[Nimbus]

http://home.att.net/~datadan/etc/degrees.html

I've read this before, but it's as good the second time.

 

[JiT]

I have read that before but enjoyed reading it again, very good write up. thanks!

 

[mwj1042010]

Do you actually work Jake, or just play on SVRider board and read cool articles??

 

[Ben_JamminVFCC]

Great post, Justin...I remember reading that article in..Sport Rider?


That definitely seemed to speak directly to me as I've been exploring all over lately and finding some roads, and feeling that pressure from myself to push it a little bit. It's better to be 100% in control and slow than to go faster and be just 1% out of control.

 

[Scotch]

bleh... I'll take late braking and spinning up the rear over smooth anyday :twisted:

 

[CDNSVS]

What a pile of hogwash. :roll:

That rider described is a thing of fiction. Everyone crashes sooner or later. It is the nature of the sport. As to riders who look that smooth and comfortable, I have never run into one of those that was also fast. Those are two things that rarely happen in concert with each other on the street.

I have seen it on the track but there I have also noticed that the faster one goes, the more violent and hairy the sport becomes.

Check out any professional bike race and you can see plainly the bikes moving around, rear ends jerking and twitching under power, bars waggling violently over a bump.

Those guys are some of the fastest in the world and they don't look smooth at all.

 

[tonyjuliano]

On the street, those guys would look smooth as silk. They are jerking around on bikes with monsterous hp, trying to find a way to go even faster. They are constantly on the edge of traction, looking for more speed. If they were not smooth, they would be dead.

 

[Poe]

I think that article is SPOT-ON. Awesome read. CDNSVS, he's not talking about racing, but street riding. I think that rider absolutely DOES exist - and I've seen him. I was going through the Gap last year at what I thought was a pretty good clip - near the ragged edge for me at the time - and a guy on a Gixxer came by me like I was standing still and swooped through the next turn and was gone - but it wasn't his outright speed that took me aback. It was the fluid smoothness of his movements. It was beautiful... effortless... perfectly in control. My own limits have increased significantly since then, but I still have a long way to go to match his - if I ever do. Like the article says about that limit or "tipping point":

It?ll be different for each of us. And it?ll vary from day to day, maybe even from hour to hour, depending upon how we feel. Sometimes we?re in the groove and sometimes we?re not. But I think the key is that as long as the rider stays this side of the tipping point, he can probably ride a surprisingly long time without ill effect.

I think that is very true. You just have to be able to recognize where that tipping point is - and stay on this side of it.