How did you get to your skill level

I asked this very same question on the VFR site I subscribe to, and was interested to find out the same from you guys.

How did you all got to your level of riding. Is it all self taught/road learnt, what training have you had, how much has offroad stuff helped your road riding. Have track days/racing helped your real world riding, or are some of you just naturally gifted?
I know I could do with some training (and will rectify this as I've booked one of the excellent sounding courses by i2imca.com).
My ride home this evening proved it. It was pretty gusty, wet & cool, and I mistranslated that at one point into thinking I had a flat tyre It just felt really weird & loose at one point. Now I know one can make oneself believe certain things about a bikes behavior even though they don't exist, and thus perpetuate the degeneration of ones confidence, (which again is a reason for signing up to i2i courses), but what is it that really works, & remains in place for your confidence. Surely, a major part of the riding ability of 'the fast guys' is to do with having confidence in their ability to judge grip, to be able to translate what lesser skilled riders would class as "losing it" as just signs of controleable movement, as much as their machine control, forward vision & planning etc....?
So, what in your opinion has really played a part in transforming your riding from average to a higher level of skill. I'd be especially interested in opinions from those that feel in control almost 100% of the time, however fast/slow they ride, in whatever conditions.

Cheers

Rene

Oh, and just to add another element, how has your Aprilia helped if at all. It's easy to think a brilliant bike will help our riding, and it's true that a good handling and balanced bike can give us more confidence, and therefore more time & energy to channel into our riding, but has your RSVR, Tuono, or whatever really helped ??

Obviously the bike helps. My last bike, a Ducati 748, was so much fun to ride that I just couldn't stay off the thing. Wanting to get as much pleasure from my riding as possible I did 2 days with Rapid training last year, one at the beginning and one towards the end. The RSVR is also a lovely bike to ride with so much grunt and corners so well.

Can't actually put my finger on one thing but the first day just transformed the way I 'think' about riding, and my riding. I wouldn't say I'm one of the fastest out there but I enjoy my riding and don't arrive home with my heart pounding because of near misses. A big part is to ride within your abilities. Some days I go out thinking I'll just have a steady bimble about and often come home having had quite a fast ride. I put this down to warming up slowly, concentrating on getting the lines right and the speed just comes naturally and safely then.

One of the things said on the first day was, practice, practice, practice! Seemed like a damn good idea to me to do more of what I love doing so I took their advice. Obviously some training helps as you could end up practising your bad habits :thumbup

Only been riding about 4 years ish, but seem to have come on in leaps and bounds :dunno One being the amount of mileage that I have done, eg about 32,000 since passing test in Oct 2004, which is quite a lot more than the average

IMHO its building your confidence thats a massive one, and the Millie has certainly done that in the last 18 months! :devious :inlove Above all I think its going out & riding with all kinds of people and ability groups :thumbup

I've been only riding for 2 years but and although time is important, I think is more important how many miles you have done and how. I clocked 13k within a year in my FZ6 before a cab knowed me down and the bike was written off. Those 13k were done in London (nightmare), weekend's blasts, a track day and a "ride in control" training day. As you can imagine, I've done it in all sort of weather, including snow. For me the training day was a revelation and kind of set a base to build up. I remember I couldn't lean properly, I had a mental block. Once I learned to counter-steering (I think is called it like that) and look at the right place, that mental block evaporated (I haven't managed to put my knee down though:dowhat). Read the traffic and the roads properly, ride within your limits. Also I like to read what are the most common bike accidents which can really save you from having a big one. Ahh, wearing the right gear boost your confidence and focus your atention where it has to be.

Cheers

Sergi

i learnt from mistakes, crashed a few times and havent for 2 years now. Soon learn your limits when you put a bike into a roundabout head first at 90mph...

rene said:

Soon learn your limits when you put a bike into a roundabout head first at 90mph...

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..................I can well imagine squire.

I ride all year round, a necessity for commuting 50 miles a day, and have now come to the conclusion that that isn't such a brilliant idea. The accepted wisdom seems to be that winter riding improves your skill level, as it forces you to be smooth.

...........does it b****ks!!:biggrin. Ok, yes, I accept the whole smooth thing, but to be honest, months of riding around almost upright, on deisel drenced roads, covered in salty crap, in the dark, not being able to see where you're going most of the time, just destroys my confidence. Once the winter is over, and spring peeks it's head around the corner, it takes a good few dry days for me to get back to feeling confident on a bike. In fact it gets so bad sometimes that for the past 2 years I've hit Februaryfeeling like I'll sell the bike & give the whole damn thing up. And then the roads dry, I have a good ride home, I finally get round to cleaning the bike, it looks lovely..................and hey presto, I'm hooked again!
Apart from all that, most of my learning has been on my own. I've hardly ridden with others at all, so that's something I need to improve on, as I appreciate learning form others is an excellent way. I'm always trying to improve the way I ride, and it will be interesting to see how the i2iMCA course in May helps. I'll post up a report when I've done it. I'll probably get myself onto an IAM course soon too. Then after that, I might just be safe to let out on the street :biggrin

