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I have in the past referred to vision as being proper. Look, everyone on a motorcycle has vision, but proper vision as detailed below will give you a smoother, more confident ride resulting in you being able to pick up the pace…for free!

I’ve been through Bob Bondurant’s GP Road Race 3-Day course as part of the lisence requirement at work. One of the first things they hammer into your head is proper vision. They do this in several ways. First is the classroom talk about using your peripheral vision when driving and you should be looking where you want to go. It is that simple of a concept, but the execution is not always intuitive. If you want to turn in more, look further into it.

The second was called the skid-car. This was a special vehicle with out-riggers attached to the four corners that had the ability to lift an axle. Imagine the effect: Lift the front axle and you lose grip in the front…lift the rear axle and you lose grip in the rear. There were two components to this exercise. One was throttle control, but the other more important was vision. LOOKING WHERE YOU WANTED TO GO. When the instructor lifted the rear axle, it was like driving on ice. The ass-end would fishtail, etc. because it had no grip. And for those of us who have driven on ice, steering corrections are necessary. No matter how out of shape the car was, if you were looking where you wanted to go, you hand on the steering wheel almost automatically put the car there.

The third was on the road course with the instructor next to you. This was a little amusing. They were like drill sergeants yelling “WHERE ARE YOU %#&!!@# LOOKING!!!” It didn’t take too long to shape up under those conditions. Even though this training was in a car, it applies directly to bikes.

I can personally atest to not only the importance of vision, but using the available vision correctly. Back around 1995 was my first trip to Deal’s Gap in the NC/TN area (yeah that one). I was the only guy at that time in that particular group who has raced within an organization (AMA & WERA). This was also my first ride with this group of guys. On a track, not much is out of your immediate sight, but in mountan twisties more than half of the turns are blind.

I was riding very notchy (read: turn in, adjust, adjust again, adjust yet again, etc. through the same turn ) and I knew it as I could feel it, but somehow I kept a pretty good pace. Oddly enough, one of the slower guys took notice of this as I was working my way through the pack. That night, as we were BS’ing around the camp fire at TWO, he said to me “Man, you’re all over the road. Where are you looking?” “Huh?” I responded. He said very simply “Try looking through the turn or at the least at the very edge of the road that you can still see ahead of you.” That my friends was the single-best piece of advice I have ever received (except for my Dad’s “Don’t get happy”). To this day, if I’m blazing through the mountains and things just aren’t right, almost 100% of the time if I focus back on proper vision, all becomes well. Vision improved my speed and comfort more than any motorcycle modification could have at the time.

Having proper vision is not too difficult when you’re running out front, but get behind someone and only experience will keep you from target-fixating. Its tough not to do and takes practice and the actual mental awareness to catch yourself. I still do it. But I have learned over time to check myself periodically (automatically) now. Some of the best and most confident rides are those where I was not looking at the license plate in front of me but through or around him. Even though I prefer to lead than follow, I let someone else go in front to practice not target-fixating.

For the new rider, please nail down your vision before you start making the bike go faster. For the experience one, pass on the word and practice the non-target-fixating. I am living proof that it will improve the quality of your ride and your riding ability more than any bolt-on part.