Went for an extended ride today. Figured I would take a nice easy cruise on the cycle to celebrate the 4000 mile mark. I suited up in my touring gear and headed out.

It seemed I was hitting all the corners smooth and hitting my lines just right until I came upon my first fast right. I picked out the apex, I made my turn in, but somehow the pressure on the bar just wasn't enough and I missed my line by about 2 feet. I was way off on that one. I couldn't figure out what I did wrong. A few miles earlier it felt like the the front tire wasn't sticking that well, so I tried to shrug this incident off, and chalk it up to not trusting the tires.

I continued on. My next two left turns were right on, but my next fast right turn I was off my line again, this time by about a foot. I was really off today, yet I couldn't understand why. I rode for about another 30+ miles of all new roads with varied results. Then it finally hit me. I was getting so comfortable with the bike, that I was actually carrying a lot more speed than usual into the corners. I would be fine on the slower corners, but on those faster corners I was ignoring the speedo, and ended entering the turns at over 20 mph faster than I usually would. So for a posted 30 mph corner that I might usually enter at 60mph, I now inadvertently carried it in at 80mph. I'm thinking I got comfortable with the speed in the straight, but I really need to pay attention more to road markers as I am coming into the corners.

You know, as I'm writing here, I realize that wasn't it. I was paying attention. However, I was trying something different today. Usually I keep my eyes forward to the runoff of the corner as I'm entering, and I use this to guage how fast I'm entering the corner, and adjust my speed accordingly. Today I didn't do that at all. I purposely ignored the runoff point way before entry and just focused on the inside line. Somehow by doing this I ended up misjudging my speed - because everthing looks so much slower - but also, I was unable to calculate my turn-in point correctly.

I think it's a combination of both. It has to do with me not being used to judging my entry speed by looking at just the inside line. However, I think I need that runoff point as a reference to properly estimate where the apex is. We'll see tomorrow. Thinking back, it just seems like the apex kept moving forward if I focused on just the inside line during entry. Whereas, if I use the runoff point as a reference I know for sure that I have to start turning at a very certain point if I want to be right on the apex.

I'll practice this again tomorrow.

Notes: Focusing on just the inside line influences an early turn in (since you go where you look) this may cause you to run wide if lean angle isn't correct (the sleazeball line).