Red Line / Blue Line – Challenge #4

Great response again for Red/Blue #4!

The winner for this challenge is BLUE – and here’s why.

Huge concept that we’re covering this week in Red-Line-Blue-Line challenge: The “give/take” principal.

At it’s very core, the give/take is all about giving up speed in one area to take (gain) it from another. We’re also putting ourselves in the best position to use our controls (brake or throttle) – putting us IN control.

Let’s break this image down:

In this week’s image we have 2 separate corners, a left hander and a long right. Looking at these two turns separately, we see that the left is MUCH faster than the right hander. That being said, I always place the most importance on the fastest turns on the track. The first reason (from the racer inside me), is that there’s simply more time to gain in these turns than in the slower corners. Secondly, being that they’re faster, the consequences for mistakes tend to be higher – I’d rather have a bigger radius giving myself less of a turn in the higher speed areas.

Also, when I look at this long right hander I see a relatively slow corner here. It’s one of those turns where I know I’m not going to make a ton of time because I’ll be leaned over for a long way through the corner. Even starting in our Body Position 1 Course, we begin to talk about the fact that lean angle is FINITE – I know that when my bike is all the way leaned over there’s not too much to be gained here, and I’m likely to get myself into trouble if I start to add too much lean angle.

With that in mind, looking at the right hander, I want to be able to control my speed all the way into the turn. Here I give myself a little bit of time to spend straight up and down where I can use the brakes enough to slow my speed. Our Trail Braking (Braking 2) course online also delves into the importance of this and all of our Standalone Events have specific drills designed to get you trail braking confidently that same weekend. Adding your lean angle more slowly here allows you to release the brakes slowly – this is a HUGE deal when it comes to trail braking in a situation like this.

Lastly the acceleration zone exiting the right hander is a slight win for blue as well. They get the bike stood up a bit faster which is great. It’s worth noting though that this is NOT the primary take away from this challenge. The big radius in the left hander was the deciding factor here. Even if blue wasn’t so strong on this exit, the advantage of creating a bigger radius which adds so much to our speed or safety wouldn’t be overshadowed.

Another awesome challenge! Look for one next week that is a tough one. I might spring it early and let it simmer over the weekend. Check back here or at our RideU social accounts on Facebook or Instagram – and remember, share these to challenge your friends!