Target fixation.

Saw this earlier today. Fuck that SV rider, what a useless prick. Can't even navigate a corner without running two people over. That said, I cannot fathom why cyclists want to ride on that road. Seems like a death wish. It IS their right, though

[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNFaAqS2f18]Motorcycle Crashes into Bicycles 4/27/2013 - YouTube[/ame]
 
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That's how it is around here. Today we had 2 large groups that looked like tour De France covering the entire lane. Cars and Motorcyclists must keep an eye out for these guys and slow down when you see them. I personally think its annoying when I cant get around them as soon as I would like to. But hey, there just trying to have a good time just like anyone else. By the way, whats up with the girls butt crack at 2:42?
 
M.Martin said:
Today we had 2 large groups that looked like tour De France covering the entire lane.
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I really hate that. I don't mind if they ride side by side on a road with a cycle lane or a large shoulder but it's really rude to obstruct traffic for no good reason.

I cycle during the nice months for fitness but I avoid roads without shoulders or cycle lanes. I have no desire to be road pizza :sport12:
 
M.Martin said:
That's how it is around here. Today we had 2 large groups that looked like tour De France covering the entire lane. Cars and Motorcyclists must keep an eye out for these guys and slow down when you see them. I personally think its annoying when I cant get around them as soon as I would like to. But hey, there just trying to have a good time just like anyone else. By the way, whats up with the girls butt crack at 2:42?
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A whole group/pelaton, taking up a whole lane is one thing. Two dudes out riding is another. If I was one of them I would have jacked his A%% big time. On my bike I've been hit three times, all three while I was in a bike lane. The fourth one is toast, burn, toast...
 
Perfect example of target fixation. I actually practice looking at and aiming for the area NEXT TO pot-holes, sewer covers and patches in the road, hopefully training myself to avoid target fixation. ALWAYS LOOK WHERE YOU WANT TO GO NOT AT THE THREAT.
 
The excuse of 'target fixation' is thrown around way too easily. It exists, but billions of people drive cars and ride motorcycles without running into stationary objects. I've ridden for 37 years and can't say I've ever fixated on a target to the point of even getting close to running into it. It just means paying proper attention to what you are doing and where you want to go, and I think young people today are so disorganized they can't keep their thoughts focused. I would have beat that a**hole rider to a pulp and sued his ass off. If you can't ride past two slow moving bike riders on the right edge of the road without mowing them down then get off the damn bike and stay at home in front of the tv. Stupid prick.
 
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I was just there 3 weeks ago. It was an amazing experience and pretty fascinating in regard to the myriad of circumstances going on at any given time.

Early in the day there are the sport bike riders, bicyclist, car enthusiasts (assholes crossing double yellows) and your average tourist. By the end of the day it's the sport bike riders, not man cyclist and car enthusiast.

1. The point in the corner where you can see the guy picked up his head a little and target fixated on the bicyclists diaper shorts is actually a late apex point in the corner. At the last second there your vision either played a trick on you or you misjudged the corner because of the change in elevation but you have to make a minor correction back into the corner otherwise you end up going wide toward the shoulder. I'm guessing this guy was riding there for the first time because of his more upright body position and he wasn't taking it in a more aggressive body position like almost everyone else I saw there.

2. The paparazzi is actually quite distracting. The first couple of times I made the run up and then down I found the camera flashes and just people in general watching to throw me off. I'm used to riding canyons away from everybody either alone or in a big group and we are just hauling ass. To be in a densely populated area with a bunch of people gettin' their shine on was unexpected and threw me off for a little bit. So much so that I only did 2 runs the first morning I was there but went back later when it was quieter and did 5 more (it is a pretty awesome road).

