Why is it that some riders learn faster, or seem naturally faster, and have that 'feel' for the motorcycle and why do others struggle instead? In this article, you will know why this happens, how to use it as an advantage, and how to overcome it to beat the competition.
What is a skill gap?
Skill gap is whenever your performance or skill is lagging behind others who are usually at your level and simply put, it is when another rider does something with which you struggle with ease!
An example would be that say in a racing school you and another person let's call him John attend with both of you having no prior experience after a few classes that both of you have attended, John can smoothly manage a hairpin but you are struggling to keep your motorcycle on the track!
Skill gap can be anywhere where you are lagging behind your competition and sometimes you can get disheartened seeing others easily have a 'feel' of the track and you are struggling as was in my case.
When I attended a motorcycle racing academy for the very first time, I was the only one amongst the entire batch who had been consuming everything about track riding that existed on the internet which was a hassle and stressful which is why I wish I had a resource like Motoracers back then and even on the hours-long trip to the track all I did was learning.
My batch mates did none of this, their first time learning anything about the track was at the very classes itself. I was answering all the questions the instructors asked us to gauge our learning yet when I hit the track for the first time those guys who only knew how to ride a motorcycle on public roads before the track were in the top 10 and I was fighting amongst the last positions!
This is a skill gap. It is very frustrating when you have one but for those of you reading this do not give up because, despite this setback after every session trying to make myself better, I finally was in the top positions; A skill gap is only temporary, and I'm going to share tips and tricks I learned to close this gap with you.
Assessing your current skills
When assessing your current skills you must be as realistic and honest as possible and often we first have to accept our shortfalls, ignoring our shortfalls by considering them unimportant is the wrong way.
A quick way to uncover your weak points is to recollect after a session which parts of the track you feel confident about, and which parts you felt more stressed and cautious.
Now you know where you are weaker at and often due to the fact we will be "locked in" while racing we may forget the exact details of what we did on the track when we return to the paddock hence ask for feedback from fellow riders as well.
Setting Realistic Goals
Often many times we riders head to a track session without any specific targets!
We often say that this time I want to be faster or smoother or just better, but herein lies the problem because these goals are too vague and quite intangible.
Set SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound) or micro goals for each track session.
When we set goals we want to be faster or better but this is a huge goal combining various aspects hence breaking it into micro goals such as improvement in corner 3, hitting the apex for corner 9, getting an improvement for the entry speed for corner 8, etc makes you able to make true progress.
Setting measurable micro goals makes it easier to learn and handle and done consistently all these tiny improvements add up and you automatically become faster and better with your opponents shocked!
Switch your mindset before every track session from "This time I want to be faster, better" to "This time I want to hit apexes consistently for all laps specifically on corner 4" and watch in amazement how your skill improves in leaps and bounds.
Training and Practice
It is often said the more time you spend on track, the better you become. Not really.
I have seen riders who are so frequent to the track crumble against some competitive racers who come to the track less often than the frequent riders themselves!
How is this possible you may ask? that shouldn't the frequent rider be better than the competitive rider since he has more track hours in total?
The real reason why the competitive racer I saw was better is because of how he used his time effectively, those who go to the gym will know that intensity is greater than volume and those preparing for exams know that 3 hours of concentrated focus is better than 8 hours of diffused focus and track racing is no different.
Many of us can't visit the track as often as we would like to due to things like work, studies, and maybe the track is quite far from where we live which is why for every track session we get we must maximize it to its full potential and help you make the most of the limited time we have I have made this free e-book you can get which is simple and easy to understand teaching about utilizing track days to the maximum.
Learning from Experienced Riders
One of the things I did that lifted me from the bottom to the top position was simply observing the man who was in the first position.
When I was behind him my aim initially was how to overtake him but I never could overtake him no matter how hard I tried and I simply could not catch up to him then on setting micro goals I switched to observing him.
I noticed that his lines were slightly different than mine, the exact position on the curb he hit at the corners was different than mine, his braking position was different than mine and these things in total made him uncatchable and I simply started following the exact lines, apexes, etc as him and the very next lap I was competing with him!
Ask for feedback back at the paddock from riders who were behind as well as ahead of you and ask them about your riding. Also, ask instructors after every session regarding any doubts you may have and wherever you felt tensed on the track no matter what. I did this every single track session and I would go searching for my instructor always and talk to him.
Analyzing and Learning from Mistakes
After every track session in a dedicated book write down how you felt during the session. Where did you feel confident? where did you feel tensed, where do you think you can improve, anything else about the session, did you do a specific move that let you overtake someone or where did you get overtaken, etc.
Using this journal follow the advice I followed above asking other riders and instructors, The importance of logging this data is so you can use it as a reference point to gauge your progress, and it is best to write immediately after ridding since it will still be fresh in your mind, this is what separate casual yet frequent riders and competitive yet less frequent riders who seem like speed demons.
Staying Updated with Trends and Techniques
Always keep in touch with fellow riders, and instructors since they can produce live feedback and advice critical to you. When time is of the essence figuring things out on your own will slow down the process whereas contact with other riders, and instructors acts like a catalyst and speeds up progress hence quickly overcoming the skill gap
Let me know if you have anything about racing anything and I'll respond immediately or if you would like us to cover any topic on your mind let us know in the comment down below and I'll see you guys next Monday!
Faster. Better. Safer
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