James Burleigh
Well-known member
Last night after the Napa group ride, I wrote an e-mail to a fellow rider, a BMW IBA guy who usually smokes me on the local twisties, and made the following comment:
"Had a great ride yesterday. What a beautiful day! Did Skaggs Springs Rd for the first time. Easily one of the top--okay--
the
top Bay Area road I've ever been on: Long, positively cambered sweepers, good pavement, and no cross traffic. I was with a group of about seven FJR riders, and man these guys (we) were flying along that road. Also, surprisingly, no squids or LEOs. What a rush that road was! I was totally in the zone, hitting textbook enter-high-&-kiss-the-apex lines and just flicking the bike back and forth effortlessly."
To which my buddy wrote back: "When you were 'in the zone' did you find yourself using any of the techniques that Pridmore taught us, or anything from Hough or Code? What goes through your head when you're riding in the zone?"
That was a fun question to ponder. Now, whether I was really ever "in the zone," or what that even means, I have no idea (that's the philosophy major in me speaking). But here's what I responded to him:
"The zone question is interesting to think about. The seven of us in a line (I was second to last) were moving at the same rhythm about 30 yards apart. It was like a choreographed dance, as each of us flew left and right in concert through the turns. I believe most salient as I think back on the feeling and of what it meant to be 'in the zone' is being 100% (and I truly mean 100%--not 95% like when you're commuting to work and thinking about something else for a moment)--it's about being 100% engaged in what you're doing: You see entry and exit points, and are aware of the road surface.
"You are totally one with the in-the-moment physical and mental activity of moving a high-performance machine along a road as fast as you can within your skill level and the bike's performance limits. Your mind and body are completely in sync with the bike, with its clutch, bars, throttle, front brake. The bike is part of your body. Just as your mind wills your hands and feet to move, so it wills the bike to move just as you choose. You shift left and right, feathering the clutch and working the front brake with two fingers to adjust speed in small increments.
"You look through a long positively cambered sweeper, adjust your body, lean the bike over, and roll on the throttle. As the bike responds, you feel it grip the road in a way you know is optimizing the physics of its tires, traction, suspension, and you roll on more throttle because you know it will only further optimize performance while at the same time increasing speed, which yields a feeling of mastery and exhilaration as you sling-shot through the curve.
So to answer your question about what goes through your head, I think the answer is something like, "Nothing. You aren't thinking; you're just doing." Maybe that's what it means to be in the zone: You just do it, and you do it flawlessly, without thinking, like a gymnast doing a 10.0 floor exercise routine.
"As for Hough and Pridmore and Code, yes, absolutely. From Hough comes braking and setting entrance speed with the front brake before leaning the bike over, entering high, and apexing late in case you misjudge the apex (decreasing). From Pridmore comes focusing on being smooth, keeping up on my toes on the pegs, and keeping the revs up close to redline to achieve immediate response from the throttle in either direction. From Code comes picking a visual turning point and flicking the bike there, chosing a single line through the turn (not making multiple small corrections), and rolling on the throttle smoothly and evenly 'as soon as possible.'"
Jb
"Had a great ride yesterday. What a beautiful day! Did Skaggs Springs Rd for the first time. Easily one of the top--okay--
the
top Bay Area road I've ever been on: Long, positively cambered sweepers, good pavement, and no cross traffic. I was with a group of about seven FJR riders, and man these guys (we) were flying along that road. Also, surprisingly, no squids or LEOs. What a rush that road was! I was totally in the zone, hitting textbook enter-high-&-kiss-the-apex lines and just flicking the bike back and forth effortlessly."
To which my buddy wrote back: "When you were 'in the zone' did you find yourself using any of the techniques that Pridmore taught us, or anything from Hough or Code? What goes through your head when you're riding in the zone?"
That was a fun question to ponder. Now, whether I was really ever "in the zone," or what that even means, I have no idea (that's the philosophy major in me speaking). But here's what I responded to him:
"The zone question is interesting to think about. The seven of us in a line (I was second to last) were moving at the same rhythm about 30 yards apart. It was like a choreographed dance, as each of us flew left and right in concert through the turns. I believe most salient as I think back on the feeling and of what it meant to be 'in the zone' is being 100% (and I truly mean 100%--not 95% like when you're commuting to work and thinking about something else for a moment)--it's about being 100% engaged in what you're doing: You see entry and exit points, and are aware of the road surface.
"You are totally one with the in-the-moment physical and mental activity of moving a high-performance machine along a road as fast as you can within your skill level and the bike's performance limits. Your mind and body are completely in sync with the bike, with its clutch, bars, throttle, front brake. The bike is part of your body. Just as your mind wills your hands and feet to move, so it wills the bike to move just as you choose. You shift left and right, feathering the clutch and working the front brake with two fingers to adjust speed in small increments.
"You look through a long positively cambered sweeper, adjust your body, lean the bike over, and roll on the throttle. As the bike responds, you feel it grip the road in a way you know is optimizing the physics of its tires, traction, suspension, and you roll on more throttle because you know it will only further optimize performance while at the same time increasing speed, which yields a feeling of mastery and exhilaration as you sling-shot through the curve.
So to answer your question about what goes through your head, I think the answer is something like, "Nothing. You aren't thinking; you're just doing." Maybe that's what it means to be in the zone: You just do it, and you do it flawlessly, without thinking, like a gymnast doing a 10.0 floor exercise routine.
"As for Hough and Pridmore and Code, yes, absolutely. From Hough comes braking and setting entrance speed with the front brake before leaning the bike over, entering high, and apexing late in case you misjudge the apex (decreasing). From Pridmore comes focusing on being smooth, keeping up on my toes on the pegs, and keeping the revs up close to redline to achieve immediate response from the throttle in either direction. From Code comes picking a visual turning point and flicking the bike there, chosing a single line through the turn (not making multiple small corrections), and rolling on the throttle smoothly and evenly 'as soon as possible.'"
Jb
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