Countersteering confusion : (

[IrishJohn]

Originally Posted by Andyvh1959

Shaddix, to your question: "If I recall, the reason I initially asked the question was because nothing about pressing was mentioned in the demo portion prior to executing the exercise. Is that correct or are they supposed to tell you to press on the left grip to turn during the explanation of the exercise?"

IF the RC had not described the action of "pressing to initiate lean" then that was his/her mistake. In this exercise (small oval) it is key that riders understand and use the "slow-look-lean-roll" sequence because it is the first time we really use it. It is key to at least make the students aware of it. If not, students WILL wander wide as they apply throttle through the turn. That exercise also includes a reversal of direction so the students ride the oval to the right, which again reinforces the action of now pressing to the right to initiate/control lean and path of travel.

With the greatest of genuine respect - I am a very novice rider after all - this reminded me of where my confusion started. Our Instructor also was saying about 'pressing' and me being maybe a bit too literal-minded could not, and honestly still can't, 'get it'. To me pressing the bars does nothing (I know it must - its just the words used that trip me up) because in my mind it means literally that, that I am trying to push the bike into the ground. After reading all the posts here (and I still kinda wish I had never started what has at ties become a rather confrontational topic) I think I would have been better off if I had been told that you 'swerve' the bike ever so slightly in the opposite direction of where you wish to turn. A bit back I have written about my near miss and how I honestly did not think of what I was doing but somehow just did it. Maybe I got really lucky - thats what worries me now.I've been practicing turning since on our church parking lot and at low speeds can definitely 'think it through' and follow the process, but at higher speeds it still does not 'feel' like I am turning the handlebars the other way to begin the turn. The terms 'push' and 'press' just don't translate in my mind so there is a cognitive gap that I just can't seem to be able to fill in that little space of time to where I feel I am 'consciously aware' of starting the turn. It still feels - and I know now it is absolutely not the case thanks to all the explanations - that I am using bodywieight 'lean' to 'throw' the bike 'into' a turn at any rate of speed above about 15-20mph. Is it something I should be concerned about or should I be OK just relying on a kind of 'I don't really know how it works but apparently I'm working it' ? (or maybe I just don't have the right kind of mental process to ever 'get it'?) In all honesty its becoming a bit of an obsession and making me a bit more nervous when I'm riding not being able to figure out exactly what I should be understanding at this point...

[IrishJohn]

Originally Posted by IrishJohn

Well, it finally happened to me. I'm riding along on my merry way when an anus-head in a pick up pulls out of a driveway right in front of me. The umitigated SOB wasn't creeping carefully out - he was accelerating fast. I don't know how I saw him in time, went back today as part of the 'get back on the horse' thing and he literally had to have been driving with zero conception that anybody could have been approaching that driveway. There was a small gap in his tall hedge and by some miracle I saw the moving flash of color and must have instinctively realised something wicked that way was coming. ANYWAY - I am sorry to report that I did not 'consciously think' about countersteering or leans or anything you have all been good enough to explain. It was sheer luck or reaction or something but all I really remember is swerving around the hua's truck front. I stopped down the road having heard a crashing noise and for a microsecond thought he had actually clipped my bike and that I must be in some kind of shock - am happy to report the Dipstick must have had a bigger fright than me becuase it was the noise of his truck impacting in the wall opposite his driveway. Cops came, he was not DUI, did not appear to be an escapee from the School for the Blind, mumbled something about 'The guy on the motorbike was all over the road and I did not know what to do and I panicked' - which the Cops did not buy for a second and he got a ticket but I did not. I was shaking like a leaf, did not want to try and ride home right away so sat down (before I fell down -knees felt wobbly as hell) for about an hour until I was sure I was OK to ride (very slowly and carefully : ) back to my house. I think, when these things happen, you really don't have time to think about anything including - and no disrespect intended - 'countersteering'. I feel very lucky to not have been in a nasty crash and I think that the main value of teaching things like the 'emergency swerve' is that it reinforces a vital point 9imho) that EXCRETA DOES HAPPEN WHEN YOU ARE ON A MOTORBIKE. I ride a hell of a lot more carefully than I drive - and that is because of all the 'horror stories' balanced with the emphasis on the stupidity of thinking 'right of way equals invulnerability' and such like. To me its like swimming - we have a saying back home 'Only the Good Swimmers Drown' - in other words, enjoy the water without being stupid, and for me its always been a case of 'Better to arrive five minutes late that to be dead on time' : ) Sure paid off in this case just ambling along : )

(reposted this so you would not have to hunt for it)

[IrishJohn]

Originally Posted by KX50002

I think that's the point of all this, you did it without thinking. By learning and thinking about it you were mentally prepared and it saved you.

Glad you're ok.

Thank you KX50002 : )

[shaddix]

Dood. Just take your thumb and push one bar forward and note the wheel turns one way and the bike leans the other. End of discussion