Riding with your sixth sense, Part 3

January 9, 7:59 PMDC Motorcycle Travel ExaminerMark Poesch

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the DC Motorcycle Travel Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

Continuing the discussion of our "11th sense", in Part 2, I concluded with a new rider parked in the culvert under our driveway as an example of lack of experience mixed with panic leading to catastrophic results.  Here's the story:

It was many years ago.  We lived on a 25 MPH road with (headed east) a long sweeping left-hand turn, with our driveway and the aforementioned culvert on the right side of the road opposite the apex (corner) of the turn.  Cars routinely blew down the street at 50 MPH+ -- many, just to experience the speed on the turn.  Bikes of the era could probably have managed 70 MPH+ under experienced rider control.

But, the rider in question wasn't experienced.  In fact, he had borrowed a friend's new bike, just to see what it was like to ride.  Our turn was the first turn he hit at speed, and he turned increasingly hard to the left to make it through the left-hand turn -- at around 30 MPH.  Panicking, he used up what little margin he had continuing to try to turn left, then ran off the road into fine gravel, then into the gully, slid (tearing up a bunch of grass) and the bike slammed to a stop when it hit the 1/8th inch edge of the iron pipe!  He tore up his leg on the gravel, and was in shock.  But, he lucked out that he didn't get between the bike and the pipe.

What happened?  Lack of experience.  Unexpected sensation (bike not turning as expected).  Panic!

So, back to our 11th sense.  Those that dispute that it even exists will have a hard time developing it, or the riding skills to take advantage of it.  Even those of us that accept that "it makes sense" typically don't experience the regular lack of traction necessary to train, experience the sense, and build the skills to take advantage of it in emergencies.  Most of us....

Dirt track and trail riders know exactly what it's like to lack traction -- pretty much all the time, relative to street riding.  Although I wouldn't recommend it for bikers, drivers who've had a car on a wide open parking lot covered with gravel or snow know the feeling, and may also have "practiced" a bit.  Although it has been years since I've been on a dirt bike, I absolutely think it is a fantastic place for new riders to get started, and for experienced riders to develop their control skills.

Taking a car or a bike out on the racetrack can also provide invaluable experience in a somewhat more controlled environment.  I have yet to get my bike out on the track.  But, I've had two different cars on the Summit Point Raceway on three different occasions, and more recently, was able to take advantage of the Audi Driving Experience to sample the new A4, along with the equivalent BMW, Lexus and Mercedes models all pushed to the limit.  A decade or two before drifting became popular, I was able to experience a controlled spin on Turn 1 in my 1986 RX-7 -- it was the first time I was able to find the delicate balance between turning hard and "getting the rear out," and spinning uncontrollably.  After learning that balance, on a later run, I pushed too hard and put the nose of my car into the mud at the apex of Turn 1.  Oops....

A more extreme form of experience on the dirt paying off on the racetrack is seen in MotoGP racing.  A number of the top riders, including Nicky Hayden and Casey Stoner, benefit from their dirt-track riding experience, and are able to "get the tail out" on their MotoGP bikes.  Anyone unfamiliar with MotoGP racing should check out this clip from Faster -- it's an absolutely fantastic introduction to the sport:

As anyone who follows MotoGP can tell you, Valentino Rossi is a MotoGP racing god.  To watch him ride is to see perfection of this 11th sense, honed to a level bordering on the miraculous.   Not that Rossi never crashes; he has had his fair share.  But, from time to time, you'll see his tail wobble, or a slide that absolutely ought to end in a high-side, and somehow, he manages to stay on the bike and ride it through!!  Rossi seems to ride at 100 to 200 MPH as easily as most of the rest of us walk.  I'd argue that when things are going really wrong, it's his kinesthetic sense that kicks in to get his body and the bike back on track.  But it's his fantastically developed 11th sense that allows him to ride right at the edge, lap after lap -- it's a near perfect understanding of exactly how far he can push his bike, and at what point, pushing any further -- he can "feel" before it happens -- the bike will let go.

While few of us are crazy (or skilled) enough to aspire to riding at 200 MPH+ MotoGP speeds, the level of control required to ride successfully and consistently at those speeds is worth examining.  Where does that control come from?  What are the skills that enable that control?  What are senses that enable that control?

Sight and sound are certainly important, but they don't tell you much about what's going on with the rear tire until it's far too late.  Touch offers only rough feedback - especially through gloves, and the seat of your pants.  Pain, taste and smell are likely to be more useful in realizing how badly things went wrong after the crash, than in reacting to avoid a crash.  Balance and acceleration are obviously essential, and tell a lot about what's happening to the bike and your body -- but still lack critical information about the traction at the tires.  I'm not sure if I want to think about how "internal stretching" is useful to riders....  Temperature (hot or cold) may tell you something about the riding conditions: "Too cold, I shouldn't be riding on icy roads!"  Kinesthetic sense is where most athletic skills are finely honed -- Rossi, Tiger Woods, and professional athletes of all sorts have fantastically developed kinesthetic sense.  This is probably the most important sense for riders to develop, second only, perhaps, to sight and sight-related riding skills.

But it's this 11th sense, the sense of your acceleration, pressures on your body, and kinesthetic sense processed against feedback to/from the bike, and your expectations for what the bike should be doing and feel like, and what it actually is doing, that I think is the most difficult sense to develop.  In large part, because most of us aren't really aware that it's a real sense that can be developed.  Until now....

If you agree that you have an 11th sense that's worth paying attention to while you're riding, and realize that your skills can be improved as a result of your awareness of that sense, then I've accomplished my goal.

Ride safe!