Questions for Keith Code - Round Two

[budman]

So we are going to light up Round Two of this portion of the Training forum and this is how it is going to work.

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Please check out the round one thread if you have not read through it for some good info and in the effort not to repeat questions already answered. Here it is:
http://www.bayarearidersforum.com/fo...hreadid=156669

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Please post your question for Keith in this thread. I would request that all questions be real and that no bullshit is thrown in here. Keith is one of the most knowledgable Road Racing Coaches/ Trainers / Riders around. I have had the pleasure of riding with his school many times and attended the advance racing school many moons ago and it made a huge difference in my control and knowledge.

Keith will select questions,prepare answers and open a new thread with his take on how to make your knowledge base grow..and help you get faster, smoother etc.

He is off and running around the world so don't expect immediate responses... won't happen. It may be one or two weeks before he gets them answered. I will collect them and put them in a sticky for other future reference.

I will monitor the thread and discuss any items with Keith that need to be. I hope that the membership can respect my request to be above board and treat this as it is due. Time and effort from a busy guy to help you out.

Please fire away.. and be good.

[budman]

The first two questions left from Round One:

Question from Alexey:

Keith,

A recent crash highlighted what I always looked at as a "minor" mistake. Up to my last round of races, I'd been prone to running too close to the inside curbing, but was always able to get away with putting the bike on the inside rumble strips. Up to the crash that is, when I finally bit it pretty hard for no good reason at all. I basically attributed it to lack of proper focus, which was definitely at play in the mistake that caused the crash.

In the last issue of RRW, Elena Myers has a little article, in which she mentions almost crashing due to the same thing -- running up on the inside curbing. I was wondering if this was something you come across often and if so how you work with students with that problem.

Question from 850:

hi keith!
how do you get used to looking through the windscreen when you're going down the front straight -- and the windscreen is jiggling and moving around and distorting what you're seeing?



Keep learning... keep progressing...keep riding

[Alexey]

Big up to budman for doing this and not to mention to Keith for taking the time. Alright, other than that, I'm just resubscribing...

[21jack]

Hope y'all don't mind if I simply tag along and subscribe too. To this day I've been (re)learning something new from Twist of the Wrist 1 and 2 since the first day I decided to try riding. Nobody better to learn from than Code.

Jack

[madpepper]

Bought a 2000 ZX-12R almost a week ago.

How much "play" should I have between my back and the solo seat? I scoot in tight around the gas tank but this leaves around 6 inches of free space. I've eased into half throttle and that's enough to slide me back. I want to avoid any possibility of having an accidental pull on the throttle.

I apologize if this has been covered...

[DataDan]

In my 25 or so years of sportriding, most of my breakthroughs have been vision related—learning how to better see the road, learning how to move my focus from point to point through a turn. "Wide-screen vision" and the "two-step", both from Twist II, are good examples of lessons that have helped me.

I understand that in your school you use a drill called the "three-step". Could you describe that? Also, I'd be interested to hear about any other developments in your teaching of visual techniques since you wrote Twist II.

[darkie]

Hi guys. Keith is on tour right now with the Superbike School. We just did Loudon, Mid-Ohio, Blackhawk and we're now at Pocono. Next is Barber and Virginia and then back in town mid Sept.

When we get back home I'll make sure he sits down and bangs out his responses. You can post more questions in the mean time.

Dylan Code (darkie)

(ps: the Mid-Ohio repave made the track a lot nicer to ride)

[kxmike]

I was told by an instructor at a recent trackday, that I should slide forward against the tank before braking hard for a turn. His reasoning was it would lock me into the bike and keep my hands relaxed making for a smoother transition from braking to cornering. It made sense to me, but I've always done the opposite. I slide back during braking so as to not overload the front tire and to help keep the back on the ground. I suppose it's a technique I've carried over from dirt biking, but it seems to work fine for me. I'm curious what Keith has to say about this subject.

[Choicobo]

I've already read Twist of the Wrist I and II many times and I just finished reading another book by Nick Ienatsch called "Sport Riding Techniques"

There was a section that perplexed me on steering the bike.

In Nick Ienatsch's book, it says, "You enter the corner off throttle and initiate the turn. The Bike banks into the corner and continues to fall because the throttle is closed" Then after he continues on about applying maintenance throttle to stop any further lean, and then going back applying throttle to stand up the bike and accelerate.

I'm wondering what your input on this is, because I am already in a habit of applying a small, even roll of the throttle from beginning to end of the turn and the thought of achieving lean angle first by being completely off throttle disturbs me.

Of course maybe because I'm just not used to it, but I'm just wondering what you think about this method, because it feels a little conflicting with what you wrote in your book and the idea of getting it on AQAP.

Thanks in advance

[Keith Code]

Originally posted by budman
The first two questions left from Round One:

Question from Alexey:

Keith,

A recent crash highlighted what I always looked at as a "minor" mistake. Up to my last round of races, I'd been prone to running too close to the inside curbing, but was always able to get away with putting the bike on the inside rumble strips. Up to the crash that is, when I finally bit it pretty hard for no good reason at all. I basically attributed it to lack of proper focus, which was definitely at play in the mistake that caused the crash.

In the last issue of RRW, Elena Myers has a little article, in which she mentions almost crashing due to the same thing -- running up on the inside curbing. I was wondering if this was something you come across often and if so how you work with students with that problem.

Question from 850:

hi keith!
how do you get used to looking through the windscreen when you're going down the front straight -- and the windscreen is jiggling and moving around and distorting what you're seeing?



Keep learning... keep progressing...keep riding

Alexey,

No, I haven't had that come up often either at the schools or with others I've worked with. Hitting the curbing is definitely not good and at some tracks even if you just touch your knee puck down it will tear them off.

