What the Papers Say

Or the bike magazines.

The latest issue of Superbike magazine has a supplement 'Riding Skills'. Interestingly, bearing in mind the magazine it's bundled with, it's quite a good read, as these sort of things go.

Since I first became involved in teaching 'advanced' riding, there has been an incredible change in the amount of riding articles cropping up in the magazines, Bike's various series in particular.

And, of course, the magazines themselves have even started to run their own training courses.

However, within the content of Superbike's Riding Skills, one particular item caught my attention:

"The Unexpected 3 A Car Pulls Out In Front Of You"

Which includes the advice:
"If you are going to hit the car, then to stack the odds in your favour, think about jumping up and forwards - although your reactions have to be amazing for this to work"

Great that they've publicised this 'trick' or technique. If you want to read more, see moe about The Jump here for a first hand (or head first) article about the technique and its use.

Not so great that they haven't included the 'preparedness and preparation' required.

Preparation, in that it's not something that you'll just 'do' in a situation whwere there are no other options. You need to have mentally rehearsed it beforehand.

Preparedness, bringing the idea to mind if you're approaching a junction with a potentially encroaching car, so you don't have to delve around in your mind asking "What was it I should do?"

However, they do emphasise 'mental' aspects of riding in various sections of the supplement.

Similarly, last week's Motorcycle News had a large article about bikers' brains, and included a mention of visualisation.

MCN also included comments from a sports psychologist - the suitably named Tony Head!

Want to know more about visualisation?

Read this:
http://www.dropzone.com/safety/articles/Visualizing.shtml


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