by Cath » Thu Aug 20, 2009 9:03 am
You do it. Everyone does it. You're probably fighting it a little, but still doing it unconsciously. The trick is to do it deliberately and consciously, then move it back to being semi-unconscious like pulling the clutch lever in to shift gears, or another riding action that you don't dwell on. But first, you have to do deliberately and understand it.
Don't practice it at 20 k's. You'll just confuse yourself and amuse others as you waver/fight between steering and counter steering. Practice it at 60 k's.
Pick a nice, clear, long, straight stretch of road and settle at a constant speed. Then push slightly and gently on one of your bars (this is just to confirm to yourself what is happening, not to actually turn a corner, so only do it VERY VERY slightly OK! You don't want to spear off the road!) and see what happens. Once you've done that a few times (*AGAIN: GENTLY AND SMALL MOVEMENTS!!!*) and you believe us and your mind starts to trust / accept it, then you can try going into a nice corner you're familiar with (think of a sweeping curve, not a 90 degree intersection in traffic), and consciously push forwards on the inside bar (so if the corner goes left, you push forward on the left bar). Steering will become much more fun, reliable, less nerve-wracking and faster. And you'll be more in control of your bike, especially if the unexpected should occur. Keep playing with it, until it's natural to turn consciously that way, then you can let it drift into the back of your awareness and it will become automatic (you'll notice that when you suddenly come upon a pothole and your muscles and brain instantly swerve you around it before you even thought about what to do).
If you come up the old road this Sunday, I'm happy to take you for a relaxed lap, where you can practice it a bit. I'm sure you're fine to practice it on your own, but if you'd like company or someone to ask questions of, any of the regular crew would be more than happy to help out if you ask.
Road: 2005 ZX10R - not named yet
Road: 2008 Z750 - Kwak
Track: 2006 ZX6R - Yoshi (with a very Genki undertail)