What one area of riding is your achilles heel?
 

What one riding skill seems to be that achilles heel for you? It's that area where you have to most room for growth or that area that you find mentally intimidating.

In general for me, I've noticed that I'm much more aggressive with left handed corners than right handers. It could partially due to the roads I typically ride, BUT I know a part is attributed to me not feeling as comfortable/confident I guess as I do on a left hander. This is something that I want to work on this riding season.

My disclaimer: each ride out I'm looking to improve upon all aspects of riding. But when I come home and reflect upon the days ride, I usually can recall some right hander that I "bitched up on"

Right handers here, also. Also going into corners a little hot and not looking through the corner, fixating on what's in front of me.

Late braking. Riding a V-twin I use WAY too much engine brake, not near enough front brake. That is track riding anyway.

Im with Cutty, on a v-twin, its braking. My rc51 would lock up the rear when you geared down, got used to sliding it into turns with compression. The harley is the same (thank fuck, because the brakes suck), theres a ton of engine breaking, so if its not an emergency, you can stop in lots of time.

DEER!!! I can't get over the feeling that one of those furry motherfuckers are around EVERY curve or hiding behind every bush!!!

http://i289.photobucket.com/albums/l...r/DSCF1087.jpg

tight u turns like the figure 8's in msf. still can't do them without putting a foot down.

Damn good waste of meat right there! :lol:

Being new to riding, I have plenty I need to work on. But, if it's one thing in particular I hate right now it would be blind curves and the like. Hills that hide cars and other obstacles etc.

I have the same problem at the track, not trusting my brakes to slow me down enough for the corner. Then trusting that I can get through the corner at a faster speed, which after going through it kicking myself for not.

For me it's the tighter right turns, probably because it puts my throttle/wrist at a funky angle and then I can't keep it at a constant speed.

I'm decent on the brakes, and the slipper clutch helps(and is awesome!!) i could be a little quicker in the LEFT handers

exiting corners on the zx i get a decent amount of slippage. my other ach heel for all bikes is passing cars i have real bad luck so i try not to do it.
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VOLCANO VAPORIZER

Dump trucks. :idk:

I'd probably say tighter turns. I'm okay and have improved a lot over the past couple of years but I still have trust issues with my bike and physics. I know in my head it will be okay, but I don't trust the physics. :rofl:

Turns. I can go fast in a straight line since all you have to do is twist and hold on, its those turns that are tricky.

Having had my own close encounter with bambi, I've equipped both bikes with one of these Deer Whistle

The deer usually notice the whistle, and do a pretty good job going the other way. But nothing will save you at 100 mph, ymmv, blah, blah, blah.

Overall confidence in my skills and my bike. I don't get to practice my technique enough to really feel like I can progress beyond the plateau I've been at the last year or so (basically since the last time I made it to the track). :idk:

Avoiding the front end of other cars :lol:

Everything. I've been super sloppy and completely unsmooth on my first 100 miles of the year.

Running the track as it was designed. I tend to explore all areas of the property.

extreme weather conditions effecting the surface of the road. IE: wet or extremely hot and slick paverment.

Turns through the bottom of a hill that is heading back up. I hate the way the suspension feels in those.

You may be able to fix that with some new springs/valves...

I really need to upgrade/tune in my suspension. Its about the only thing still stock on my 9 year old bike.

That is the stupid thing, I have a slipper clutch and good brakes but don't use either. I just start slowing down WAY before necessary. Makes me feel like I'm wasting the "perks" my bike has.

You need to come down here and go ride with Erik and I to the river. Some nice roads in southern OH, believe it or not.

Slipper FTMFW...I use that shit all the time.

I abuse mine... and it's not the most slippery slipper in 1st. :lol:

I HATED the slipper clutch at first! It took me FOREVER to get used to engine braking when I started riding four strokes and THEN they take it away!:lol::lol:

i was thinking about this thread when riding the other day and something really stood out. when im in a corner i tend to watch the guy in front of me instead of looking through the corner like i should.

I suck at wheelies :(

Thats what I keep hearing. I may have to take you up on that since Im sure both of you can teach me a lot about riding faster.

Ok ebbs.

I do that, but I'm also following his lines. I learn from doing that when I'm behind a good rider. :)

Launching at the track...

There is one turn on Missouri HWY 125 that the apex is also at the peak of a hill...just really unsettling.

I have a tendency to do that sometimes, but I've learned that it's a really good way to get sucked into a corner going way faster than what you're comfortable doing (which could potentially mean setting yourself up for a wreck in that you may panic mid-corner, or whatever). Especially people like Chris Fox here in Austin... all you see before he dives in is *tap tap* on the brake, and then swoosh, he's gone. I scraped pegs on Lime Creek Rd. following him (this is when I still had my F2)... :panic: Scared the everloving crap out of me. :lol:

The other thing I need to work on is, in really tight turns at say speeds of 20-30mph, I tend to want to "dirtbike" it around the corner. Especially on the right handed ones, I'm pushing the bars down and my body is more on top of the bike, definately a habit I can attribute to growing up on dirtbikes.

The most difficult for me is passing a car on a twisty two-lane. Takes me a lot of thinking, planning, and calculating. When I pass on a straight between corners, I'm way too fast and in the wrong lane as I'm coming up to next corner. I have to lean one way to get back in the lane, straighten up and brake, then quickly lean the other way to make the corner. Going downhill is even worse. I'm all relieved when I do it correctly, but a minute later, I catch up to another car and have to plan it again.

So far, knock on wood, I haven't done that...yet. I stay far enough back to where I can see what's in front of them. This helps me understand why the position themselves like they do, as well as keeps me from being sucked in. Plus I'm slow in corners. :(

:lol:

I never push it. I ride at about 70% all the time. Stepping it up means about 80% for me.

There's no fear. I know I can lean this thing way the frak over, I just don't do it.

It's funny now I've gone from being a stronger lefty to a more aggressive right hand turn guy.

Mine changes from time to time as well. Sometimes I've got confidence on one side, then another day its the other side...:shrug:

I aced the tight figure 8 turns during MSF but now they bug the hell out of me. I avoid the tight slow turns when I can. REALLY need to practice dragging the rear brake and keeping the revs up.

I read the last part of this as "turned gay". :lol