Down on Del Puerto Canyon- last friday

[ironrider]

Hello all,
First post so I apologize if this turns out weird. I would like to thank you all for sharing your tips and stories on this site. I have learned a lot over the last few months lurking through the forums. Thanks!

CRASH:
Riding my yellow 2000 CBR600F4 which I bought about 2 months ago. Friday, May 11 2012, I head out riding for the day from San Jose, up to Mt Hamilton, then down towards Patterson. Points I am specifically focusing on today are “look where you want to go/Target fixation” and less use of rear brake. Target fixation is by far my worst habit which I only noticed due to tips on BARF.

All is going well. I am riding slow, just practicing. About 4 miles West of Patterson on Del Puerto Canyon Road the curves smooth out and no more gravel mid turns (but add cattle!). I up the pace a bit and start just enjoying the ride. I am entering a left turn at about 45mph. I notice that road has slope to outside of turn. Uh oh. I lightly apply both front and rear brake and slow plenty. I see the gravel off the road where I do not want to end up. My eyes never leave it. Crap! I swear I could not look away. I am trying to turn but bike will not lean. Seriously feels like I am locked in position. I pull off absolutely no countersteer. Halfway through the turn I am off the pavement and on to gravel at about 30mph. I go about 30 feet and hit a nice big dip in the gravel. Front wheel slides out to the right and me and bike meet ground. Smack, roll, slide, etc. I was amazed at the violence of this fall at only 30mph. Sweet Jesus!
Alive? Check.
Arms move? Check.
Can I get up? Check.
Wow! I am whole! Hell yeah. Remove jacket and see I have serious rash on hip and left forearm. Left forearm is bleeding but not terrible.
Bike went about 20ft further than me. Pick up bike. Not too bad. Broken left peg, and front fairing shifted enough to block full steering motion. Remove front fairing and bend back mouting bracket. Bike is fully functional minus ability to shift with foot due to the broken left peg.

HOME:
I decide to stash my parts in a bush and ride back home over Mt Hamilton. The ride home goes surprisingly well, just kept her in 2nd gear. I get home, shower, scrub and dis-infect wounds and bandage. Jump in the car and head straight back to Patterson on Freeways (driving with right arm only). I got to the crash site about 8pm, just before sunset. NO FAIRING! What!? I saw maybe 10 vehicles in an hour on Del Puerto Canyon. I was gone from 3pm to 8pm. In 5 hrs someone came across my parts, hidden from view, and picked them up. What are the odds of that? Who would even bother? Boggles my mind.

Summary:
Rough lesson on target fixation, but could have been much worse.
Glad I was wearing gear, but wish I had worn better. No more textile jackets, leather is king. Note: I had the winter liner removed. Im sure that made it worse.
Currently missing full front assembly (headlight, mirrors, signals, fairing). If anyone comes across this, or has one they can sell, let me know.


Any tips or drills on how to get rid of this bad Target Fixation habit would be very much appreciated! Please be gentle…

BTW, my total riding experience is just under 2000 miles over the last 10 years. Both cruiser and sport bike.

Thanks,
Waiting to get back on the horse

photo 1: The beautiful turn. No Reason to Fail.
photo 2: Pile of gravel where bike stopped.
photo 3: The worst of it. Forearm only. Elbow is good.

 

[DefyInertia]

Look farther ahead and when it comes time to turn, TURN!

+1 how did htat happen to your arm?

 

[ironrider]

On the road rash and 2 deep gashes: That roadside is not so much loose gravel as it is hard impacted dirt studded with jagged gravel. Not the soft landing I expected. I went down elbow first. padding worked amazing. All damage is on forearm before elbow pad. I had the liner out so was basically a thin cloth wall on forearm. This allowed gravel to literally tear flesh without penatrating. When I looked at the jacket later I was amazed that there was not so much as a single frayed thread to tell the tale. It is perfect. At least no grit in wound.

I am still trying to find the turn on google maps. Surprisingly hard considering how intimate I got with it. My guess is I will be even more embarrassed from an aerial view. 30mph!

TURN! Noted. Short enough to be a mantra. Thanks.

