Markers

[ecumike]

I need to work on a couple things next year, and one of my weak spots is brake & turn-in markers.

How do you guys remeber, or do you have any tips for remembering where your brake & turn-in markers are for every turn?

[OmniGLH]

Hmmm.  Wish I could help you... but it's just something I do.  I can't really explain it, and it varies per track.

It can be something obvious like a brake marker, a mark on the pavement, or a tree.  Most of the time (at least in MY case), it's not so obvious.  If I'm riding by myself, then it's usually part of a rhythm.  I pass a tree, hesitate 1...2...3...BRAKE.  Or sometimes I use my field of view.  As soon as a corner stand leaves my field of vision, I turn.  I can also use my own pucker factor.  Run straight so I feel like I'm going to run it off the track... then turn.

If I'm chasing somebody, then I use that person as my reference.  I don't brake until after they do.  I get off the brakes before they do.  I try to carry more corner speed than them, and I try to get on the gas before them.  

The only thing I can think of to tell you how to learn reference points is to play video games.  Go pick up a racing game, pick a track, and work at getting consistent and figuring out a rhythm.

[tstruyk]

although the book is dated the info still holds true... Twist of the wrist. volume one has alot of good info regarding reference points.  I wouldnt get focused on breaking later than your adversary, target fixation can be a bad thing.  Next thinig you know your both in too hot and dirt trackin it to get back on course...or worse.  
One of the drills they run in that book is to close your eyes and mentally do a lap in your head while running a stopwatch.  You'll find the more reference points you have the closer you are to completing that lap in real time.  Tracks I have been to a handful of times I was only a few seconds off my average times... tracks I was at for only a day or 2 I was off by more.

Some people map out the corners, drawing in their reference points, this may work for you.  I would say that you should not ask where others brake/turn in/throttle as your riding style and skill level may be different than theirs.  The more reference points you have the better your line through a particular corner (especially a series of turns/rythm section) will be.  Myself, I try to draw out the corner and add dialouge to it... such as

example:  Full tuck and throttle until first breaking cone, on the brakes by the 2nd cone and down shifting by the third, begin turn in at the big crack in the pavement and keep the bike inside the rough patch, trail break to the 2nd red patch of the rumble strip and get to full lean, scrub remaining speed with front tire and keep speed up to run it wide. stay outside the tar strips and turn back in to second apex where the tar strips and new pavement make an X, full throttle and bring the bike up keeping body off to get the meat of the tire to hook up, get back into tuck after the corner station and grab an upshift yadayada.... like I said just an example

Doing this helps me keep in mind what I am doing on the track, I try to read over the notes the night before the track, granted I have not had a LOT of opportunities to try this, but it is working.  I would think it would be a good task after or during practice sessions especially at a new track.

Just a thought or 2... its working for me

tim

[Jeff]

Read the Keith Code books and practice them (totw 1  & 2) or better yet, go to the school.  You will work a LOT on reference points, and learn how to pick them, and the importance of it all.

Bottom line, keep track of your point of where you're doing what (braking & turn in).  If you mess up the corner, adjust!  I know that sounds silly-simple, but it holds a lot of truth (yes, there are a ton of other factors, but ignored for the time being).

If you're able to get off the brakes and accellerate INTO a corner, you're braking too early.  Find a later point, force yourself to use it.

If you're early apex'ing the corner and running wide at the exit, turn a touch later and turn quicker when you do.

Pay close attention to the RESULT of what you do over anything else.  The result can give you a good indication if you're in the zone of the corner for braking/turning or not.

A bad reference point is far better than no reference point at all...

[MELK-MAN]

I need to work on a couple things next year, and one of my weak spots is brake & turn-in markers.

How do you guys remeber, or do you have any tips for remembering where your brake & turn-in markers are for every turn?

Backing off enough in the inital laps of a new track helps.. that way you can focus early on where it is you need to brake, looking at the board you are at or going by to brake. Go a little further to past that board to the next till you cant get to the apex of the corner..Commit that spot to memory and all will be good. Correctly using brake markers and turn in points is the BEST way i have found to turning consistant laps, lap after lap..

[K3 Chris Onwiler]

This will sound weird, but I have a different way of doing it.  I have a mental picture of what I should be seeing when I perform a certain action, like braking or turn-in.  As I approach the spot where I should preform an action, I compare my mental picture with what my eyes are seeing.  When they match, I perform the action.  My reference points are like a series of photographs.  I ride from picture to picture.
I read that the intercontinental missiles use a guidance system that compares a picture of the target stored in the computer's brain to the real-time image that a camera in the missile's nose is seeing as the missile dives on it's target.  This is very similar to what my brain does in a race.
I admit that I have a lot of physical reference points out there, but I have my pictures, too.  I use reference points when I'm trying to run someone down, constantly pushing myself a foot or two deeper on those points.  In a close race or a heavy traffic situation, I may not get line of sight to my reference points, and that's when the mental pictures come in very handy.

[Super Dave]

Ok, so if you're using turn in markers...

I'll assume that you're letting off the brakes then at turn-in ala Code?

[310Lytle]

Don't use rocks or chunks of rubber.
They tend to move. ;D

[ecumike]

Yea... I'm trying to knock down my times, and get a little consistency out on the track.  I have and read TOTW2 and Soft Science of RR.. problem is it's all easier said than done. :)

I don't have problems off running too deep, or early apexing, etc.... It seems when I'm out there, in the heat of battle, I'm turning and braking OK, but the minute I step of the track... I can't remember anything.  I'd like to have solid points of reference so it's one less thing I have to worry/think about while racing, and as said before, if I get offline for a pass or whatever, I'll know where I am in reference to my points and know where I should be back to.

It's like I've got a very very short memory. Maybe it's just a case of ADD  :-/  ???

[tstruyk]

try the drill that I mentioned earlier...where you run through the track mentally and time it... I bet you remember more than you think.  It forces you to visualize reference points and timing.
like I mentioned it really works for and my STM is for crap.