There is one thing in common with all riders in the World, from the racer, to the track dayer, the adventure rider, the tourer, the guy who delivers Pizza and the bike cop. We all like riding.

It is rarely a chore and nearly always a pleasure. And the better we can ride the bigger the smile we have on our faces when we are done.

I am sure we all have areas of riding we would like to improve, maybe not all the time as sometimes it’s just the simple act of riding that is enough for the smile. But wouldn’t you like to little improve?

If I asked you now what areas of riding you would like to improve, I can make a pretty good guess as to what they might be:

• Ride Safer
• Go quicker
• Get my knee down
• Be more confident with lean angle
• Ride smoother
• Improve my lap times
• Go faster than my friends

There is a common thread with all of these points and no doubt with other points I am sure you can think of – corners. What is it about corners that make them such a challenge?

Well, if we boil it down to the very basics then it all comes down to fear. Fear of falling off and hurting ourselves and our bikes. If we didn’t have that fear then we could do all of the above. But is it really that simple?

In some ways yes, in other ways no. For example, if you had no fear you would probably fall off more than most other riders. Fear is a good thing as it gives us our limit. Our limit is there to challenge us. It’s when we get closer to our limit that we start to get the buzz, the enjoyment of riding. Come on be honest!

So what we really want to do is move our limit so we can do all the points above. For example; if we ride a corner at 99% of our limit and that means riding at 50mph we are close to the edge - there is little room for error, but it feels good. But how would you feel if you could ride the same corner at 80% but take it at 65mph? That’s a huge difference. Would it feel more satisfying? I’ll bet it would.

Of course, the question is how? How do we defeat fear? Well fear is the unknown and how do we cure the unknown? Knowledge.

Make 2009 the year you achieve some if not all of your riding goals. Seek out the knowledge you need to make it happen, there is plenty of information out there.

There is one thing in common with all riders in the World, from the racer, to the track dayer, the adventure rider, the tourer, the guy who delivers Pizza and the bike cop. We all like riding.p>

It is rarely a chore and nearly always a pleasure. And the better we can ride the bigger the smile we have on our faces when we are done.

I am sure we all have areas of riding we would like to improve, maybe not all the time as sometimes it’s just the simple act of riding that is enough for the smile. But wouldn’t you like to little improve?

If I asked you now what areas of riding you would like to improve, I can make a pretty good guess as to what they might be:

• Ride Safer
• Go quicker
• Get my knee down
• Be more confident with lean angle
• Ride smoother
• Improve my lap times
• Go faster than my friends

There is a common thread with all of these points and no doubt with other points I am sure you can think of – corners. What is it about corners that make them such a challenge?

Well, if we boil it down to the very basics then it all comes down to fear. Fear of falling off and hurting ourselves and our bikes. If we didn’t have that fear then we could do all of the above. But is it really that simple?

In some ways yes, in other ways no. For example, if you had no fear you would probably fall off more than most other riders. Fear is a good thing as it gives us our limit. Our limit is there to challenge us. It’s when we get closer to our limit that we start to get the buzz, the enjoyment of riding. Come on be honest!

So what we really want to do is move our limit so we can do all the points above. For example; if we ride a corner at 99% of our limit and that means riding at 50mph we are close to the edge - there is little room for error, but it feels good. But how would you feel if you could ride the same corner at 80% but take it at 65mph? That’s a huge difference. Would it feel more satisfying? I’ll bet it would.

Of course, the question is how? How do we defeat fear? Well fear is the unknown and how do we cure the unknown? Knowledge.

Make 2009 the year you achieve some if not all of your riding goals. Seek out the knowledge you need to make it happen, there is plenty of information out there.