Re-learning how to corner aggressively at speed after bad experiences

I've raced a bit and crashing is a part of the racing. After every crash - the worst one being actually on the road - riding headlong into a car - I completely lose confidence on the bike. Its like a fear of the next accident waiting around the corner.

I rebuild confidence by riding cross or mountain bike. I relearn all the bike handling skills - I tend to lose on the road bike. The advantages being no cars and a soft landing.

I've lost count of the accidents I've had. The best way for me to regain confidence is to wear safety gear. But I'm a very rough rider at any time.

The safety gear gives me the confidence to go back to pushing limits.

Maybe it is just evolution's way of asking you to increase the chances of passing your genes onto future generations? Of course, it must be balanced against the greater number of potential mating partners who will be attracted to you as they watch you taking corners faster and lower, and seeing you in the top spot on the podium.

I think the best way to build confidence cornering aggressively is understanding cornering principles and then practice doing them without leaning too much. From there progressively increase speed plus lean without going past the limits. I think throwing your hands up and saying well crashes happen or go ride off road for a while is selling yourself short and not necessarily addressing the a lack of confidence cornering.

Some fundamentals on a bike are:

• Brake upright prior to the turn. If you have to brake during the turn I prefer to use the rear brake and that is similar for me on a motorcycle too.

• Your line should be Outside, Inside, Outside. It minimizes the time your bike is leaned over and allows you to carry maximal speed through the turn.

• You should also look through your turn and Outside, Inside, Outside path you plan to take. Also, you should be firm, but loose on the handle bars. Like a motorcycle if you have a death grip on the handle bars it makes the bike more unstable and twitch as the bars slightly will move as the tires adjust to terrain in an attempt to stay upright.

• Prior to leaning you should have your inside foot and pedal at 12' oclock to avoid it hitting the ground and avoid pedaling until you are straightening your bike back up as you exit the turn. I also slightly stand on the outside foot to act as an anchor to allow my upper body to lean towards the inside of the turn and my inner leg to be unloaded. This is similar to the leg work when cornering on a motorcycle as in the outside leg acts as an anchor for your lower body so that your head and upper body can lean into the turn. This through the magic of physics will allow you to go through a turn at a given speed while minimizing lean angle.

• If you are traveling around 18 MPH or more you should initiate the turn by counter-steering like on motorcycle. You also should be in the drops on a road bike when cornering aggressively or at least the hoods.

You can see some of that here on one of my rides around my favorite hairpin on a warm up @4:37:

As an external reference you can check out Twist of the Wrist by Keith Code for motorcycles. They do one of the best jobs explaining cornering physics and I find almost all of it translates to bikes including shifting body weight to the inside in an attempt MINIMIZE lean angle while maximizing speed.

Well, having respect for what can happen is a good thing! It's what keeps you alive.

That said, there are two things you need to consider:

• Tire crawl: There are bicycle tires that are just squirmy. When you lean a bit into a corner, the inner flank collapses somewhat while the turning tire is loaded, causing the bike to move in a direction that does not coincide with the plane of the wheel. This crawling easily kills any confidence you have in your bike. I guess, motorbike tires don't do that at all.

  Good tires are stiff enough to retain shape in aggressive corners, giving you a feeling of riding on rails. This builds confidence. Like when you are on a motorcycle.

• Road conditions: As I said, respect for the possibility of slipping is a good thing. Cyclists typically ride much closer to the physical limits of cornering than motorists, including motorbike riders, do. As such, we need to be much more aware of the road surface where we are going to ride through corners. A slightly moist road can be enough to get a cyclist of their steed, and you need your eyes to do it safe. Look ahead to judge the conditions well, then you can be confident when you go through the corner that you won't be surprised. I guess you do that on your motorcycle as well, or are you only ever riding when the sun is shining and the roads are perfectly dry and clean?

Also, keep in mind that slipping away once in a while is perfectly normal when biking, especially with bad weather conditions when you wouldn't even think about mounting a motorcycle. When I commute to work in winter, I expect to slip away at least once per winter. That's ok, though: When I happen to slide in winter, I'm typically dressed rather thickly, my arms and legs don't have time to get into any odd angles, and the ground I'm hitting is slippery rather than abrasive. Those are the accidents where you scream sh*** once, get up, brush the snow from your clothes, recover your bike, check that the handlebar is still straight, mount, and continue on your way. The better the road conditions, the less likely you are going to slip, and on a dry, clean road, it should be next to impossible with good tires.

TL;DR: The better your tires, the easier it is to gain confidence in them.