In past episodes we have talked about emergency braking and emergency braking in a corner… what if we rarely needed to use those skills? Here is the first step in doing that.
Your first and best defense to avoid an obstacle is early detection. You can only do that if you use your head and eyes well.
When teaching a new rider class we emphasize over and over the importance of using your head and eyes well on a motorcycle but many experienced riders fail miserably to master this fundamental. The reason the phrase head and eyes is used is that if you turn your head to the right, but your eyes look straight ahead, the technique WILL NOT work. Both your head and eyes must turn in the direction you want the bike to go. Never look down unless you want to go down. Head and eyes does take practice to become second nature but it will pay huge dividends for you on the road.
Properly using your head eyes improves your balance, it helps you avoid obstacles, it improves your cornering, it allows you to make adjustments to avoid the hazard rather than reacting at the last second.
So think about this the next time you go for a ride.
You should always look where you want the motorcycle to go and know that your motorcycle will go where you look.
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