Lacking in Confidence

[Grahamm]

All this week I am having to force myself to get on the bike and hit the twisties, ridding like a complete nob. I am scared shitless going into corners but having to force myself to do it.

Are you familiar with the Limit Point method of judging your speed into bends? (Apologies if you are, but if not, or for anyone else, here's a short description of how it works...)

If you were riding down a perfectly straight, flat piece of road, the two sides will appear to meet at the horizon, but when you're approaching a bend (left or right, it doesn't matter), the distance you can see will reduce. This is the Limit Point, ie the furthest point that you can see the road clearly.

Look at that Limit Point (LP) and see whether it seems to be approaching you, staying in the same place or moving away.

If the LP is approaching you, it means you're going too fast, so you need to reduce speed (and then possibly change down the gears for better power response in the bend) until the LP is staying in the same place.

Once the LP is staying in the same place, you know you're doing the correct speed for the bend, so you keep doing that speed by rolling in a little bit of extra throttle to compensate for the reduced rolling radius of the tyre (which will tend to slow you down) until the LP starts to move away from you as the bend opens and you can accelerate away.

You can also influence the LP and the distance you can see clearly by positioning the bike to the left hand side of the carriageway for a right hander and to the right hand side for a left hander but watch out for dodgy surfaces on the near side and on-coming traffic on the off side.

Remember that you you should always ensure you are able to stop in the distance you can see is clear on your side of the road, so go "Slow In, Fast Out" and  you can always take a bend a bit more slowly