3. M. Martin - that is Shera Richter and she is Frocking beautiful. I remember one run in the first morning I came around when she was turned in the other direction and I saw her silhouette with her booty and I had feelings of joy that are not the typical feelings from the joy of riding a motorcycle - it was quite different to say the least. It did become difficult to focus after that and the thought of going off the edge and dying snapped me back to reality.
View attachment 14440
so much so that
[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRbzn4yZSy8]rnickeymouse Mystery Woman - YouTube[/ame]
 
Evitzee said:
The excuse of 'target fixation' is thrown around way too easily. It exists, but billions of people drive cars and ride motorcycles without running into stationary objects. I've ridden for 37 years and can't say I've ever fixated on a target to the point of even getting close to running into it. It just means paying proper attention to what you are doing and where you want to go, and I think young people today are so disorganized they can't keep their thoughts focused. I would have beat that a**hole rider to a pulp and sued his ass off. If you can't ride past two slow moving bike riders on the right edge of the road without mowing them down then get off the damn bike and stay at home in front of the tv. Stupid prick.
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I'm not too sure that these guys were making an excuse for this guy. Unless we know him - how can we say he was a young, disorganized driver focused on his thoughts? Plus - he did not hit a stationary object. Those bike riders are moving and that presents a problem on this particular road. When you watch this POV video - My opinion is that this will be a problem in the future.
Why?
Cyclists are forced to ride in the flow of traffic on a road that is known for cars and motorcyclists to fly around at high speeds. They are forced to do this because their is hardly any shoulder/or NO shoulder to ride on - there is NO bike lane and the corners are tight & tricky. Now cyclists can say it's their right to ride anywhere - and I agree - but this is a recipe for disaster. I have read/ seen video of drivers going around corners (that corner more than any) and going wide, going off the road and generally doing a poor job of driving around corners. That makes it unsafe for bike riders.


This posted on Youtube about an hour ago. It's a POV video of the wreck.


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Av5nQba0I3o"]Motorcycle hit cyclist on the snake mulholland - YouTube[/ame]
 
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Evitzee said:
The excuse of 'target fixation' is thrown around way too easily. It exists, but billions of people drive cars and ride motorcycles without running into stationary objects. I've ridden for 37 years and can't say I've ever fixated on a target to the point of even getting close to running into it. It just means paying proper attention to what you are doing and where you want to go, and I think young people today are so disorganized they can't keep their thoughts focused. I would have beat that a**hole rider to a pulp and sued his ass off. If you can't ride past two slow moving bike riders on the right edge of the road without mowing them down then get off the damn bike and stay at home in front of the tv. Stupid prick.
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Treating target fixation as some type of excuse that hardly exists is probably not the best advice for some of the less experienced riders on the forum. :shame:

Motorcycles really do tend to go exactly where your looking in a panic situation. Seen quite a few riders in person and in videos blow a corner entrance then panic look at the outside of the corner and head immediately into the dirt, tree, post. When all they had to do was look thru the corner and have a little faith.

Hell watch a few motorcycle crashes on youtube amazing how many obviously are a result of panic / target fixation.

Really has nothing to do with " paying attention " its a matter of panicking, freezing and the brains natural tendency to lock your vision on the threat, whether that threat is the outside of the corner you think you entered to fast, the guy on the bicycle, the car that just pulled out and so on.

The rider in that video panicked, stood the bike up, looked directly at the threat ( outside of corner ) panicked again when he saw the bike's, fixated on them and smashed right into them.

Yes.... I'd probably like to slap the idiot but instead I'll use his mistake to try and give any less experienced riders an example why he did what he did and how to avoid repeating his mistake.

EVERYONE will have panic moments sooner or later if you ride. Training your brain to do the opposite of what thousands of years of evolution has taught us to do ( freeze and stare at the threat ) takes knowledge of what target fixation is and practice to fight it.
 
I rode a lot of years on human-powered bikes and dealt with lots of cyclists in our bicycle store. That road is NOT one I would be so stupid to ride on. The laws say the bicycle has rights to the complete lane, not the edge, and if there is only one lane with no room to pass and you can't go proper speed, you need to find an alternate route or risk this. This is an example of pedal-powered stupidity.
 
