I almost gave up on motorcycling, a culmination of struggles led to a single moment that had me ready to hang up my helmet and taking up knitting instead. What happened? What did I learn from this experience? It’s story time on this episode of moto-philosophy.
I remember the corner like it was yesterday. It was a gentle, downhill, slightly off-camber, or fallaway corner to the right. I set up on the yellow line, slowed way down and tipped in. But the corner was steeper downhill than I thought and more off-camber than I thought. So I did what I was taught. I added counter-steer and stayed on the gas. The bike started running wider and wider, I added more and more lean, but it didn’t help and soon I was coming face to face with a silver Honda Accord.
- Sport Riding Techniques – Ienatsch
- Motorcycle Dynamics – Cossalter
- Yamaha Champions Riding School
- RickDiculous Racing
- Riding the Zone
Dave, I had an almost identical experience riding some twisty roads in the Ozarks on a drizzly day. A right hand, off camber, decreasing radius curve where I encountered an approaching mini-van. I stood the bike up, crossed in front of the mini-van and thankfully ended up on a smooth, grassy shoulder where I could maintain my momentum and get back on the road without stopping.
Like you I have re-lived this moment many times and have tried to analyze what I did wrong, but your video was incredibly helpful for me to understand my mistakes and what I need to work on in my cornering.
Thank you for what you do, I think these are the best videos to be found for riders like me.