Originally Posted by
msu2001la
I'm always surprised at how many riders fail to use the whole course on tight corners. I see a lot of racers approaching 180 degree hairpins on the middle or even inside half of the track only to slam on the brakes as they hit the apex. These are often stronger riders who can accelerate hard out of the corner, but over the course of a race these little efforts add up.
I actually think riding cantis (especially when wet) is an advantage in this regard because it forces me to be smoother with braking and think ahead a bit more about how much speed I can carry into a corner, therefore finding lines that allow me to minimize braking.
Interesting. I got that drummed into me driving a slow car fast on a race track – use the whole corner, don’t apex late, use the full track for runout.
But then again, I think I learned to race a slow car fast, because I learned to ride a bike fast before I ever drove. Still, proper apex and runout are important for tight corners. Often, I would pick a post at the edge of the lane and just aim for that for my runout. That rather forces me to take a good line.
I did find that for sharp turns on a hill, I would rather ride high to slow down, then turn in, rather than braking (if no one was on my tail). I’ll do what I can to maintain my energy (kinetic or momentum) rather than braking…
(yeah - riding canit's and slicks teaches you how to be real smooth!)
Originally Posted by
caloso
Personally, I'm a terrible bike handler and freely admit it. I'm really a roadie and before that a triathlete, so I"m improving every race, every lap even. But even in the C's I see guys ride away from me with better cornering. I'll be on a guy's wheel and then into a twisty part and then all of a sudden I'm 5 bike lengths back.
Good on ya for getting out there and doing it and having fun! The mountain bikers don’t do great with roadie skills, and the rodies don’t do great with the mountain bike skills. But its all good dirty fun.