Originally Posted by
carpediemracing
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Cornering, and descending on anything except super straight fast descents, you can work on when you're driving, pushing a shopping cart, etc. Understanding cornering "theory" is useful even if you can't dictate your own cornering line (i.e. any time you're in a field situation diving into a corner). If you understand what will happen with an early apex, a late apex, etc, you have some idea of what to expect. Most people (not just riders) will turn in early when stressed because that's the normal instinctive reaction to entering a corner hot - you turn in early. The problem is that it is almost always the worst thing you can do. By practicing late apex cornering lines, all the time, you can help ingrain them in your mind, so that you don't feel like you're going to die if you wait 5 or 10 meters to turn in. It's just doing drills. You don't go and get in a boxing ring with no training, you'd have no idea what to do. Likewise you wouldn't dive into a corner without some learning and practice first.
Hope this helps.
It was a bit surprising to me, but learning to corner fast in a car (my commute is 22 miles, mostly through country roads; lots of practice) dramatically improved my bike cornering skills. Learning not to oversteer was a huge part of this. Also, and it was a bit embarrassing to me how long it took me to figure this out, but putting weight on the inside handlebar was instrumental for me to learn cornering skills.
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"If you’re new enough [to racing] that you would ask such question, then i would hazard a guess that if you just made up a workout that sounded hard to do, and did it, you’d probably get faster." --
the tiniest sprinter