comedo

I have to tell myself "Look where you want to go." a number of times during every ride. It's a really simple concept but it's hard to do. If I were on a road I knew well and I saw a snake, big or small, the progression would be: "Oh, what's that?", "It looks like a snake.", "Is it really a snake?", "I think it's a snake.", "I like snakes and I don't want to kill it.", "Is it alive or dead?", "It's alive.", "Try to miss it." and "D'oh!" The thought progression would be similar if I saw Jessica Alba. A big snake or Jessica Alba is not on the list of things I'm scanning for as I ride. So you fixated on a snake. Big deal. You didn't crash and, by your question to the forum, you know the importance of not fixating. Keep practising, as should we all.

uchi

ive stood the bike up 2 or 3 times now when in a corner and soemthign catches my eye on the opposite side and i loose the lean and yeah, its not a good time. i gotta focus more sometimes cause itll be the damn death of me. lol.

trinc

around here they tar fill cracks in the road, we call them tar snakes ,
if it small & perpendicular to my travel i wouldn't give it a second thought.

sometimes no reaction is the best solution.

now if it's a 2x4 then i'd pick the bike up...

tim

Tweety

The snake I'd probably just ignore, or perhaps wobble the turn a bit... Not to the white line probably...

Jessica Alba... Then I'd probably go straight of in to the woods, while my head rotates...

For that reason I go at walking pace when passing the beachfront around here in summer... Not cuz it's polite or anything (And not becuse I like to stare, like the significant other accused me of...) But because otherwise I'd likely end up rear ending someone or driving off the road when I see a nice bod... eh... bikini...

CentralCoaster

The one time I had the front tire slide out on a painted line, it happened so fast I didn't have time to react.

Which was a gooood thing, because my reaction would have been something that upset the bike even more.

I see lots of riders (and cars) flinch when they see an oncoming vehicle on a blind corner, even though the vehicle is safely in the other lane. It's human instinct, and the only way to unlearn it is by repetition.

uchi

you need a hd helmet cam for summer riding....to uh, document the ride and something like that

cnw126

Considering that a snake can cross the safest of MotoGP race tracks, and even Valentino Rossi has to deal with such distractions, then I would follow trinc's advise.

That being said, good on you not to crash.

Severe target fixation, what would I do?

Not crash, which is exactly what you did.

Erik S.

I had something similar to Central Coaster just yesterday. Dusk, on a familiar road, not going fast, didn't see the 4 foot patch that they had torn up. Slightly leaned to the left. Luckily I didn't see it or I might have upset the bike. Since I never let out of the throttle, it righted itself, my heart wanted to beat outside my chest, but all was good.

What can you do about target fixation? Not much other than to remind yourself "chin up, look through the turn" I find myself thinking this alot, particularly when I want to ride the corner cleaner/faster.

I target fixated at night, once last year. Just gotta remind yourself of the basics. That's why MSF beats us on them. Basics, basics, basics. Chin up, look through the corner.

VTRsurfer

I had a squirrel run out in front of me in a 70 mph left hander on the Sunrise Highway last week. My only thought was, "I hope he doesn't stop or do a fake" as I held my line. He cleared my front wheel by no more than two feet, running his *** off.

I always remember a quote from an article in Motorcyclist over 20 years ago, "If a squirrel crosses your path in a corner, scratch the squirrel". Now if it was a deer, that's a whole different story.

Sometimes its just hard to not fixate on a distraction, but when it happens I immediately think "Watch your line, not that car with its tires over the double yellow".

aka Yamadog

Over the years I have Crashed 3 times due to target fixation. I was injured each time and each time the bike was toast. I believe that I fixated each of these times (as opposed to all the countless times I have not) because I was SURPRISED by the DIFFERENCE between what I expected to see and what I actually saw. Well, call me a dumb-*** if I took three serious crashes to understand this. Y'all have any input or is this obvious to every other rider?

VTRsurfer

Back in the 70s a SoCal dirt bike club hired a stripper to jump out from behind a group of boulders TOPLESS during the Barstow to Vegas Desert Race.

There were all kinds of guys crashing...Hard not to target fixate on that.

