Mind of nothing (Speeding - phase 6 END)

The only way to gain ultra concentration while speeding is think of nothing. It is the same manner in a meditation, or basic skill in tai chi, kung fu, and anything else which is a feeling of surrounding makes number one priority.
By think of nothing while riding, your sense become more sensitive on your palm and feet. The vibration and the engine sound will make you become one to your ride. This kind of experience will give you an advantage to sharpen your reflex. And then you may call this your "zone."
Once you are in the deep zone of yours, nobody else can copy your style and rhythm.
By doing this, you can put so much pressure on your rival. No matter what is your rival rides if you put so much pressure, and do the counterattack at the right time, you'll have a knock out winning for sure.
There are 3 important thing that makes a man called a super street racer. He has to be brave, skillful, and a little bit reckless.
You must understand that the freedom to ride on the street is not belong just to you. There are others who drive and ride on the street. Well, let's assume that your speed level right now is as twice as ordinary rider, you should be wise to ride on the street. Draw a street line for speeding. It's not wise to draw a racing line on a public street. Even if the road is wide enough to do that, you should keep your racing spirit down to earth.
Respect is each street racer needs to differ from street rebellion. (Speeding basic end)

Observe (Speeding-phase 5)

Having all knowledge about your bike is an absolute advantage. Because, you are understand how far it will go when you push it to its limit.
Otherwise, having a small information about opponent's bike is the greatest advantage. When you are able to read your opponent's rhythm and how much power their bike produce, will give you a tiny pin hole breach for your winning factor.
You must observe your opponent for their weaknesses and their superiority. Then you can use it to compare yourself. For example, the difference in braking, turning, line taking, and throttling techniques.
A smallest difference in each of those above, can become a big opportunity to win the race.
Sometime, there are riders with very high concentration. They are the hardest rival of all. To defeat this kind of rider with just ordinary techniques is not enough. You should improvise with your observation. At least, you can have a battle of attrition for a quite time. The one who loses the concentration first, will lose the battle.

Sixth sense (Speeding-phase 3)

As I have written before, speeding on the street is difficult because you'll face so many "X" factors. Dodging others on the street while you are speeding is a risky business. Sometimes, there are crossing peds before your line, a traffic jam, and others lines.
When you found these while speeding, your adrenalin is rising and force you to be more focus. Then your arms and legs start to react before you even think about it. This is a critical point, if you try to think in this situation, then everything is too late. Let your reflect moves control your body.
You think that you can't do it, don't you? When you are not used to that kind of situation, you'll panic and grab anything. That's because you can't think that fast. Faster speed means faster execution. You'll learn this step by step as you face similar condition everytime you ride. Try to place yourself in an easiest condition first before attempting the harder one. As the example, try to execute a soft brake on a straightways before attempting it to tackle a corner. Then increase the speed, and do your soft braking practice again. Do it over and over again until you reach your speed limit.

So, why would we need this sixth sense for? And do we ever have this sixth sense? Actually, sixth sense is not exist in the world of street racers. they were just words to describe the ability to predict what's going to happen next. As an example, when you are approaching a corner, you hear a distance engine sound from the unseen part of the corner. You would think that another one is heading to the corner in the opposite direction of yours. Normally, you will anticipate this by making some space for that other thing to pass. By doing so, your own space to tackle the corner is narrower than before and you'll feel an enormous amount of pressure. You have to clear it in half wide of the road. This thought will take so much time and cause you a later execution. It's so not cool. The result will be a too much braking and shaky movement. It will be disrupting others who is watching you.
It is embarrassing, right?

Finally, this is the end of the beginners theory. When you have mastered your ride just like you flip your back hand, we'll continue with a higher level of speeding.
The next posts will tell about every small winning factor that you might not see it while speeding.
Good luck on your practice and please be very carefull.

Hary Joko Prasetiyo

Total Control (Speeding-Phase2)

Now, it's time to get serious. You should know exactly where your speed limit is. It's not important on what number your speed is. It will change step by step to higher level. But, how?

Speed is nothing if you can't control it. You should put the emphasis at "I'm the boss!" You must be able to control your ride like you flip your hand. That's why reflect moves is important. Concentrating to much on how to execute a move while you are speeding was just like a double sharp edge sword.

So, let's talk about our rides. I don't ask about what type of your rides and how fast it runs. I'm gonna ask this question.

1. What is the purpose of your motorcycle handlebar? ..... I bet the dominant answer is to turn the bike left or right. It's correct.
2. What is the purpose of your motorcycle throttle grip? ..... To rev up and down your engine. Correct again.
3. What is the purpose of your motorcycle brakes pedals? ..... To slow down your ride. Correct! amazing... you are very clever...
4. What is the purpose of your motorcycle gear shifter? ..... To change the gears. No doubt... you have pass the test...

Are those parts of the bike working alone? of course. if you see it as an individual mechanism. But the integrity of those parts could be an ultimate weapon for your bike. How could that be?

Gas throttle, brakes, gear shift, and bike handlebar is the only way to control your bike weight. You should already know that every bike has a center weight coordinate. This coordinate will change every time you change your speed. The higher the acceleration, this point will stretch back to the rear of the bike and vice versa. Then the point will set back to original when the speed is constant.

What is the relation between weight center and bike control? It's obvious that bike control is merely a weight control (weight transfer) of your bike. Without knowing this basic method of bike control, you'll go nowhere.