Pyrogenic said:
I rode a lot of years on human-powered bikes and dealt with lots of cyclists in our bicycle store. That road is NOT one I would be so stupid to ride on. The laws say the bicycle has rights to the complete lane, not the edge, and if there is only one lane with no room to pass and you can't go proper speed, you need to find an alternate route or risk this. This is an example of pedal-powered stupidity.
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Yep, Mom always told me it did no good to be DEAD right! :fencers: I agree. Whatever your feelings and no matter what the law says, that is not a smart place to ride a bicycle! :kuku:
 
I was a ski instructor and the first thing I would teach beginners is to look where you want to go and not at what you are about to hit.

It's true that there are many roads that are tricky for vehicles of differing speeds to negotiate safely. However, I did quite a bit of bicycling in Italy and they must have better auto, truck and motorcycle testing because everyone seems to drive/ride better there on the narrow mountain roads then they do here. The truckers are courteous to both motorcyclists and bicyclists riding through the switchbacks but then in Italy no one is in a hurry to get to the next red light.
 
Pyrogenic said:
I rode a lot of years on human-powered bikes and dealt with lots of cyclists in our bicycle store. That road is NOT one I would be so stupid to ride on. The laws say the bicycle has rights to the complete lane, not the edge, and if there is only one lane with no room to pass and you can't go proper speed, you need to find an alternate route or risk this. This is an example of pedal-powered stupidity.
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You sound like me giving advice on which streets to ride in the big city.

There are plenty of safe roads to handle the disparity of speeds but out west or east where the roads go through mountains there may not be any choices. I've ridden many a narrow mountain road in Vermont and New Hampshire, we bicyclists are only slow going up but going downhill is great at 50+ mph.
 
OldBiker said:
You sound like me giving advice on which streets to ride in the big city.

There are plenty of safe roads to handle the disparity of speeds but out west or east where the roads go through mountains there may not be any choices. I've ridden many a narrow mountain road in Vermont and New Hampshire, we bicyclists are only slow going up but going downhill is great at 50+ mph.
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50 MPH on tiny tires and a thin layer of lycra between you and the pavement. No thank you.
 
OldBiker said:
You sound like me giving advice on which streets to ride in the big city.

There are plenty of safe roads to handle the disparity of speeds but out west or east where the roads go through mountains there may not be any choices. I've ridden many a narrow mountain road in Vermont and New Hampshire, we bicyclists are only slow going up but going downhill is great at 50+ mph.
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There are a lot of other canyon roads in that area that are not as heavily traveled and probably safer. Topanga Canyon road for instance had a shoulder on it that for much of the way you could pull a full car off and still have room to walk around. This however makes it a flatter/smoother road that provides the twist but not the undulation as Mulholland.

Mulholland Highway right there is just a unique road experience that I'm sure you can't get anywhere else. I personally wouldn't ride a bicycle on it with all the cars driving like dicks and the motorcyclist that have pushed it too far possibly taking you out
 
OldBiker said:
Most of the time the downhill speed is in the 40s but still fast enough to get a ticket if a cop did decide to pull you over.:stunta]:
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I've been 68 mph downhill (better have special brake pads that won't overheat) and 60 drafting. Nothing unstable about it with the right equipment. But on a curvy narrow mountain road like this one, you wouldn't catch me on a pedal-powered vehicle without sanctioned race escorts and blocked roads - no how, no way. On a two-lane both directions I would do it.

And if a cop want's to pull me over and ticket me for speeding on my bike, that would be like a badge of honor! LOL :stunta]:

A university cop tried to get me once for going 35 in a 20 but he couldn't come close to catching me! HAHAHA (seriously) :nana:
 
I did get a speeding ticket on my bicycle a few years back when I was still racing them in crits.

I was clocked at 30 in a 20mph zone in Winnetka IL. The ticket was $5.00. This was in 1985.
 
OldBiker said:
I did get a speeding ticket on my bicycle a few years back when I was still racing them in crits.

I was clocked at 30 in a 20mph zone in Winnetka IL. The ticket was $5.00. This was in 1985.
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I wondered if that was possible?
LOL
I guess $5 isn't that bad but as much as EVERYTHING else has gone up - I bet you that $5 ticket is through the roof.
 
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