Welcome back to my helmet! Part two of riding by direction. And we have something special for you
guys. We will be riding the most epic road in all of America. The best motorcyle road in the world.
It's what we call a high-consequence road. So it's the perfect place to demonstrate the
technique. Which is, we make decisions based on speed and direction, not by rote sequence.
When we use the front brake, and slow, the bike wants to slow down and turn. Maintenance throttle,
neutral throttle, steady throttle; the radius of the corner stays the same. And then acceleration.
My favorite part and yours. The motorcycle stops turning and wants to run wide. So, on this
high-consequence, beautiful road; we didn't think we were going to be able to do this today. It was
going to rain all day. But look at it now. Lets tip in, to Ride by Direction
and check out that view. Here we go. In we go. Now the fun begins. Alright!
The front brake makes the bike slow and want to turn. Maintenance throttle and
accleration. Now check out this corner! Oh my goodness! Do not get this wrong!
Is that most epic corner you've ever seen?
Alright, we slow. Maintenance, and acceleration. You may also have noticed that we adjusted the
markings on the hand. The tape now aligns to where the throttle starts accelerating.
And the mark on the brake is where the brake begins braking. We never overlap throttle and
brake. Especially when the speeds are up or the grip is down. We use one or the other. Never both
together, unless we are talking about the rear brake, then yes, we can overlap the rear brake.
We are behind Le Chateau. Apparently he's turning off at a very rapid pace.
Into this blind corner, down the hill, back up to pace.
And just look at that view. That is not a Florida view right there.
Here we go.
A nice, gentle sweeping corner. Not a lot matters here. We have lots of grip.
We're going to slow. It's blind,
I can't see. Maintenance and acceleration. And we slow. Maintenance; I'm pretty
happy here. I'm happy with where the bike is pointed. I'm at maintenance throttle. Alright,
now I can see my exit and take away lean angle, I'm going to start adding a little bit of gas.
Nice! Right? Didn't that feel good? Alright, we're slowing in.
Another blind corner. Maintenance throttle. Can't really see my exit so I'm just hanging out here.
Oh, there's my exit. So accelerate and take away lean.
For those of you who don't think blind corners exist, come hang out with us out here in the west.
They're almost all blind.
Look at that view. Like, you can't buy that for a dollar. Not bad at all.
Here, were going into a gorgeous set of bends. Slow... Little bit of throttle... Er, a little
bit of brake pressure, i'm sorry. Maintenance throttle. Take away lean angle and accelerate.
On the brake. Maintenance. Gentle acceleration because I can't really see where it's going.
over that hill like that. I'm always covering the brake. I am always ready to return to the brake
at a moments notice. Go to the brakes when we're nervous, right?
We are not required to be on the gas as the corner starts. And we're not required to be on
the brake until we get to the apex of the corner. We make decisions based on speed and direction.
And that is all hugely variable based on where we are in our lane, and what variations we're dealing
with in that moment in time. We
want this really adaptable process because nature never repeats itself. Ahh, that felt really good.
Slowing... kinda' maintenance, looks like it's going to get tighter again. Can't
really tell for sure. We'll just hang out here at maintenance throttle. Oh,
there's my exit! Lets go! Boy, you just
couldn't ask for a better day than this. Thanks for joining me on this amazing ride.
If you ever want to ride this road, It's called Utah Highway 12, near Boulder Utah.
Slowing into this corner. Weeeee! Doesn't that feel good? Still slowing... Maintenance.
Accelerate out. Check out this corner! I like
it! On the brakes. A little bit of rear. Braking more, this is tighter than I thought. I'm still
braking. I'm still braking. On the brakes. A little bit of mainteance. Now I'm accelerating.
Slow.... Maintenance, accelerate! Accelerate is still my favorite part.
Slow... A little closer to the white line than I wanted to be, but thats alright.
Maintenance. A little bit of acceleration.
This is an amazing hike if you are ever in the area. Stop and go on that hike,
there's a great, awesome waterfall at the end in the middle of a semi circle in the rocks.
Slow.... maintenance. A little bit of acceleration I gotta' slow again.
Still slowing. Maintenance. A little bit of gas. Slow... maintenance... acceleration! Right?