If you look through Twist II you will see the technique we call the Two Step and that helps to target your mid corner position.

One thing that could and probably is casuing your situation is looking too far ahead before you secure your apex point. Rider often say look as far ahead as you can but you have come up with the reason why it isn't the best of advice in all riding situations.

Keith

850

This same thing happened to me at Road America and what I discovered was that I was holding my neck too tight and it went away the next lap.

Keith

[Keith Code]

Originally posted by madpepper
Bought a 2000 ZX-12R almost a week ago.

How much "play" should I have between my back and the solo seat? I scoot in tight around the gas tank but this leaves around 6 inches of free space. I've eased into half throttle and that's enough to slide me back. I want to avoid any possibility of having an accidental pull on the throttle.

I apologize if this has been covered...

madpepper,

Have you ever noticed how thick the padding is on the back of some racers seats?

You have to experiment with how much space you feel comfortable with and then put in enough foam pads to set it right.

Try duct taping some padding on the back and then adjust it until you have enough but not too much room.

Keith

[Keith Code]

Originally posted by DataDan
In my 25 or so years of sportriding, most of my breakthroughs have been vision related—learning how to better see the road, learning how to move my focus from point to point through a turn. "Wide-screen vision" and the "two-step", both from Twist II, are good examples of lessons that have helped me.

I understand that in your school you use a drill called the "three-step". Could you describe that? Also, I'd be interested to hear about any other developments in your teaching of visual techniques since you wrote Twist II.

DataDan,

Yes I completely agree with you on visuals being the BIG area where riders can make vast improvement. It is the rreason that Val Rossi is just that little bit better than his competitors.

I'm still working out what I've learned over the past 10+ years and it is supposed to be part of Twist III but, as you may have noticed, not done.

We developed the Three Step for exactly the same reason as the Two Step, if you don't put in an effective pattern with your eyes to get the info you need, your eyes simply go off in search of dangerous stuff--that is what they are programmed to do.

The Three step takes the rider from a consistent mid corner (apex) position to uptrack where they want to go.

It is geared to different kinds of corners at to what you actually look for and at the school we show the riders how it applies to specific situations on that track and there is usually enough variation in the turns to give a solid idea of how to apply it in other areas of riding and other tracks.

It is a coached technique because we can see if the rider is looking up track when they are supposed to or not.

Essentially, we look for a second commitment of the head, looking up track further than the apex which is timed right for the turn.

I often give a target of seeing how early the riders can acquire their uptrack target without sacrificing their accuracy at midcorner.

Best,
Keith

[Keith Code]

Originally posted by kxmike
I was told by an instructor at a recent trackday, that I should slide forward against the tank before braking hard for a turn. His reasoning was it would lock me into the bike and keep my hands relaxed making for a smoother transition from braking to cornering. It made sense to me, but I've always done the opposite. I slide back during braking so as to not overload the front tire and to help keep the back on the ground. I suppose it's a technique I've carried over from dirt biking, but it seems to work fine for me. I'm curious what Keith has to say about this subject.

KXMike,

What I'd do is get a set of Stomp grip for your bike and squeeze that with your knees instead of using the tank and messing with your juture generations.

I used to wear a platic jock cup when I first started riding TZs in the 70's and later learned that a bit of squeeze on the tank was doing much more good than sliding all the way forward and upsetting the bike, which it can do.

Best,
Keith

[Keith Code]

Originally posted by Choicobo
I've already read Twist of the Wrist I and II many times and I just finished reading another book by Nick Ienatsch called "Sport Riding Techniques"

There was a section that perplexed me on steering the bike.

In Nick Ienatsch's book, it says, "You enter the corner off throttle and initiate the turn. The Bike banks into the corner and continues to fall because the throttle is closed" Then after he continues on about applying maintenance throttle to stop any further lean, and then going back applying throttle to stand up the bike and accelerate.

I'm wondering what your input on this is, because I am already in a habit of applying a small, even roll of the throttle from beginning to end of the turn and the thought of achieving lean angle first by being completely off throttle disturbs me.

Of course maybe because I'm just not used to it, but I'm just wondering what you think about this method, because it feels a little conflicting with what you wrote in your book and the idea of getting it on AQAP.

Thanks in advance

Choicobo,

Any bike will turn easier off the throttle than on so that is the ideal time to flick the bike into the corner.

Of course, not all corners or series of corners allow you to be off the throttle when you are turning the bike, coming out of the chicane and going up towards turn 2 at Sears is a good example of that.

Since we all know that the throttle doesn't bring the bike up I think you must have misread what Nicky had to say. In most cases, if you put the bike into the corner at a decent speed, the bike doesn't continue to "fall" into the turn. For example, its first reponse to going off gas mid-corner is to stand up a bit before it slowly loses momentum and wants to fall if you leave the lean at the same angle you had it when you got it over.

Your throttle action stabilizes the bike at the lean you have chosen at turn entry, if the throttle is right for the corner, that lean angle will not change until you change it.

Once the line is established with the lean you have chosen, and if it is correct and will get you where you want to go, then bringing the throttle on and continuing to roll it on is the right thing to do, otherwise the bike will tend to slow and you would not have preserved your turn entry speed.

Here is an example of that: turn your idle up to 3,000 RPM and see what happens. You will find that the bike continues to slow! A 3,000 RPM idle would be like cracking the throttle on a bit and leaving it there.

If Nicky is trying to get riders to start the throttle early by saying maintenance throttle then I would completely agree with him on that because our survival instincts tell us not to roll on even when it is possible and then you find yourself mid corner wondering why you didn't because the speed deteriorated one or two MPH.

If you look at that section in Twist II you will see that the throttle is started once you have achieved correct lean and not before that.

All best,
Keith

[budman]

You rock Keith!

Welcome back from the travels.