Instinct or concentration

[saddlesore]

 
  We're all seasoned riders here and I'm wondering when you ride and make ie. u-turns or go into tight, fast turns do you do so by instinct or are you concentrating on all the fine points of accomplishing the turn.
  So  often I make a u-turn without thinking and all goes smooth but if I'm be watched or if I think about it things get sloppy.
  How do you approach these situations and riding in general?     
   

[..]

Thinking, thinking, thinking.

But if the SHTF it's nice that brain and muscle memory kick in before I can "physically" react.

I believe this comes with years and miles of experience and previous SHTF moments 

I do know that I've deliberately tamed the beast that would like to ride like a maniac.

I KNOW that my capabilities have been affected by age. 

[Valkorado]

I know with CT installed I tend to drag the rear brake a bit when I pull a U.  Pretty much instinct, don't have to think about it much.

[big poppa pump]

I ride/turn by instinct. I concentrate on what's around me, my environment, watching out for that one idiot cager who decides to pull out right in front of me.

[mike72903]

I'm a newb compared to most here so it's thinking all the time for me. I still have to force myself to look through a curve. It does make a huge difference in negotiating curves but still find myself looking down to see where I am.  Target fixation worries and bothers me to, so I have to try to do the opposite of my natural instincts.

[Firefighter]

If it is a wide turn area, I don't concentrate at all except that I don't get run over, but in a handle bar to tank u-turn I have to find the edge of the road and even look a few feet ahead to see if there is a convient wider spot then first gear rear brake dragging and do some finesse.

I practice once in awhile, If I was turning infront of you guys I might even mess up and have to put a foot down!

[Gryphon Rider]

In tight U-turns or leaned-way-over corners, I give my technique a lot of attention, but not so much that I am unaware of other things going on around me that might affect my ride.  I would say my experience and competence makes the difference between enjoying more technically challenging riding in a relaxed but alert fashion, and being tense and tentative.  FYI, every day I make at least one full-lock U-turn.

[old2soon]

Whether I've been on that road lotsa times or I'm breakin my cherry on that road-watching and paying attention and a LOT of situational awareness helps. But a lot of my racing instinct is still intact-for now!  Head and eyes on a swivel. Experience instinct situational awareness head on a swivel-things that kept me alive on the Flight Deck AND helped me be a relatively accident free truck driver for a lot of years. Curse ya might wanna stir in absofrikkinlutely luvin every minute I'm in the saddle.    RIDE SAFE.

[The emperor has no clothes]

I'm a newb compared to most here so it's thinking all the time for me. I still have to force myself to look through a curve. It does make a huge difference in negotiating curves but still find myself looking down to see where I am.  Target fixation worries and bothers me to, so I have to try to do the opposite of my natural instincts.

Keep forcing yourself to look thru the turn. It will come naturally after a while.  There are very few times when you need to be looking down. Practice, practice, practice. Practice your sudden stops, practice your sudden evasive maneuvers, practice u-turns. Nothing beats experience in my opinion, but it also can have its drawbacks. I find myself getting complacent and have to slap myself every once in a while. 

[Jess from VA]

After 40+ years, most of it is instinct/muscle memory.  But if I see the road is REAL narrow, or full of gravel/sand, or a deep pothole, or there is a woman driver in a minivan closeby, then I sit up and pay closer attention.

However, when riding the favorite twisty mountain roads at fun speeds (not too many over), I tend to sit up and pay close attention full-time.

Also, while I almost never do it any other time, I always chew gum when riding; and the trickier the riding, the faster I chew.        

[old2soon]

That complacency thing my friend meathead mentioned has killed a lot of good people. It's the WHY of pilots having a checklist they are supposed to use from walk around to engine start to systems check to take off in flight checks landing post landing and post flight. And I may have missed some-NO checklist in front of me!   And that practice practice practice practice thing he mentioned. I have a medium sized parking lot I put some of my expensive tire rubber on while I-wait for it-practice slow speed handling. While it may SOUND boring it MIGHT save your life one day. Are there better riders than me-Hell yes. Are there worse riders than me-again-Hell yes and I try diligently to avoid them. RIDE SAFE.

[Mr Whiskey]

I ride/turn by instinct. I concentrate on what's around me, my environment, watching out for that one idiot cager who decides to pull out right in front of me.