 

[DataDan]

Good analysis and post, ironrider. Glad you're OK. Road rash usually looks worse than it actually is. For info the turn is here (Google maps link).

The problem with that turn is that it tightens up at the end (traveling eastbound). You can see it both in the aerial view and going through it in street view. As you approach on the straight, the turn seems flat and gentle as it disappears around the outcropping on the left. Then when you get to the double-trunk tree on the left, your view finally opens up, and you see that it's tighter than it first appears.

You understand the role of visual skill; the problem is developing it. Do that by training yourself to use the same pattern of eye movement in every turn. As you approach the turn, spot a (tentative) turn-in point. Then as you approach your planned turn-in, look for the tight-spot in the turn. That's what you want to aim for as you steer. Then, move your eyes to the exit point and begin to roll on the gas. Your eyes are always (at least) a step ahead of the motorcycle, which produces sort of a slo-mo effect so events occur predictably.

You also need to develop the instinct to countersteer the motorcycle when you have to change direction. From your description, it seems like it was something you had to think about. You don't want to have to rely on a conscious thought process to make a steering input. It's something that just has to happen. Paradoxically, you make countersteering a subconscious process by consciously countersteering every time you change direction faster than walking speed. To go left, press left. To go right, press right. Turning at an intersection? Countersteer. Changing lanes? Countesteer. Curving through a gentle freeway bend? Countersteer. After a few weeks, you won't have to think about it anymore.

 

[ironrider]

HA! Amazing, DataDan. Thats the one. Seems you know that road pretty well. Sorry I scratched it
Thanks for the good description of the turn. Went over it in my head a bit and I have a clear thought of going into alert mode just before that tree on the left. Yes. Countersteering is still very much a conscious effort for me. I think my instinct was body weight shift only, fighting a huge desire to keep the bike upright. Felt locked into place.
Shouldnt be more than 2 weeks before Im on the road again, even if I have to bolt on a cruiser headlight. I get what your saying on the visual skills, will be interesting to practice with. So far I am simply outside to inside on the turns (I think) "trying" to hit an apex. Cheers

 

[Gary856]

My belief of target fixation is it's the result of being overwhelmed, but not the cause. If you avoid being overwhelmed, you would not target fixate. What overwhelmed you? Excessive speed.

Think of it this way. If you took that turn at 5 mph, would you target fixate on the gravel shoulder? No way, because you'd have plenty of processing power to deal with it. How about 10? 15? 20? 30? 40? 50? 60? As the speed goes up, reaction time goes down, and at some point you run out of processing power, get overwhelmed, and target fixate.

What I lived by when I was new was slow-in, fast-out, when taking corners. Slow to the point of being totally comfortable with the turn, and you wouldn't get target fixation. You build up muscle memory that way and increase your speed gradually.

One more thing. When overwhelmed, you naturally stiffen up too, and being stiff also prevents you from turning.

 

[tzrider]

My belief of target fixation is it's the result of being overwhelmed, but not the cause. If you avoid being overwhelmed, you would not target fixate. What overwhelmed you? Excessive speed.

There is some truth here, though other things can make a rider target fixate. From whatever cause, let's assume something has captured the rider's attention. What can he do to get his attention unstuck?

 

[NorCal Factory]

A couple of common likely contributing factors:

1.) Riding faster than your vanishing point will allow for comfortable braking.
2.) Arm locking with hard braking.

I will bet as you were braking your arms were locked preventing you from turning as well. While looking where you are going practice moving your elbows up and down like flapping them to ensure they are loose or you will not be able to brake and turn as your weight goes on your wrist.

A good practice technique is to brake and focus on how little pressure you can put on the handlebars. The key to that is squeezing the tank with your legs just before the brakes are applied and to use your core muscles to keep the weight off the arms.

Practice that until it is a reflex.

BTY the OP mentioned that he just got a bike 2 months ago. Mt. Hamilton and Del Puerto are pretty advanced skill roads. If by chance that is his first bike, riding them at all is risky and by yourself is adding much more risk.

