Chasing the visual point: why does the rider who cannot see call the turn blind?(Stayin' safe)

Publication: Rider

Publication Date: 01-APR-05

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COPYRIGHT 2005 Ehlert Publishing Group

The first time I said it to myself, it seemed so palpably clear that I couldn't believe it had taken me 35 years of riding to figure it out. I had to share it with others.

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"At every corner entry," I would tell my students, "you'll find one of two things: a solid object ... or a drop-off." I couldn't wait for the next stop to share my epiphany, but in truth the concept still needed at least half an hour of final tooling on the word lathe. Waiting along the side of the road was the contradictory argument: four bikes haphazardly parked. A huddle by the ditch. Rider down. The impetus? A flat, featureless 90-degree fence line turn.

OK, most corner entries....

Be that as it may, roads seldom change direction without a reason. It could be property rights, but the vast majority of those reasons are features in the landscape. For the past seven years or so, I've spent a good deal of time teaching riders how to "read" a road. Paramount to...

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