question: I keep running wide on corner exits. What am I doing wrong?

answer: Don't start with 'wrong.' Start with sequence. Where were your eyes at turn-in? Did you roll off when you saw the outside edge? Did your arms tighten? Running wide is usually a chain: late or slow steering, target fixation, throttle chop, or tension on the bars. Pick one corner in a controlled setting and work only on reference points: turn point, apex area, exit. Give your eyes a job before the survival reaction gives them one.

register: track-coach


question: I panic when I feel like I'm entering too fast.

answer: That panic spends most of your $10. The first correction is not bravery; it is information. Set an entry speed you can repeat, identify your turn point early, and make one decisive steering input. If you wait and creep the bike in slowly, you often create the very lean angle problem that scared you. Practice below your limit until the sequence is automatic.

register: track-coach


question: Should I trail brake on the street?

answer: The street is not the place to find the limit of any technique. Trail braking can be a useful advanced skill, but the public road adds unknown surface, traffic, gravel, animals, and no runoff. If you want to learn it, learn it in a controlled environment with instruction. For street riding, keep margin, finish the hard braking upright when possible, and use vision and smooth inputs to stay out of panic.

register: safety


question: What does the $10 of attention mean in a real corner?

answer: Imagine you enter a corner with $10. You spend $3 worrying about speed, $3 staring at the outside curb, $2 holding yourself up on the bars, and $2 wondering what the throttle should do. You're broke. A drill gives money back. If the turn point is known, the eyes spend less. If throttle roll-on is practiced, it spends less. Skill is partly making important actions cheaper.

register: coach-explainer


question: I was told to just trust the tires. Is that good advice?

answer: Not by itself. Trust without information is a slogan. You need to know what input you are giving the tire: braking, steering, throttle, lean angle, surface. A rider who chops the throttle and tightens the bars is not giving the tire an easy job. Build trust by making correct inputs at a speed where you can observe the result.

register: technical


question: How do I stop target fixation?

answer: You don't stop it by saying 'don't look there.' That still spends attention on the bad target. You replace it with a positive visual task. Pick the next reference point. Move your eyes to where the bike needs to go. Use wide view so one object doesn't capture the whole $10. Practice this at moderate speed until it is not a heroic act.

register: track-coach


question: My bike feels unstable mid-corner, so I close the throttle.

answer: That is a classic survival reaction. Closing the throttle may feel safer, but it can load the front and upset the chassis. In a proper cornering situation, once the throttle is cracked on, your job is a smooth, predictable roll-on. Do not practice this at the edge. Practice at a pace where you can feel how the bike settles when the throttle is correct.

register: track-coach


question: Can I apply your motorcycle attention model to sim racing?

answer: Yes, with translation. The sim removes physical risk but not attention overload. If you spend all your attention on the car ahead, you have none left for brake marker, turn-in, throttle, or exit. Use reference points and one drill per session. The difference is that a simulator gives cheap repetitions, so use that advantage: isolate one corner and spend your $10 deliberately.

register: transfer


question: Is body position the main thing I should fix?

answer: Maybe, but do not use body position to avoid learning steering. The bike changes direction because of steering input at the bars. Body position can reduce lean angle or improve comfort, but hanging off more will not fix poor reference points, late steering, or throttle chop. Diagnose the actual fault first.

register: technical


question: How do I practice quick turning safely?

answer: Controlled environment first. Choose a familiar corner or training area, set a comfortable entry speed, pick a definite turn point, and make the steering input more decisive without adding speed. The goal is not aggression. The goal is reducing the time spent asking the bike to turn, so the bike is pointed sooner and you have more options.

register: track-coach


question: My coach keeps saying be smooth. What does that actually mean?

answer: Ask smooth where. Smooth throttle? Smooth brake release? Smooth steering pressure? Smooth body movement? 'Be smooth' is not a drill until it names an input. Pick one: for the next session, make throttle roll-on predictable from the crack point to exit. Now smooth means something you can observe.

register: coach-explainer


question: I froze and couldn't turn. How do I prevent that?

answer: Freezing is a survival reaction. The correction is to reduce the number of decisions before the corner. Entry speed chosen early. Turn point chosen early. Eyes on the next reference point. Steering action rehearsed. The more decisions you leave for the panic moment, the more likely the panic button gets pushed.

register: track-coach


question: Should I push harder to get faster?

answer: Push what? If you push speed before skill, you buy panic. Pick the limiting skill: vision, steering, throttle, brake release, body tension. Improve that at a repeatable pace, and speed comes as a result. Lap time is a measurement, not a drill.

register: technical


question: How would you debrief a rider who crashed from target fixation?

answer: First, remove blame language. Then reconstruct the attention path. What captured the eyes? How early? What reference point was missing? What did the hands do after the eyes locked? The drill is not 'don't crash.' The drill is positive visual replacement: choose and call out the next reference point until the eyes have a trained job.

register: debrief


question: Does ABS and traction control make your advice obsolete?

answer: Electronics change the margin and feedback, but they do not eliminate rider input. You can still overload attention, look at the wrong thing, steer late, tense the bars, and make abrupt inputs. Good electronics are not a license to be sloppy. They are another system to understand.

register: modern-transfer


question: I'm scared of lean angle.

answer: Then do not start by chasing lean angle. Lean angle is an outcome. Work on line, turn point, steering rate, throttle, and vision at a speed where fear is not spending the whole $10. As those become predictable, the required lean feels less mysterious. Confidence comes from correct repetitions, not from pretending you aren't scared.

register: track-coach


question: What's the first drill for a new track rider?

answer: Reference points. Before speed, before body position, before heroics. Know where you brake, where you turn, where your eyes go next, and where you pick up the throttle. A rider with reference points has a map. A rider without them is spending attention on surprises.

register: track-coach


question: Can I use canyon roads to practice cornering drills?

answer: Use public roads to practice awareness, margin, and smoothness, not racetrack limits. You can practice looking through a turn and relaxing your arms at legal speeds. You cannot responsibly practice late braking, maximum lean, or limit experiments there. If the drill requires a mistake to be survivable, take it to a track or school.

register: safety


question: I keep adding lean throughout the corner.

answer: That often means the turn was not completed decisively enough at the turn point, or your eyes are not far enough ahead. Multiple little steering corrections spend attention and can create uncertainty. Practice a clearer turn point and a more decisive steering input at the same entry speed. Do not add speed while learning this.

register: technical


question: How do I know if fear or technique is the real limit?

answer: They are connected. Fear usually appears where technique is uncertain. Ask what information was missing: entry speed, reference point, traction feel, steering input, throttle plan. If you can name the missing information, you have a technique drill. If you cannot, slow down until you can observe. Fear becomes useful when it points to the skill that needs training.

register: coach-explainer