Tweety

You know, that could be hazardous to her health... The idea is that you go where you are looking... And I know where I'd be looking...

lazn

Ah Jerry.. My drink choice too. Makes Captain Morgan taste like rubbing alcohol in comparison, all while being stronger.

skokievtr

During the Fall edition of the Flat 4 tour I was in a group of 9. Going down a steep, curvy hill the first 2 got thru OK but #3 on an 08 Speed Triple got spooked by a minivan going up hill, locked it up missing the van but hit the guardrail behind her. #3 lost his helmet and life after hitting the steel and going over down the grade 50 feet. #4 targeted fixated and low-sided. His FZ1 went under the van and he tumbled but was pretty much OK. #5 also fixated, lost the front and his bike hit #4. #5 suffered a badly broken collar bone along with other minor contusions. All 3 bikes were totaled.

I was #6 but had held a safer following distance, kept focused and made it through. I made the turn because I basically ignored the crash scene. Cold as it was, I stayed up. Numbers 7~9 went by OK and u-turned back on the hill which was stupid and dangerous. 1 & 2 went to the bottom and went back up while I blocked the road.

Its not only target fixation but keeping your head, a safe following distance and at least one "out" all while "reading" traffic and the road surface.

I've dodged deer and luckily always guessed correctly; i.e., duked one way and the deer the other but that to a great extent is pure luck.

CentralCoaster

We need an MSF obstacle course, full of squirrels, low-flying pigeons, boa constrictors, and airborne tire treads.

Run that enough times and you'll be desensitized. (or dead.)

I nearly hit a pine cone one time, it was the size of a softball, that would've taken me out. Another time I was turning at an intersection, riding into the sun, ran over a soupcan of some sort. That threw the whole *** up into the air a few inches. But again, I didn't even realize I had hit something until I was already over the top of it.


Maybe it's a blessing to have bad eyes, you can ride through most obstacles, except for large patches of sand/oil, or deer.

Tweety

Deers are no fun... I had one go completely bonkers on me and do a kamikaze style attack... I was basicly braking as hard as possible and waiting to see witch way to go when he turned around and charged me, head down... That closed the distance really fast and ended his life and totaled my CBR 600F3... The forks folded up under the engine and I had half a deer in my lap along with parts of the fairing when I landed in the ditch... Thankfully a very soft muddy bank so I slid rather unharmed... A dislocated thumb and lots of bruises was the result... Plus a very, very dead cell phone... The soccer mom that found me walking down the road was more than a little reluctant to take me in her car as I was covered in deer insides... But she did call an ambulance and cops...

BTW that was my first run in with a deer... Second one was better... Bent forks and smashed headlight, but I rode the bike home...

thumper61713

I was coming home one night at around midnight and I briefly yawned, and I think my eyes closed a little bit while I was yawning, this was enough time to completely not see the huge 6 point buck run out right in front of me. I held my course but I slammed on the brakes and locked up the front and rear tires. Well... I missed the buck by about 1 foot, luckily it kept running and I did not swerve.

I put Dear whistles on the front after that and it keeps the deer in one place while you drive by.

orangezuk

On the way back from Sturgis this year I just about mowed down a gaggle of pecoks-No $hit. There was one white one right in the middle of the pack. I'm staring and saying to myself "thats the biggest F'ing seagull I'v ever seen". Then I snap back to the situation I bob&weve, roll two or three of 'em, no feathered fatalties though. My cousin had to stop, he was laughing to hard to ride.

Karbon

well, if you couldn't handle a snake crossing the road...

thumper61713

If you want to show us where the turns were at you can just look it up on google maps and copy the link here...

CentralCoaster

I was riding down Cousier Canyon here in SD, and watched the rider in front of me duck a duck. Mallard SOB missed his head by about a foot! I was totally prepared to catch it too and hold onto it for him for dinner.

Moto Man

I splattered a BIG dragonfly on my helmet this weekend and was surprised how much force it hit with. I've hit my fair share of bugs over the years, but never one that big; It felt like a good sized rock.

Been lucky to never have any moto encounters with anything bigger than a dog.

RK1

For starters, I try not to go faster than i can see/stop. For practice, I pick a feature in the pavement ahead of me, imagine it to be a land mine, fixate on a feature to the right or left, and jam the bar to aim at it.