Target fixation

[Kaneda80]

hello all,

So after 7-8 months of riding and over 11,000 miles I had my first "oh sh*t" moment that could have been really nasty and was purely caused by my own bad judgment.

Let me set the scene

Just finished my last nightshift, I work in chiswick and live in Ashford kent.
On my last shift in a block, I generally like to take the scenic rout home, it can take up to two hours but is a fun ride that is somewhat meditative.
I came through London and wasn't in a rush to get home, was enjoying the ride and the weather, so when I got to gravesend decided to stop and try something new, I told the tom-tom to take me home via the winding roads set to max.
I had a very enjoyable ride, riding within my comfort zone (at least I thought so) but spirited. I do not know all the roads, they generally have very little visibility due to the trees and hedges so I slow down on approach then power out as the turn opens up and I can see ahead.
After about 45 minutes into the ride I approached a village, there was a right turn past a pub with some guys doing some work.
Foolishly I approached this turn too fast, as once I got to it, it tightened.
There was a workmans plastic barrier by the pub and I fixated on it.
As it loomed up I started to squeeze the brakes and the bike predictably stood up and started going straight, I kept saying over and over about twenty times in the one and a half second or so this event took place "stop looking at the f**king barrier, let go of the brake"
The front wheel started to lose traction and juddered as I (God only knows how) managed to slow the bike enough to regain control of the situation and finished the turn with ought plowing into anything, although there were inches in it. There was a car behind me and all the workmen obviously saw the close call and my cheeks went red.
The rest of the ride home was still fun but marred by that close call that was entirely my own fault.
I have always managed to stay calm when riding, i ride through London and my heart rate doesn't even rise when van drivers try to kill me on a daily basis, so what the heck happened? What the heck made me fixate? And why the hell did I misjudge that corner so badly? Was I fatigued? Over confident? I guess no one can really answer that but myself I just needed to get that off my chest around fellow bikers.

I am still new to riding despite having a relatively high mileage.
Am I right in thinking track days are the way to go to really train myself not to target fixate?i am registering with an MSV track day for August https://www.msvtrackdays.com/bike/calendar/2015/august/24-bh-kfrs.aspx
It looks pretty good, I can't really afford the £300 odd for full track days at the moment, is this going to help? I was pretty shaken up by the situation and very disappointed in myself for such bad judgement and how I handled it when it happened.
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I like turtles

[pompousporcup...]

From what ive learned in the short time riding, it happens. To everyone. Now's it happened you have something to learn from..if it hadn't your mind wouldn't really know what it was expected to expect...

Now that it's happened once and you're not splatted, you have a better idea of what is needed in a scenario like that. Less panic, more action.

[Dalemac]

yes, this happens. I've done it myself as a learner, and binned it.

If you fixate on a target, you will more than likely end up hitting it.

Go slow into corners that you aren't sure about, and accelerate out of them.

Also, instead of doing a trackday, look into doing a bikesafe course or similar - it will be much cheaper and will be focused on road riding.
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YBR125 -> GPZ500S -> SL1000

[WD Forte]

https://oi58.tinypic.com/2a6jm1f.jpg
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bikers smell of wee

[dydey90]

Happened to me when I first got my ER6, went into a corner that I'd never even thought about going through in the car and suddenly I was staring into the hedge and sweating. Made it round right on the edge of the gutter with poo hanging out thinking "40 is too much for that corner"

Last time I went through it I was going about 70 and felt like the bike was barely leant over at all
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This post is probably not serious and shouldn't be taken literally.
Past: CBR125,ER6f NINJA 650, ZZR600 Current: VFR750

[Just_James]

It's one of those things that's really easy to overcome in theory but can be a little more tricky putting into practice, particularly when something catches you off guard. I suppose it can be almost instinctive to look at the object you' fear' rather than just looking at where you want to go.

Not really had an issue with it on the road but initially found it hard to overcome when first getting back into mountain biking and the same principles apply.

Very easy to see and focus on the 'obstacles' (which is where you generally end up) rather than just holding your head up and looking ahead to where you want to be.
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Current Bikes / Projects: 1999 Rieju RS1 50
Previous bikes - 1986 DT125R (field bike), 1989 KX250, 1980 KX420 (with 500cc big bore), 1992 YZ250, 1988 KX500, 1989 XR250R, 1988 VFR400R NC24, 1999 Cagiva Mito 125, 2008 Rieju RS2 50 , 1993 Honda NSR 125

[Kaneda80]

[Old Git Racing]

It hurts less if you lose the front trying to make the corner than it does hitting what you're looking at straight on. Once you've done each and are still alive you will be ok.

OGR
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2022 Tiger Sport 660 2019 Street Twin 2003 K3 gixxer 1000 1998 Srad 600 track hack

[Doomsnite]

That day looks good. Might give it a go myself with am introduction into track riding
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Triumph Street Triple-R
Sold: Honda Hornet CB600F-Y / Yamaha YBR125

[robertw95]

Do you regularly ride on tight country roads? Im going to presume not so mileage commuting to work in London is in no way similar. Sounds like you just need more practice reading corners ie looking for vanishing point, find yourself some local b roads which is the best place for practicing. You need to be very careful as ones near me are brilliant very technical but more than once i've came out a corner to a tractor taking up 3/4's of road etc and horse shit everywhere. The aim once you know the road is to keep average speed the same and slowly increase
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07 Dt125r, sv650s k8, zx6rr 04

[Acemastr]

The hardest thing to do on a bike is to look through the corner and not infront of your bike/an object, I have to remind myself from time to time and my corners are so so much better when I do
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2017 KTM 350 XC-F - 2014 Yamaha R6 - 2005 Yamaha YZ125
2016 Toyota Tacoma Limited

[Dcwhite1984]

[Kaneda80]

[robertw95]

What you want to do is find good roads and just practice go on youtube and search for vanishing point video. Once you know a road well and any corners that can catch you out you start to increase speed slowly
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07 Dt125r, sv650s k8, zx6rr 04