Motorcycles and Target Fixation

Many of you already know that last month I picked up another motorcycle.  It's a Yamaha R6 Raven.  But, even with 10 years of riding experience and two track days there are still some things I am reminded of everytime I get on a motorcycle.  First, wear all your gear every time.  You dress for the wreck, not for the ride.  Second, target fixation is real.  Let me explain:

Target Fixation, in essence, demonstrates that your motorcycle goes where you're looking.  When first learning to ride a motorcycle many riders take the MSF course and are taught if you look in the ditch, your bike thinks you want to go in the ditch.  New riders are taught to keep their head up looking in the direction they wanted to go.

The idea that your motorcycle will go where you're looking is merely a shorthand way of thinking about a phenomenon that virtually all drivers (of any kind of vehicle) have experienced before: that if you turn your head you tend to STEER in the direction you're looking. In fact, it might be clearer to simply acknowledge that it is HARD to steer in any direction other than the one you are looking at. ALL of your prior experience has taught you how to steer your vehicle where you want it to go. So, if you look where you want to go, you kick in all that prior experience and AUTOMATICALLY steer in that direction.  There is no magic here nor is there a hidden law of physics involved. Your bike (or automobile) TENDS to go in the direction you are looking because, via experience, you have taught yourself to steer, more or less subconsciously.

This can be very negative when riding a motorcycle...if you focus on an automobile or a pothole, or any other object...most likely you will hit it.  But, you can work this principle to your advantage as well.  To take advantage of this phenomenon you merely need to actively look in the direction you want to go - away from danger. The rest is virtually subconscious reaction. Of course it takes more than a turn of your eyes or even your head. You still need to steer away from danger. Since it is HARD to steer away from what you're looking at, and easy (almost automatic) to steer in the direction you are looking, surely it makes sense to look where you want to go.

There is a great spiritual application here.  Many times we as Christians get "Target Fixation".  We stare at the very thing we want to avoid, and then we wonder why we find ourselves in the ditch.  Proverbs 4:25 & 27 say, Let thine eyes look right on, and let thine eye lids look straight before thee.  Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.  Your success in navigating the obstacles of life will depend on your ablility to fixate on the right object.  Remember it is hard to steer away from what you are looking at...so look to Jesus.  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.