 

[Hank Wong]

Sorry to hear about your crash. It happens. Based on your description of the incident, you are a smart rider who has had a tough experience. Regarding target fixation, say to yourself 'got it' and look away for what's next. To not look away is to invite trouble because you are moving at speed. Even at a manageable speed, you will still lose your line and smoothness if you pay attention to the hazard after it is registered in your mind. This is true with any road hazards gravel, water, dead squirrel. You will find that once the hazard is registered with you, you will control your speed and steering accordingly. And if you are going too fast and will not steer clear, you are still better off with your eyes forward and on smooth throttle and steering control when you run over it. One way to practice this is to find a road with arrays of those round white speed rumblers like those on the Empire Grade Road. You will find that you will ride right thru the middle quiet part by looking ahead and by not looking at them again as you approach.

 

[RhythmRider]

What can he do to get his attention unstuck?

To answer the question, I'd say picking up his eyes and looking where he wants to go would take his attention off of the danger and promote a save. Drawing from personal experience, once true target fixation occurs with no previous mental preparation, I'm not sure it can be effectively broken. I've target fixated in the past, and typically what has happened is I would continue looking at the danger while the rest of my body attempted to take some kind of evasive action. I'm sure it's not the same for everyone, but I believe it takes a concentrated mental effort to break the fixation, which may not be possible with all remaining attention being placed on the evasive reaction. Also depending on the situation, there might not be enough time to recognize and intentionally counteract the target fixation once it's happened. In my opinion, one must be mentally prepared for these situations and conditioned to react constructively.

 

[Jello_Biafra]

My belief of target fixation is it's the result of being overwhelmed, but not the cause. If you avoid being overwhelmed, you would not target fixate. What overwhelmed you? Excessive speed.

This is my thought too. Riding a bit over your head leaves you with less mental capacity and time to focus on the fundamental stuff like getting your eyes up.

 

[Zenica]

Sorry for crash hope you fix bike soon.
Yeah i have same problem with fixating target like gravel and can not turn. It is excessive speed that overwhelm us new riders. Just i was lucky to snap out of it in last moment and brake enough to turn my eyes of side of the road to focus on exit target. Best is go in slow and out faster but again not to fast.

 

[tzrider]

To answer the question, I'd say picking up his eyes and looking where he wants to go would take his attention off of the danger and promote a save. Drawing from personal experience, once true target fixation occurs with no previous mental preparation, I'm not sure it can be effectively broken. I've target fixated in the past, and typically what has happened is I would continue looking at the danger while the rest of my body attempted to take some kind of evasive action.

Aaron thanks for posting. Your first sentence above really is the action a rider must take. As you mention, it's sometimes difficult to do. We are somewhat instinctually wired to watch a threat once we see one and when you consider the kinds of threats we evolved to deal with, that is appropriate.

When riding a motorcycle, we create this artificial construct, where inanimate objects are a threat, not because they are moving towards us, but because we are moving towards them. We watch the thing in preparation for a fight, but what we need to do is avoid hitting it. Looking where we want to go is the first step, and we need to do this at least a half second before we initiate a direction change to be effective.

An Air Force Colonel named John Boyd coined the term OODA Loop. The acronym stands for Observe Orient Decide Act. The concept was first developed to help fighter pilots deal with incoming threats, but it has found applications in other forms of combat, business and I have found it a useful idea in riding.

The OODA loop describes four steps that take place between the time we see a threat to the time we begin to act. Cumulatively, the steps add up to about a half a second; this is the delay we experience when we see a threat (observe), recognize that it is a threat (orient), decide what we're going to do (decide) and act (act).

We could steer away from a patch of sand without first looking where we want to go, but if we haven't looked soon enough, we may point the bike at something equally problematic. It's very difficult to make ourselves steer into "no space," which is what it feels like when we steer without first looking at our target. What we instead tend to do is stare at the obstacle and freeze on the controls until its too late.

The best way I know of to condition ourselves to keep our eyes moving is to make it a regular habit, even a drill while riding. There will still be things that catch our attention once in a while, but it's easier to break the grip when we've practiced it and know that it's necessary.