That's me. Rarely paying much attention to what I'm doin', the bike tells me everything I need to know 'bout that.
Always lookin' for "IT/THEM"!
Animate or inanimate, it's all tryin' to kill ya!
I once almost had my head taken off by a low hanging TV cable line.
(Pulled off house by passing truck & hung up in trees.)
It skipped off the top of my helmet when I tucked my chin at the last second.

Target fixation worries and bothers me.....

Not "preachin" atcha here Brother, there's jus' some pretty good advice on that subject here......
https://youtu.be/ewDS5ROrLcE
(For what it's worth, I talk to myself all the time, haha!)

[msb]

I thank my lucky stars that I made it through my teens and twenties when I just rode instinctively with completely unwarranted bravado that "nothing can happen to me". Back in the day you never learned any technique when starting out....you just hopped on and rode. I made it through those years unscathed and settled (and slowed) down a lot when I met and wed my co-pilot for the last 35 years, and have thought a lot more about technique and overall safety since. I've had friends just get their MC licenses in their 40's and even 50's recently that are forced to go through the now mandated extensive training we have here prior to getting their graduated licence who are far more technically advanced than I was at that stage, but then they don't have the experience to act instinctively when needed. .  42 years of experience learning good habits and escaping from bad does allow me now  to enjoy riding on instinct while still recognizing when to buckle down and concentrate. I do find myself thinking a lot more when riding 2 up than when I'm out on a solo ride as well.

[Patrick]

Its think its a combination for me. We make turns on instinct/experience, but, I still try to pick and ride over target points.

[The emperor has no clothes]

I thank my lucky stars that I made it through my teens and twenties when I just rode instinctively with completely unwarranted bravado that "nothing can happen to me". Back in the day you never learned any technique when starting out....you just hopped on and rode. I made it through those years unscathed and settled (and slowed) down a lot when I met and wed my co-pilot for the last 35 years, and have thought a lot more about technique and overall safety since. I've had friends just get their MC licenses in their 40's and even 50's recently that are forced to go through the now mandated extensive training we have here prior to getting their graduated licence who are far more technically advanced than I was at that stage, but then they don't have the experience to act instinctively when needed. .  42 years of experience learning good habits and escaping from bad does allow me now  to enjoy riding on instinct while still recognizing when to buckle down and concentrate. I do find myself thinking a lot more when riding 2 up than when I'm out on a solo ride as well.

Man I wish I could say that. I've been put in the hospital twice when I was in my 20's. Neither was my fault, but had I been the 58 year old rider that I am today both would probably have been avoided. And I agree 100% about concentrating more when 2 up. I have noticed a few times when riding the obstacle courses of San Francisco and L.A. with my wife I'm wore out from the intensity .

[scooperhsd]

As I have gotten older / wiser/more experianced - I don't need to concentrate on what I'm doing so much - but I pay much more attention to those that are trying to kill me (not necessarily intentional on their part). Naturally - I pay more attention in more demanding situations, and I'm a great believer in SWIPD - I'm ALWAYS scanning (also came from military flight training). I also ratchet DOWN my risk taking but ratchet UP my attention when I have Mrs. scooperhsd along for a ride.

[art]

I usually did pretty good but found out one thing DON'T do in front of a bunch of harley riders. I did that only once and darn near dropped my Valk in the street in front of them. I was lucky that I recovered from it and rode off.

[DirtyDan]

both

and the blessing of the big guy upstairs

dan

[FryeVRCCDS0067]

It depends on the ride. A new rider will use a lot of their computing power thinking about the controls, braking and turning. When I'm commuting back and forth from the day job, running errands, picking up parts and the like I ride mostly by instinct and save what little computing power I have for observing the cagers and road surface.

On the open highway I ride moderately aggressively, as in, a little faster than the cagers so I can pick the time and place for most of our interactions. I try to ride in those pockets of space between the cagers when possible. When it's not I try to pick the safest places to pass, maintain my space and look for the next pocket. When traveling on the slab, again I ride mostly by instinct but change my strategy somewhat. On the slab I run 5 or 10 over, then when I'm passed by a faster group of traffic I drop into the pocket behind them so I'm maintaining my preferred distance in front and not being crowded from the rear. If we get passed by a faster group, then I usually do the same again. In that way I'm usually running quite a bit faster by the end of a tank than at the start of that tank. Then I start over after gassing up again.

