if you've ever tensed up in a corner and
run wide if you've ever looked at a log
just before you hit it if sand and
gravel terrifies you maybe vision is the
issue are you there hello
[Music]
vision is an undeniable cornerstone of
riding you ride around with your eyes
closed bad things are gonna happen but
it's not just keeping your eyes open or
looking down the road it's how we use
our vision it's a lot more complicated
than than just get your eyes up if
you've ever been told get your eyes up
you're missing the details it doesn't
tell you what you're looking for you
looking at the sky in the road the the
pavement your fender I want to introduce
a new concept to you it's called home
position our eyes naturally come back to
a resting position in the center of
their travel I refer to that as a home
position and because of this we point
our nose or chin and then the eye
sockets themselves to the furthest point
that we're gonna gain information so on
the road that's to the furthest point
that I see pavement on the trail is to
the furthest point where I can figure
out where that trails going my eyes can
move around I can look down at the road
to see if there's a hazard or gravel I
can look down with the trail and see if
there's a slippery log but my home
position where I Center my eyes always
needs be to the furthest point where I'm
gaining information here's an example
where the abstract statement eyes up
isn't clear enough if I say eyes up on
this road your eyes may go somewhere
between where I'm standing and the edge
of where you can see the gravel stop or
maybe you're looking all the way to the
edge of the gravel but that's not
actually what I'm telling you to look at
what we want to be looking for is the
furthest point of information and in
this case I want to be looking to the
left over the grass that's where I'm
gonna get the soonest information
there's another vehicle coming at me
that's where I'm gonna see it first if
the road changes direction or changes
difficulty that's where I'm going to get
the soonest information for that eyes up
is not enough you have to be looking all
the way beyond the beyond the actual
road itself beyond the actual dirt and
looking for that new information
[Applause]
[Music]
[Applause]
[Music]
this rose a good example of what I
naturally want to drop my eyes or drop
my home position the home position on
this road should be all the way to the
very far end where the road hooks to the
left but because the road is beginning
to dry out I'm starting to see a lot of
different colors and changes I see light
gray dark black shiny surfaces flat
surfaces it can be very difficult to
pick up if there's sand or gravel mixed
in and I want to see that detail the
urge I have to resist is dropping my
vision and dropping my gaze completely I
keep my home position all the way to the
far end where it hooks to the left and I
only allow my eyes to shift down long
enough to pick up the details to decide
whether it's a threat or not a threat I
keep my home position in the farthest
position or the farthest distance I can
[Music]
this corner is full of distractions that
try to draw my vision down to the road
itself and away from the home position
there's pine needles there's loose
gravel there's leaves on the road I have
to remain diligent keep my home position
locked all the way through the corner
and only allow small glances to pick up
what's an actual threat if I look at
those things on the road those small
pieces of gravel those pine needles
those really aren't threats to me but
now I'm not picking up new information
that's happening in front of me and when
I look down my sense of speed increases
my fear increases I'm much more likely
to end up running wide in that corner if
you're doing it right this is what it
looks like and if you look like this
it's wrong
[Music]
thanks to Arclight for sponsoring this
episode
Arclight makes very high quality
protective sunglasses and eye protection
for motorcyclists and they have all the
features I'm looking for when I'm
looking for a protective eyewear they
have the temples that are flexible they
fit inside the helmet comfortably they
have interchangeable lenses with all
kinds of different colors that are
scratch resistant Anti Fog water
repellent and most importantly they're
not polarized they have a nice
comfortable nose bridge on them these
are exactly what I'm looking for
they check all the right boxes for
adventure riders and for street riders
[Music]
how we use our vision is as important as
where we point our vision what we need
to understand is that tunnel vision or
what is called central vision or focus
vision is only about three to five
percent of what you see in front of you
and then there's a little bit more
vision around that called para central
and a macular vision which still has
color in some detail but it's a pretty
narrow range that we have where we're
getting clear detail peripheral vision
moves out to 3045 degrees and then we
get a wide peripheral all the way out to
as much as 210 degrees of range but
here's the thing when we use our
detailed vision that three to five
percent of really sharp focus we end up
with tunnel vision we lose what else is
going on around us our peripheral vision
is what protects us from cars coming in
from the side it was it's what protects
us from deer that may jump out in front
of us we all know if you're looking at
the right side of the road for the deer
they're gonna come from the left side as
riders we need to develop our ability to
use this vision effectively here's the
problem when you open up your vision
when you're allowing yourself to see all
the way out to the sides your central
vision goes soft it gets blurry and most
of us don't like riding down the road
with soft fuzzy vision but using it and
developing your peripheral vision and
your central vision and how to use it
and when to use it can be the difference
between riding like an average rider or
riding like an expert
[Music]
fear is it the foundation of almost
every crash or accident we have on a
motorcycle whether it's running wide in
a curve on pavement or whether it's
because we tense up in the gravel and
then end up on the ground it turns out
fear can be controlled and vision is one
of the best strategies to do this one
way to control fear is looking farther
out so you have less sense of speed or
lean if we're going through a corner on
pavement we feel like we're leaned over
too far very seldom are we actually at
the limit of traction or ground
clearance it's almost always up here in
the head the farther I look the less I
sense that lean angle another way to
control fear is to give yourself more
time to sort through the information on
the road in front of you either slow
down or look farther out so you get the
information sooner a lot of fear comes
from information that comes in too fast
and too much it means that there's too
many things to sort through you have
gravel and logs and speed or you're on
the road looking through a corner and
the corners turning quickly you're
trying to figure out where it goes
you're trying to look for traction you
feel like you're going too fast and so
when I'm using my home position I'm
looking as far down as possible that's
the furthest I can see to start picking
up information now we have more time
between where I am and where I'm going
to process that information this is why
when we get our eyes up and farther down
the road it always feels more
comfortable and this is a critical
strategy to stayin alive many riders
that come to me are looking to go faster
they want to keep up with their riding
partners of their buddies and turns out
experiences the issue not necessarily
their skill or their abilities they're
guessing when you're looking at the
gravel if you've never been through deep
gravel deep sand deep mud you're
guessing you're you're predicting what
you think is gonna happen because you
haven't been there before as you get
more experienced and you're more
accurate about predicting that your
speed will naturally pick up it's okay
when you start you need to
go slow it's the right thing to do
[Music]
you