FORWARD THINKING
QI’ve been trying to look forward as far as I can. But when I’m approaching a corner, I’m looking at my vanishing point and judging my speed, which is what I should be doing, but I’m finding that I’mmissing out on pot holes and the like on the approach to the turn. I can’t look at two things at once without having a really squiffy moment; so what should I be looking for?
AWhile it’s certainly a good thing to be looking a lot further forward than your front wheel, the common ‘advice’ of looking as far forward as you can is actually not always very helpful.
Now, if you’re riding down a blind road then yes, following the vanishing point works wonders and because that vanishing point isn’t too far ahead and your peripheral vision (which works up and down as well as width-ways, remember) helps spot those things to avoid.
On more open turns it is good to look ahead far enough to determine where you want to be on the exit of this turn in readiness for the next (or to spot potential hazards, junctions etc.) but where you are on the exit of this turn, the end of your cornering arc, is determined by where you start that arc and your mid-corner position of that arc. The only way of being accurate with these points is to bring your eyes back to first look for where you’re going to start your turn and when you are happy you’re going to turn there, look into the turn to look at where your mid-turn position is going to be.
By looking in before you commit to leaning the bike in, you get time to see where you’re going next and you can use that time to spot those pesky pot holes.