When I'm riding twisty country highways for enjoyment, I concentrate harder on the road surface (spilled grain, acorns, mulberry stains, sweating pavement) my chosen line (keeping my eyes on that line) and counter-steering in the corners. Mostly there is no close traffic under these circumstances and I'm just enjoying the ride, the corners, God's earth and the smell of outdoors. And, I enjoy my concentration, shutting off the internal dialogue and living in the moment.

When I get into traffic I slow down and go back to riding instinctively while I watch for cagers and my chance to pass and find another pocket of my own pavement.

As far as U turns, it's maximum concentration on technique then, as in swiveling my head to my chosen path and not looking at the edge of the road which will draw you like a magnet if you do.

Concentrating on counter-steering is a car tire thing I think and one of my favorite aspects of riding on a car tire.

[baldo]

Also, while I almost never do it any other time, I always chew gum when riding; and the trickier the riding, the faster I chew.        

    Same here. It helps me with target fixation.

[solo1]

I retired from riding at 87 last year. For me, I think, because of my age with all the attended crap like arthritis, etc, I was noticing that I was too worried about dropping the bike. Sharp U turns were sloppy due to arse puckering, toe curling apprehension about falling and ending up one massive bruise. I was doing way too much thinking and not enough instinctive.  Yeah, I looked where I wanted to go and still had a lot of instinctive reaction due to riding off and on since 1947.  My anticipating skills were unaffected and I still rode safe except for the U turn thing.

Now this isn't much help to you younger riders but I'm just thinking about why I, personally quit riding.

I still enjoy driving the curves in the Miata.  No lean but no worry either about dropping it either., 

However, now, at 88, I note that my edge drops off as I become tired quicker as I drive at about 8 tenths.

[Safety Steve]

I'm a newbe also, hell the Valk is my first and only bike, had it 2 1/2 years now, but 15,000 miles on it.  I have a friend, Kym, that is very new to riding and the last 2 weekends we have rode with friends that have been riding for years and they still ride a lot.  They all ride Harleys and Kym just got a VTX 1800 and it is a great bike, we have been riding the back roads and a lot of twisty been fun as hell when we stop Mike, who started riding and racing dirt bikes at the age of 8 and in now in his 50's was giving Kym some tips on going into corners, hell I was listening to.
Things have gotten easier for my and I'm way more comfortable riding then when I started but I know I have a long way to go and I need to work on the little things I'm very lucky that I ride with some very safe riders that will tell me when I mess up and when a friend of mine told me the other day that I have improved my riding it made me feel really good.  When I thing I know everything and I can't get better then it is time I sell the bike and not ride anymore.

[Mr Whiskey]

When I thing I know everything and I can't get better....

...that's when it bites ya!
Sounds like you're on the right track though, enjoy

[Ramie]

I never worry too much about form when doing u-turns, just try and do it safely especially when riding two up, usually with two feet out just incase.  On gravel I'll have her get off while I turn the bike around and get it pointed in the right direction.

[hubcapsc]

and the blessing of the big guy upstairs

Yeah, I know he's my shepherd, and I think about it a lot... ever since
I rode 40 miles through the mountains and on crowded mountain
highways with my big red lift adapter hanging off my motor... I stopped
for gas and "clank" it fell off in the parking lot.

Instinct kicked in the time the fixated Harley guy in the opposing lane
passed me on the right when I was going down the hill into Maggie Valley,
I did OK I guess...

A new rider will use a lot of their computing power thinking about the controls, braking and turning.

When I'm doing a U-Turn I think a lot about the controls, especially
slipping the clutch. Setting up for a U-Turn and then just coasting
through it doesn't work at all for me on a 750 lb motorcycle... I
guess it works OK on a dirt bike cause you can dab with your foot
once or twice if needed, but the Valkyrie just laughs at foot dabs...

-Mike

[RudyF6]

  So  often I make a u-turn without thinking and all goes smooth but if I'm be watched or if I think about it things get sloppy.    
   

The severity of a screwup is directly proportional to the size of the audience!   

[Valkorado]

and the blessing of the big guy upstairs

Yeah, I know he's my shepherd, and I think about it a lot... ever since
I rode 40 miles through the mountains and on crowded mountain
highways with my big red lift adapter hanging off my motor... I stopped
for gas and "clank" it fell off in the parking lot.

  At least you didn't lose it, literally and figuratively.  Good riding skills can be quickly negated by such a slip (brain fart).