Rene

I suppose the general development comes from taking steps in your riding 'career' i.e. starting with a smaller capacity bike riding it until your at it's limit with confidence than moving up to a larger bike and doing the same. A lot of modern bikes are very forgiving so aid development of confidence, which is an essential tool in both riding effectively and safely. There is a massive difference though between 'fast' road riding and track riding, which I found on a Ron Haslam track day at Donington, where I learnt I wasn't that fast at all and my lack of experience of sports based bikes had a significant effect on confidence and overall ability in a track situation......But I took a lot away from that experience, bought an R6, got my head round decent brakes, decent acceleration and some elements of cornering and spent a year attempting to keep up with a Mille!!! Must also admit to reading Twist of the wrist 1 & 2 for some interesting advice!
Since then of course have traded up to RSVR, which is fantastic at everything, very sure footed in corners, excellent feedback when 'making progress', superb brakes (well up front at least!) and a power curve that is absolutely spot on every time...so as pointed out above, I'm very happy to practice, practice ,practice as it means I spend as much time as possible aboard my bike improving my knowledge of how it handles and how to exploit it to it's best potential!!

rene said:

i learnt from mistakes, crashed a few times and havent for 2 years now. Soon learn your limits when you put a bike into a roundabout head first at 90mph...

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Did ya not see the roundabout then Rene :lol:lol:lol:lol Must admit they do camouflage in well with all the greenery and flowers :devious:nana

Must admit Rene, getting some track time helps a lot with everything especially cornering, and you don't have to worry about coppers, farmers, and ***** car drivers doing stupid things. :devious:thumbup

lol no i came in fast, got my knee down running on the edge of the tyers and washed out, my fault for not letting my tyers warm up properly.

done a few track days so far, will be doing more this year as well

I also ride all year round and it dosnt help at all, all you learn is that bikes slip out pissing easy..

There was two things that shaped my riding, firstly the school where I used to teach, with the exception of myself all the other instructors were serving or retired traffic police, so they gave me free class one police rider training.
The other thing was riding all year round, it teaches you loads, especially how to adapt your riding for varying conditions, still hate snow though!!!

one off road bike snow is the most fun you can have, wheelying past people who couldnt get up a hill is still prob the most fun moments of my life

Renevator said:

...........does it b****ks!!:biggrin. Ok, yes, I accept the whole smooth thing, but to be honest, months of riding around almost upright, on deisel drenced roads, covered in salty crap, in the dark, not being able to see where you're going most of the time, just destroys my confidence. Once the winter is over, and spring peeks it's head around the corner, it takes a good few dry days for me to get back to feeling confident on a bike. In fact it gets so bad sometimes that for the past 2 years I've hit Februaryfeeling like I'll sell the bike & give the whole damn thing up. Rene

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:lol That sounds just like I used to get when I was 17 and didn't have any transport other than the bike. Used to hate winter, got thoroughly fed up of 2 wheels and would have given anything for a nice warm car. Then the summer arrives and all seems well with the world again!

Was lucky to start Motocross at the age of 7 and carried on till i was 18, obviously learnt bike control from that, had a few old road bikes we used to take down the brickyards after school and weekends so learnt how to ride on tarmac from that, at 16 started on 50cc roadbike then 125 at 17 etc, so all in all ive been riding for about 34years, fcuk im old, had a few spills in my time which taught me to be a better rider although i dont think you ever stop learning, every rides another lesson, there will always be better riders than me and as i meet them i always try to learn something new by watching whilst riding with them, Obviously the more you ride your bike the more confidence you gain with it, the mille just gave me confidence the second i slung my leg over to ride it home, just felt right, had the biggest grin the whole of the 127mile journey home, well thats the shortened version of my biking career mate :thumbup:thumbup

The shortened version eh...! ...not unlike yerself my good buddy...:thumbup

Trust me my good man the long version is as long as a roll of Andrex, and one day we will sit back, beer in hand, feet on the table (be at your house cause the misses dont allow feet on the table) and i will tell you all :eatcorn:eatcorn
How fcukin lucky are you feeling now Carpe :lol:lol:lol:lol

little1uk said:

Trust me my good man the long version is as long as a roll of Andrex, and one day we will sit back, beer in hand, feet on the table (be at your house cause the misses dont allow feet on the table) and i will tell you all :eatcorn:eatcorn
How fcukin lucky are you feeling now Carpe :lol:lol:lol:lol

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Oh yeah i'm feelin lucky punk...
sounds good to me mate, i got plenty of andrex and beer,i prey for sun then we shall meet my friend....:biggrin

If id checked the answerphone last year mate we would of ridden together already.....what a :jack i am, until that day comes my oldest forum buddy i will continue to ring you from time to time just to annoy you :thumbup:thumbup

D'ya know mate, if Carlsberg made forum buddys....:biggrin

yer yer yer i know..........id be skoll :lol:lol:lol:lol