Target Fixation:
Riders can make significant improvements to their riding by mastering a physical aspect such as counter steering. However the biggest gains come from improving your vision rather than any physical aspect of the riding. It's also the hardest to do because our eyes are one of the biggest triggers to survival reactions that we have.

The most dangerous of all vision-related survival reactions is target fixation. This is when the brain cautions us to keep an eye on the danger ahead. This was of great need when we were living in caves and needed to watch out for lions or tigers but not so good when you are about to plough into the side of a car that has just pulled out in front of you.

When we target fix, it seems that our vision narrows down. This is called 'tunnel vision'. Our concentration is so focused that we are less aware of the things going around us. Has our vision really narrowed? Do our eyes suddenly get smaller and funnel out the rest of our field of vision? No, of course not. In reality the opposite happens and our pupils get wider, not narrower.

And when we target fix on something when riding a bike what happens? Yup, we head straight into the very thing we don't want to hit.

QUICK TIPS: Safe Overtaking

When travelling in heavy traffic past side roads, particularly on the left, hang back from the vehicle in front. If it decides to turn, and you dart out from behind to quickly pass, chances are any driver pulling out from a side road won't have you seen you. Drivers often assume they have right of way when pulling out ahead of an indicating car, and if you're concealed by the turning vehicle, they could move straight into your path.

On a recent Sunday morning blast, I was coming round a tight fast left hand corner when at the apex I saw a truck approaching on the wrong side of the road. I was already at max lean angle and since the road was kind of greasy, touching the brakes would have sent me off the cliff. The last thing I wanted to do was plough into the truck and brake a hundred bones.

But the more I looked at the truck the more the bike seemed to want to hit it. It took an extreme amount of will power and effort to get my eyes to stop fixing on the truck and to look where I wanted to go. The instant I moved my eyes away from the truck the bike suddenly started to head in the direction I was looking and I managed to squeeze between the shoulder of the road and the truck. It didn't slow my heartbeat down though!

There are hundreds of examples of this phenomenon in any form of racing. Someone crashes and the rider behind follows them into the gravel when all they had to do was keep looking around the corner. There is no simple formula to cure this genetic habit that we all have. However I hope that bringing it to your attention will make you aware of it when it happens to you. At that point you may recall these words and examples and force your eyes to make your body go around the danger in front of you.