Controlling and Avoiding Panic

Keeping a lid on that biggest of rider enemies

Panic to the motorcyclist is something that is definitely not welcomed. Even the most experienced rider can be reduced to a frozen Neanderthal if they let panic take over.

And when that rider is straddling a machine travelling at high speed, usually the results are unfavourable.

Given the nature of this sport, its elements of danger and the fact that panic is something brought on through natural survival instinct, you would be hard pressed to find someone who is completely exempt from such situations.

However, saying to you ‘don’t panic’ is pretty useless advice.

What I do want to do for you here though is give you the information needed to minimise the chance of it happening and to teach you how you can deal with such events should they occur.

First let’s look at what exactly causes panic.

Know What Triggers Panic

There will be many instances in life where you experience panic, but out there on track the triggers for a panic situation will normally be linked to speed, and surprise situations.

A surprise situation could one of two things. The first is something happening uncharacteristically that you didn’t expect e.g. sudden and seemingly random loss of traction, something on the track, or a rider making a mistake in front.

The second type of surprise situation will be down to an instance where your skills (usually visual ones) let you down and your lack of awareness left you in a bad situation, something along the lines of going into a turn too fast, resulting in you heading off track.

The surprise isn’t necessarily what brings about the panic though. A rider could come past you at speed and surprise you on the straight, but you wouldn’t necessarily panic.

The panic sets in when the surprise brings with it a sense of impending doom, be it “I’m going to run off the track” or “I’m going to hit that oil spot”. The hazard, coupled with the short amount of perceived time the rider has to deal with it is what really has that panic setting in.

‘I Was Going In Too Fast’

As I said the first type of panic will be related to speed, which 99% of the time will mean too much of it.

I have mentioned on a couple of occasions before that I have been the victim of this very kind of panic, and my results mimicked countless scenarios played out by many other riders.

I was coming to the hardest braking point on the track and as I started to brake I felt like I wasn’t slowing down quick enough – which on later reflection and after studying the footage I think I still had the throttle cracked open as I started braking.

Regardless of the cause though, I was left with the overwhelming feeling that I was going in too fast and wouldn’t make the corner.

As a result I target fixated on the outside of the track (the exact spot I didn’t want to go), froze completely and ended up at the precise spot where I was looking.

In reality though, by the time I had run off the track I was doing 10mph less than I had done previously when I had navigated the corner with no issues, but the panic grabbed hold of me and threw all reason and logic out the window.

Was You Really Going Too Fast?

It has been proven that it only takes just a few extra mph at corner entry to bring on the sensation of going in too hot. As little as 2mph, in fact.

Just knowing that and the fact it would take just a tiny bit more braking effort to remove the extra speed that caused the panic should go a long way to removing the overblown feeling of ‘too much speed’ and the need to slow to a crawl to feel safe again.

I can understand if someone COMPLETELY misses a braking marker to the point where not even a World Champion could get it stopped, but this is rarely the case.

Dealing With Surprise Situations: It’s in the Eyes

It will predominantly be your eyes and vision that gets you out of these situations should you get into them.

Again, your instinct will have you looking squarely at the thing that is going to cause you harm, leading to target fixation, but what you have to do is look where you want to go, not where you don’t.

But beating your natural reaction isn’t easy, so it’s something you really have to get into your head to do and then hope that your subconscious mind kicks in to remind you to do it should it need to be done.

My incident taught me a big lesson in the effects of target fixation. Because of that I am able to beat it off should it rear its ugly head, and sure enough if I get into a situation that I don’t want to be in e.g. running wide on the exit, or going in too hot, I just look where I want to go and I get myself round just fine.

You don’t need to be told that you are riding well within the limits of the bike and tyres, and even many of the fastest guys on track days aren’t using all of the bike’s potential, so just looking where you want to go and committing to going there will normally be enough to get you out of danger.

The bike will more than likely take you round with no problems.

Avoid the Situation Altogether

A lot of what we’re talking about here can be avoided, just by making good decisions.

A failure in technique can be excused for getting you into a panic situation, simply because you didn’t know any better, but I see countless problems created for riders just through bad decision making.

Do you really need to pass all five riders ahead of you all at once going into the next bend? Or try to knock 10 seconds off your lap time by pushing way too far passed your limits?

You can if you want to, but don’t be surprised if you end up in more sticky situations than most other riders do.

Just by learning about good technique and track craft, and then implementing that knowledge with a sensible head will cut out the vast majority of errors made on track.

As ‘they’ say, it is better to try to keep a bad thing from happening than it is to fix the bad thing once it has happened.

However, to really enjoy track riding, go faster and get better as motorcycle riders we must push passed our limits. Because of this we will never truly irradiate panic and stop ‘bad things’ from happening.

In the end, learning about panic and what causes it, coupled with taking the time to learn and practise good technique is your best game plan for dealing with and avoiding panic situations.

Actually, riding around at 20mph all day is going to be your best game plan for removing panic, but that isn’t much fun now, is it?