. Now, draw the straightest line you can between those two points while still within the edges of the road. See how it brushes the inside of the turn? Notice also that using this line effectively "straightens" the curve, making it safer and easier to negotiate.
One important note. Don't "press" until you have spotted the exit. You don't want to turn too early. Stay on your outside line, following the curve of the road, and keep looking through the turn until you see where the curve ends and the next straight begins. THAT's when you press and initiate the turn. Don't commit to it until you know for sure where you're going!
If this all sounds scary and confusing, that's because it is. It takes years and years of practice, training, experience, and focused learning and experimenting to get good at this. But every turn is pretty much exactly the same: SlOW, ROLL, LOOK, and PRESS. Exactly the same. Use that same pattern every time, use the outside-inside-outside path of travel, and use good throttle control and you'll be a corner expert in no time at all.
Good luck.
Pat