This is a game-changing technique my friends. We get to
do what we need to do in the moment. We're not locked in
to a process. Processes are fine for learning at the very beginning stages. But as we advance
as riders, we need to advance our techniques. I love this little section through here. Through
the rocks. Look at that. Oh, thats so good. Maintenance throttle. Acceleration. Brake.
Little bit of tip-in. Still on the brakes. To maintenance. There's my exit. Brake. Maintenance.
Back to the brakes. Maintenance. Acceleration! Isn't that fun? I could just do that all day long!
Here we go, up and over and down. This one is nice and tight! Look how tight that is. Oh yeah!
Acceleration. Up the hill. Wahoo!
They just repaved this road a couple of years ago. You should have seen it
before. It was terrible. This is better. Going up hill is always easier because
gravity is kind of helping manage our speed, as I slipped in a little downshift there.
To the brakes. Get my turn, get my direction. Accelerate up the hill. Past the Kiva Coffeehouse.
Great cup of coffee. I feel like a tour guide. Alright, slowing in... maintenance. Acceleration!
Now, a lot of people think an apex is the middle of the corner, which is true. But
in the context of motorcycles, the apex is where we put them. The apex is where we're
closest to the inside of the turn. And it's merely a report card of how well we did in the
corner. It's not a requirement. Maintenance. Acceleration. See! Thats my apex right there.
See how that all kind of worked out really nice? Little bit of brake, just to kind of set my speed.
Look at this! Up the hill is easy. Just went into maintenance. I didn't really use the brake on that
one. But I was happy with my speed and direction. Now we got a straight bit, here for a mintue,
before we get to the next good part. Hope you're having fun.
A fun fact about this road, this is actually where they filmed the Coyote
and Roadrunner cartoons. They were filmed in this area. Not many people know that.
Alright, we're going to pause-out for this straight bit because who cares?
And
we're back! Straight-bit dispatched. I don't know if you can see in the camera what the
road is going to be doing here in a minute. Look at that! Up the side of the mountain.
Down into these corners. Have you ever seen a more beautiful sight? Like I said, this is where
they filmed the Coyote and Roadrunner. Into this nice, downhill corner. Oh,
I just love it! On the brakes, downshift, Right there, I'm still on the brakes. Maintenance.
And acceleration. On the brakes, even on the uphill. Still braking. See how tight
that got? Now we're to maintenance. Staying at maintenance. Acceleration.
Alright, this one probably maintenance all the way through... Oh, it got a little
tighter. Look at that. I had to add more lean. I'm not at the limit so that's fine.
Acceleration through some hoopitity-doopities. Yippie!
Look at that pretty view! Man! I could just ride this all day. Well, as it turns out,
I actually have been riding this all day. Alright, into this nice, uphill turn. Downshift. Braking,
slowing. Maintenance. Maintenance... There's my exit. Acceleration.
Here we go, slowing. Still slowing. I'm at maintenance. This is a long corner. Long corner.
Alright... Take away lean and accelerate. Oh, that was so much fun! Here we go into the next one.
Downshift... A little bit of braking. Maintenance. I'm at maintenance. Acceleration.
We're going to catch up to this pickup truck here. Trail braking up the hill. Maintenance throttle.
Oh, he turned off! How perfect is that?!? And acceleration! We're going to go slow on this
uphill so we don't catch up to that car. Because we only got a couple of good turns
left and we want to make sure we can enjoy them. So, we'll trundle.
And just kind of, like, check out the view.
Alright, here comes the corner, lets get back up to pace.
And to the brakes! Settle the front. Maintenance. I'm at maintenace. A
little slower than I'd like to go, but thats okay. Acceleration.
I think we're still going to catch that car. And slow.... This is a nice,
gentle corner. Lets hope the car wants to check out the epic view. C'mon car,
you wanna' see it! You wanna' look at that view! As we slow... Oh, he want's to! Oh,
he's not gonna'. Alright, we'll just...
Alright, next corner. Up the hill.
Nice, gentle sweepeing corner. We're at maintenance the whole way. N
Never really committing until I can see my exit. And there we go guys.
Ride by direction. Make decisions based on speed and direction.
If you want to make the circle smaller; we slow. If we want to keep the circle the same radius;
maintenance. And if we're done turning then we get to accelerate. Turn the go-fast knob and have fun.
Guys, thank you so much for watching. Hope you learned something. Hope you had fun,
on this most epic of roads. Ride on and ride well.