Looking to the exit

[Bounce]

Ok so after a 500 mile ride this weekend a friend made a comment (of course after telling me I had nearly perfect form )about how I dont turn my head to look at the exit of a corner. Actually I dont turn my head much under any circumstance, a habit formed after rupturing 3 discs at the base of my neck. So i am not really supposed to look up (makes shaving tough) or to the sides (I have maybe 1/2 my total rotation left) if i want to keep the feeling in my left arm. My solution has been to look with my eyes as much as possible. So for example in a long sweeper where i am leaned over and hanging off i "yaw" my head a few degrees to the inside of the corner and look up and into the corner with my eye balls to monitor the unfolding tarmac.
Now i could rotate my head more than I do but risk bump or wind bumping my head over that critical point where pain comes. So the question really is, as long as i can see the exit of a corner, does it matter if my chin is pointed to it??

I would really perfer critical comments unless you plan on twisting "Does head position really matter?" into some perverted joke... I always like a good dirty joke

i always look to my exit. it is a way to make our natural instinct for target fixation work for us. as far as solutions for disc problems. i found that actually fixing the problem instead of inhibiting my lifestyle was my personal choice.

 

[cougar8000]

This has generated an additional questionWhile getting ready to turn or turning should you keep your head/neck in line to the bike, ie leaning as the bike leans, or should you try and keep it perpendicular to the ground, is your head stays upright as the bike leans?

Keep your eyes and head leveled as much as you can. It does not mess with your vertigo and slows things down.

 

[Mogambo]

Ok so after a 500 mile ride this weekend a friend made a comment (of course after telling me I had nearly perfect form )about how I dont turn my head to look at the exit of a corner. Actually I dont turn my head much under any circumstance, a habit formed after rupturing 3 discs at the base of my neck. So i am not really supposed to look up (makes shaving tough) or to the sides (I have maybe 1/2 my total rotation left) if i want to keep the feeling in my left arm. My solution has been to look with my eyes as much as possible. So for example in a long sweeper where i am leaned over and hanging off i "yaw" my head a few degrees to the inside of the corner and look up and into the corner with my eye balls to monitor the unfolding tarmac.
Now i could rotate my head more than I do but risk bump or wind bumping my head over that critical point where pain comes. So the question really is, as long as i can see the exit of a corner, does it matter if my chin is pointed to it??

I would really perfer critical comments unless you plan on twisting "Does head position really matter?" into some perverted joke... I always like a good dirty joke

I understand about that ruptured disk in the neck thing. Although mine was not totallly ruptured and ended up healing itself to some degree, it still was very alarming to suddenly realize I had lost power in my left tricep and it had begun to atrophy. All because of this incredible pain in my neck. It would go into spasm and almost literally drop me to the floor. I am careful with it now, but at doctors advice, I do regularly stretch it from side to side to help keep some range of motion. Sorry for the hijack, but your disk thing brought back painful memories.

 

[madmike2]

Mark in response to your querry, I would say that as you approach your turn you should be scanning for your entry point (where you initiate your lean) and then systematically scanning through the turn past the apex to the exit in order to observe the surface then keep your eye on the exit as you initiate and execute your lean/turn keeping your head as level and aimed to the exit as possible.

My method is to look through the turn from the beginning. The last class I took (Hmmm, going on two years, I should consider taking it again.) they stressed "trust the bike...trust the bike...", so that on approach, at the already corrected speed, I should have my head pointing through the corner and using my eyes so double check my position in the lane and my peripheral vision to prepare for the "turn in". Since I ride a "delayed apex/late entry" style, I shouldn't be turning in toward an apex until I can see the exit, and I see it because my nose is pointed toward the exit. Since I am looking that far ahead I should (when done correctly) no be surprised by a closing radius (because I am watching the contour of the outside lane, the tree line, etc.) or a stopped RV. Since my head is level with the roadway, once I use the throttle to help stand the bike up, I am looking ahead to the next corner and steering the bike to the proper lane position for that corner.

 

[Kevin Daly]

i always look to my exit. it is a way to make our natural instinct for target fixation work for us. as far as solutions for disc problems. i found that actually fixing the problem instead of inhibiting my lifestyle was my personal choice.

Awesome pics bounce! I'll have to insert a MRI when I get back to work. I have been to a surgeon. Maybe I dont know the tactics but they told me they wouldnt surger me. No doubt about looking to where you want to go!

 

[Kevin Daly]

I think Rossi is concentrating on the back of Stoner's bike!

Yeah probably but if you dig up enough pics of him with ppl behind him he still seems less cocked.

Obviously if you have a medical problem and can't move your neck, you can certainly compensate to a large extent (we are amazingly adaptable). What would scare me is not so much cornering (where you may be slightly disadvantaged) but turning to see who is in your blind spots (roughly 3 o'clock to 4 o'clock on the right and correspondingly on the left). I have once or twice been saved by my (what in the UK is called) lifesaver check to the side.

Looking into the blind spot, as someone mentioned above, can hurt. But Me's also thinks that I have developed a "defensive habit" to protect my neck, maybe more so than is necessary and my concern is that it may affect my technique.

 

[Kevin Daly]

I understand about that ruptured disk in the neck thing. Although mine was not totallly ruptured and ended up healing itself to some degree, it still was very alarming to suddenly realize I had lost power in my left tricep and it had begun to atrophy. All because of this incredible pain in my neck. It would go into spasm and almost literally drop me to the floor. I am careful with it now, but at doctors advice, I do regularly stretch it from side to side to help keep some range of motion. Sorry for the hijack, but your disk thing brought back painful memories.

no hijack at all! for me it was atrophy of one deltoid one of the tricep muscles plus numbness in the thumb and next two fingers. Much of that is gone but now i am left with a neck that sticks in position and muscles that always seem to be agrivated. But i will endevor to work on this more

 

[Go Far]

Here's a shot of last years MotoGP Lap 1 turn 2

Ok so after a 500 mile ride this weekend a friend made a comment (of course after telling me I had nearly perfect form )about how I dont turn my head to look at the exit of a corner. Actually I dont turn my head much under any circumstance, a habit formed after rupturing 3 discs at the base of my neck. So i am not really supposed to look up (makes shaving tough) or to the sides (I have maybe 1/2 my total rotation left) if i want to keep the feeling in my left arm. My solution has been to look with my eyes as much as possible. So for example in a long sweeper where i am leaned over and hanging off i "yaw" my head a few degrees to the inside of the corner and look up and into the corner with my eye balls to monitor the unfolding tarmac.
Now i could rotate my head more than I do but risk bump or wind bumping my head over that critical point where pain comes. So the question really is, as long as i can see the exit of a corner, does it matter if my chin is pointed to it??

I would really perfer critical comments unless you plan on twisting "Does head position really matter?" into some perverted joke... I always like a good dirty joke