With the roads as boring as they are around here, I found it hard to put everything in that video together. Today I took an hour and a half trip north to run some true twisties, out of Rockingham, NC. The map is a screenshot from a site another member posted, called motorcycleroads.com
I amazed myself with what that video taught me. The first few turns were scary. Then I started remembering everything I had learned. Pretty soon it all came together. I didn't get it perfectly right on every turn. But armed with the knowledge gained from that video, when I was wrong, I knew I was wrong and just as importantly, I knew why I was wrong.
Throttle control made sense on that road (and probably saved my ass). I was setting up for the turn with the line and getting a buttcheek off the seat before I got there. I was lowering my center of gravity by leaning off the bike, into the turn, but keeping my head high on the inside. I was gripping the bike with my thighs and shifting my backside with my legs, so my upper torso could stay loose and let the machine do it's work.
The first real twisty reminded me about lazy steering. Each and every turn thereafter, another aspect of the knowledge I gained from that video came shining through. It was an absolutely amazing experience.
I'm not daft. I know I've got a LONG way to go with this "sport riding" thing. On the ride back South another rider came around a bend going the other way. I was absolutely sailing through the inside of that turn, smooth and stable as could be. He came in too high, too fast and chopped the throttle just before apex. His bike did a big-ass wobble and we passed. I hope he survives the learning curve. I wish it was like the video, and I could have passed on "The Cornering Bible" to him. Except I'm going to watch it again. And again. And again.