Handling ruts and choosing your line?

[JayPak]

Yesterday at the track I was having a aweful time dealing with ruts and choosing my line. IT seemed that my front wheel would not track or stay in the rut. The more frustrated I got the more I tried to correct it. And I think that made it worse to the the point that I had to call it a day because I keep almost bailing over the bars.

I was fine on the jumps, fine in the turns but I could not go straight (how dumb does that sound?). My question is, what is the best technique to handle ruts and "using" your line? I was probably looking down at the dirt right in front of me and that was probably causing me problems as well. But what is the best way to handle that - body position, etc?

Thanks!

 

[crmx91]

Look at the rut you want, and when your in it look at the end of it, dont look at the middle look at the corner that it leads to. When you are in it, keep your shoulders parallel to your bars or else you will start falling off to one side. Also, lean back (especially on our CR125's) to keep the front end light. Stay off the brakes at all costs, even if you are going to crash dont his the brakes while your in a rut.

 

[zero_it]

An alternate approach is to look for lines that cross the ruts. It takes a while to convince your brain to do it, especially in the heat of a race, but it works. You can pick up some speed doing this and avoid piling into slower, stalled or stuck riders like happens when you follow someone into a rut. If you have to take a rut, try to keep the front wheel high & light.

 

[oldguy]

Target fixation!! Just like trees if you stare at a rut (or tree) and think I have to miss it- You won't. Pick your line and maintain vision ahead not at the object

 

[Danman]

Definatly, Look were you want to go not at what you want to hit!