Triumphrat

saphena

Following on from Kory's Pay Attention plea, I wonder what we all do to maintain our concentration on the task at hand particularly when we're riding "easy" stretches of road.

On Sunday morning I was out on an observed ride and finding it hard to keep track of speed limits, hard to keep speed steady on open country lanes, daydreaming, and just generally losing concentration.

One trigger I shall build into my future riding plans is if I don't know what the speed limit is twice in 15 minutes I'll stop and guzzle a tin of RedBull.

What techniques do you employ?

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Bob - Ringer, Iron Butt, not dead yet
Switch to reserve ~120 miles, fuel panic ~150

"Just because you're offended doesn't make you right" Ricky Gervais

Gob-ny-geay

In all seriousness... isn't this the point of the Sunday morning ride?

__________________
"I found myself homesick for a place I've never been to."

Tbirdnz

I find if I'm just dawdling along I lose concentration too, if riding by myself on the open country roads with bends and corners I generally ride at the max speed limit or it allowable margin, by doing that I can concentrate on riding.

I don't try to look at scenery as you can wander off course,
member TRH on another thread on the Sprint Forum did just that and left the road, it's easy to do.

Here's the link, he posted pics:

http://www.triumphrat.net/sprint-for...attention.html


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Ride on !

saphena

"observed" ride - I should have been paying attention, the observer was trying to check for faults in my riding.

__________________
Bob - Ringer, Iron Butt, not dead yet
Switch to reserve ~120 miles, fuel panic ~150

"Just because you're offended doesn't make you right" Ricky Gervais

joelk

This is a great thread. As a new rider, I just ran my bike into a curb at excess speed making a left hand turn (US).

I know how to steer. I understand countersteering. Something happened ... i seem to remember my hand twitching on the accelerator ... excess speed...brain fart.... something. But I didn't have the muscle memory to fix the problem fast enough. Anyway a couple of hundred dollars worth of damage and some severely wounded pride and I'm fine .... but it shows me that I ALWAYS have to keep my head in the game.

Gob-ny-geay

Apologies to all - I made light of the subject, and shouldn't have. Focussing on the ride IS important, and a definite safety issue if not adhered to.

What to do... Hmmm. As Tbird wisely suggested, I also sometimes focus heavily on the turns, attempting the perfect lean and line, etc. I also try - often failing - to NOT look around at the scenery, although tempting.

Maybe it's best to ascertain that the proposed route will be as exciting as possible, minimising the "boredom" effect? I love to pour over mapbooks, and create new and interesting routes. I've been doing this for some time, and by "connecting" the various scenic routes, have developed favorites with differing time requirements, etc.
This way, say if I have 2 hours to spare one evening, I have pre-plaaned local routes that are exciting, interesting, and take exactly 2 hours!

If and when I do get stuck on a super-slab, sometimes I humm a favourite tune, or a medly of tunes (Don't "sing" or you'll get bugs in the mouth!), or if really bored I look for some bizzare local site - "See the World's Largest Tin Foil Ball !" - and get off the road for a while.

__________________
"I found myself homesick for a place I've never been to."

skiTTles

Has anyone read Keith Code's A twist of the wrist, he expertly explains how you have a dollars worth of concentration to spend. Spend it wisely

Catenaccio

I've learned the hard way to keep my mind on the task at hand. Got rubbernecking one time and ran up against the guard rail. Scared the living crap out of me and taught me a valuable lesson I've never forgotten. Pay attention!

Tbirdnz

They say your concentration goes nearer your home, you start thinking about other things due to too much local familiarity, most accidents are supposed to happen within 5km about 3 miles from your home.

I've posted this once before when I nearly wrote myself off on a local corner near my home. I was on the way to the bank because they appeared to have lost a transaction of money, my thoughts were on the money.

The corner is posted at 35kmh and I was on my CB and approached it without slowing down over the 100kmh, I rounded the corner but totally on the other side of the road, fortunately nothing was coming otherwise I would have been a write-off. I scraped the leather off the left side of my boot.

Riding further up the road I kept telling myself "What an idiot !"

It was a forewarning for me and I have treated that corner with the utmost of respect since.


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Ride on !

eelmgren

We ride in scenic areas to look at the scenery, or for the change in scenery. Otherwise why ride to the mountains or anywhere away from home?

I think the key is not so much how to maintain concentration, but how to avoid over concentrating. We obviously don’t want to stare at a distraction on the side of the road, but we also don’t want to only watch the road ahead. Set up a scan and work the scenery into your scan. - Look ahead. Look to the shoulders. Check the gages. Glance at the mountain. Check the mirrors. Repeat. If you find you are spending too much time looking at any one thing – it might be time for that Red Bull.