hitting a plateau in riding an pushing through

braking deeper while learning to go faster has been counterproductive in my experience, esp when it comes to corner speed. braking really hard sets off those oh-shit alarms in your head and can make u ride stiff, which only allows u to ride at the pace u already know. what ive been doing lately is braking a touch earlier and trailing the brakes sooner and longer. im more comfortable because im not braking as hard when i tip in and im going quite a bit faster because ive trailed sooner. because i trail longer/deeper, i can still get the bike turned even though im carrying more corner speed. really, its been a win-win for me, going faster while being more comfortable. eventually, ill work on pushing my braking markers a little deeper once im happy w/ everything about my riding mid-corner.

 

Whatever you do (the suggestions about training certainly make sense) do NOT do what your "local fast guy" is doing. Someone who crashes 10 times in a season without getting hurt is incredibly lucky, and either destroyed equipment or a busted up body are in his near future.

I look at a crash as a mistake, not something to help me go faster, and if its once in a season, that is one too many.

 

I was not a crasher. Last season I crashed 4 times, all of them nasty. The common factor was that I was still trying to go faster by braking later.

 

Agreed. A brake marker isn't defined as "braking as late as you can". The whole "brake lighter, longer" trail-braking argument still is at play here. It's more about incremental improvements and a practical approach to it.

 

I am a little surprised no one has asked what class you're racing, nor suggested a bump down. I've been convinced of the effectiveness of that strategy not only from personal experience at the lowest level, but also from watching guys at the highest level. Careers have been resurrected after taking a step back for a year or two, and coming back stronger than ever. It worked for Capirossi back in the day, and Danny Kent is in the process of proving that it still works. I bet his next go at Moto2 will be a whole different story than the first time.

 

I would agree if I wasn't finishing in the top 3 regionally as an expert for the past 2 years. Going back to novice would only get me more trophies not faster.

 

Sorry, I meant smaller bike, not bumping down to novice.
Something that forces you to rethink the way you ride to extract more performance out of it.

 

Coaching. Period.

You cant fix whats holding you back if you dont have someone there to tell you what it is.

 

^^^^ HPPT,

Great observation, I know I missed thinking about that.

 

Do you spend time each race weekend trying different suspension settings, chasisis set ups or different tires/compounds? So many guys say "my bike works good, so I don't change anything", but they may be missing a better set up. By experimenting with different set ups and keeping detailed notes, you will learn your bike better, understand your riding better and hopefully find a setting that allows you to go faster with the same comfort and confidence level. If you keep good notes, you can always revert to what you know works if you seem to be going backwards.

 

Bleed some air into your brake lines. On purpose.






You'll learn a new corner entry speed. Worked for me.

 

More often than not, I see the opposite. People chasing tires, bike upgrades, and settings to the point where they can't focus on fixing the settings inside their helmet.

 

Many of the fast guys in the MW are (or were) crashers who (mostly) learned how to stay upright. I'm struggling with the same issue...looking for ~2-3 secs per minute of lap time and feeling stuck.

 

Gonna need a bigger screwdriver...

 

I wish more looked at it like that. We have a couple local guys who have ruined several bikes this year and preach that crashing is part of it and makes you faster. If you arent crashing you arent trying.... etc. Bullshit.

Same guys brag about having the fastest laptime of the day.

Awesome.

Means jack shit when you come in on the truck and the rest of the field got points.

 

This year Im a bit "stuck" as well.Ive been seriously thinking about flying out to YCRS in the winter if they are still going to be doing it at Inde.

 

Could you assholes stop giving Derrick advice how to go faster???!!!????

 

They are. The schedule was just posted, check their web site.