 

[yelow748]

Hello all,

HOME:
I decide to stash my parts in a bush and ride back home over Mt Hamilton. The ride home goes surprisingly well, just kept her in 2nd gear. I get home, shower, scrub and dis-infect wounds and bandage. Jump in the car and head straight back to Patterson on Freeways (driving with right arm only). I got to the crash site about 8pm, just before sunset. NO FAIRING! What!? I saw maybe 10 vehicles in an hour on Del Puerto Canyon. I was gone from 3pm to 8pm. In 5 hrs someone came across my parts, hidden from view, and picked them up. What are the odds of that? Who would even bother? Boggles my mind.

Summary:
Rough lesson on target fixation, but could have been much worse.
Glad I was wearing gear, but wish I had worn better. No more textile jackets, leather is king. Note: I had the winter liner removed. Im sure that made it worse.
Currently missing full front assembly (headlight, mirrors, signals, fairing). If anyone comes across this, or has one they can sell, let me know.


Any tips or drills on how to get rid of this bad Target Fixation habit would be very much appreciated! Please be gentle…

BTW, my total riding experience is just under 2000 miles over the last 10 years. Both cruiser and sport bike.

Thanks,

Glad you came out relatively okay
Been out that way many times and have target fixated on the cattle crossings.
I have found that tension even just a little tends to start in the jaws by the
way of clenched teeth and works it's way down to the shoulders, arms,
wrist and upper body. A simple solution to relax the jaw is to chew gum, if you can walk and chew gum then by all counts you should be able to ride
and chew gum. That's just one small thing that used to get me.
Relax your shoulders and drop your elbows and no death grip on the bars.
As far as target fixation goes.
Start with sight lines, as far as you can see in front of you.
But one of the most important things ( and there are many important things to remember ) is to keep your chin up and eyes up, by dropping your chin you drop your eyes there fore shortening your line of sight
( got that from CE II ).
Another important thing is look where you want to go, not what you want to avoid . Keep your eyes and head moving, identify , asses and call out who's next .
About your parts ,,, out there by graffiti rock, there be home less people.
They may have stashed your parts else where or taken them out to Patterson to sell.
This is the corner correct, skip to 7:20
[youtube]WgVCs0cm-Ds[/youtube]

 

[czeeb]

+1 ^^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[LectricBill]

Great thread. I'd throw in a couple of add-ons, same things, different words:

Practice your skills on every ride, all the time.

Ride like someone could pull rice paper from between your gloves and the grips. If you find yourself in a death-grip on the bars, figure out why. Too fast? Too close to cars? Too tired? Too much in a hurry? (Different from too fast).

Agree that tension can start in jaw, but also I notice the freedom in my head/neck/back relationship, or not. Free the neck, allow the head to balance and everything else gets easier throughout the body.

To build the habit of countersteering, I followed a buddy of mine on an Alps tour and he'd steer around manhole covers, just at the last moment, every single one of them, just to keep his eyes and reflexes sharp. It's fun and it builds muscle memory into the reaction time, over and over. See the cover, see where you want to go, shove the bar, continue down the road. Keeps the cagers alert too!

I target fixated to the point of going down when I first started to ride. Now I continuously ask myself as I ride: "Where do I want to go?" What if that truck pulls into my lane? Where do I want to go? And I look there. Now it's second nature, but I never stop doing it consciously.

The other day, I was taking an unfamiliar freeway entrance a little too hot, because I didn't understand that just around the blind curve was a second very sharp curve completely enclosed by a two-story concrete wall. I saw my bike heading toward the wall, felt my muscles starting to stiffen, began to fixate on THE WALL!!!, and then heard my habit-formed inner voice kick in: "Where do you want to go?" Broke gaze, shoved the left grip really hard and made the curve. This sh*t works!

Another aid I like is to practice riding as I focus on my peripheral vision. Right now, as I'm typing, as you're reading, you can subtly include the room around your monitor, even while you read. On the road, this gives your brain vital information: side traffic, pedestrians, cyclists, gravel, cattle!, shoulder width, degree of curvature. But the amazing thing it does: it opens up a spaciousness around your awareness and, in that sense-space, I psychologically experience more TIME. Things just aren't as rushed, more relaxed. Try it sometime.

And yes, leather beats textiles IMHO, except, maybe, for Motoport kevlar. I like leather plus armor.

You have a great attitude. Thanks for posting.