You should have noticed that you can still use the handlebar to turn your bike in low speed, but can you do it in much higher speed? You won't and it's dangerous. The handlebar can not turn to max point just to clear a corner in high speed, in facts you will create an angle between your bike and the road accordingly. when the right turn appear, you would lean the bike to the right and not the opposite. Why is that happen?

When your bike move forward, the weight is come along the straight path as your tire track. Then you make a turn on a corner. The weight is still to try moving straight, to eliminate this effect the weight should be neutralized by lowering its point to the ground, then bring it to create a centrifugal force along the corner. Remember that the weight will remain stabilize if you have a constant speed. so don't use the brake when you are already in the corner. it will make the weight stretch forward too fast an cause your front tire to overweight then loose its grip to the road. As the result, you'll end up kissing the asphalt. if you want to brake, do it before you enter the corner. that's why your judgment must be excellent to perform a very late braking.

There's another way to slow down before entering the corner, gear shift down will do just the same effect on creating a weight transfer. We call it engine braking. the result of this kind of braking is very amusing to the eyes of the spectators. While approaching a corner, shift down to lower gear and let the rear tire slides a little. (it's easy when you have a manual clutch). then lean your bike, the weight will change to front rapidly. control your handlebar so the weight stays on the track. and the amusing part is, you can go at full throttle while cornering with this kind of braking. clear the corner with your accelerator wide open will make the weight switch back and let the front tire free of the overweight so you can control it easily.

Let's talk about the tires. Front wheel always narrower than the rear one. Why is that? It's because you need it to create a lean angle when cornering very fast. try to lean your bike while its stop. see the tire tread, it touches the ground in a diametrical track. in fact, the leaner your angle, the smaller diameter of your tire that touch the ground. watch closely to the rear one. you should notice that the height of the front and rear tire is different now. (it's only happen if you use the recommended tire size). This difference of front-rear tire size makes you able to clear the corner in a very high speed.

To practice this phase, you should know the construction of your bike. where is the weight center gravity? how much stress you can give to the front tire? how long the reaction of the power after a sudden fully open throttle?

Now, let's hit the road....

Hary Joko Prasetiyo

When speed, time, and judgement become the factors to determine your life and death (Speeding-Phase 1)

It's just an article written by an ordinary person who tries to become better every time. in this web-log, I'll concentrate on everything I know about speed and how I was controlling it, whether I'm succeed or failure...

I've heard once, that speeding is easy... it's an absurd comment... to me speeding is way too difficult and almost impossible to achieve... with my current limitations such as small engine with a limited horse power installed on a very ordinary bike that wasn't meant for racing. Even if I did many mod to the tires, suspensions and gears, I can not hoping that much to achieve such a fantastic speed. So, I don't intent to stress on the performance of the rides... I'd prefer stressing on the skill to control the rides...

First thing to be sure of, when to travel in such high speed should be allow for somebody? It's a simple sign for somebody who ready to travel so fast, when he/she sees things run gradually slower every time the speed increases. That's the sign of the allowance... When he/she doesn't understand this sign, so don't do the speeding. I really mean it...
Why would I say that? It's easy... Speed is nothing on the speedometer, the true speed is on your sight. You can not ignore the sense of rising fear when the speed is grow to the limit of your available sight...
That's why I say it's easy to notice where your limit is...

When you are already know where you limit is, let's make a step little further. Now, I'm going to talk about time.Time is the small basic thing that differs a winner from the losers. The fewer the time, the faster he is. So how did somebody manage to achieve such a high speed? cuts the time every time you pass on a point is not that simple. Specially if you don't have the power on your rides. It's almost impossible to gain fewer time when you know nothing about you rides. But, we'll talk about that later. I'll focus on the time first.
So, how did you cut the time when the power are equal? or may be less? Let's study about time.
A minute consist of 60 seconds, each second has the fraction. And when you travel that fast, a fraction of second is crucial. If you manage to tackle that fraction of second, you shouldn't be worry. Even if you can not get ahead, you're behind him with just a little fraction of second. That's the kind of psychological war you declare to your rival.
Confused? Let's make it simple. You probably know that street racing doesn't have a true straightway. There are so many obstacles to tackle. Corner to corner, sometimes there were hairpin curves with a low grade of speed. And in the 2 way traffic, the opposite section of the center line, where the oncoming traffic suppose to be, is a dead-zone. These factors are facts to impact your time. The slower you tackle an obstacle, the more time you have to pay. It's no matter how much power on your ride is, you still can not get the best time if you can not tackle it in the right way.

Okay... I hope everybody can understand what I meant, so we can step further a little more...

Every person has different judgment about what he/she saw. relatively in a high speed. Why I choose the word 'judgment'? Because it's the matter on where and when you decide to rev up/down and brake or loose it.

The judgment needs your body to reacts faster than your speed. In other words, your body reacts faster than your brain... reflex...
Reflex is not something you can obtain in just one practice. And it's not something your body can easily accept, so don't push it too far.

Now, it's time to connect our theme words.

"When you ride in a very high speed acceptable by your vision sense, the images around you will become a scene that splash in slower time. That's the factor to determine your judgment of braking and accelerating at every corner and obstacles. When you can do it right, you'll be able to travel in a speed that you can not imagine before."

So, why don't you start to practice now? It could take 1 to 2 full days just to sense those 3 words on your rides. When you are ready to pass to the next phase, I'll be ready to write you a new post, so you can get much faster than the first phase.

Hary Joko Prasetiyo