TIPS: Practice Drills for Better Riding

: HAVE A THINK
Be honest with yourself, you're not perfect are you? Even Casey Stoner must be scratching his head about how he can improve his riding while he's off his factory Ducati at this time of the year. So where do you think you might improve your riding then? What's the area you'd most like to improve?

: MAKE A PLAN
Pin-point a couple of areas of your riding where you feel like you could (or want to) improve. Write it down, anywhere where you can refer to it regularly, and set yourself some targets, goals if you like, so you can arrive at July (say) and be able to put a big fat tick next to it as good a job done.

: READ A BOOK
It's a bit geeky right? But there's plenty of food for thought to be found among the depths of Amazon and Waterstones. You don't have to sit there like a teenager swatting for an exam to get something useful from one of Keith Code's books.

: WATCH A DVD
This is more of an inspirational tactic (nothing goes me up for a ride like some awesome racing on the telly) bit it can also be instructional. Reading some theory about cornering is all well and good but actually watching Valentino Rossi braking and entering a hairpin can give you a better image to mimic.

: GO TO A TRACK
It might sound like madness but "off season" trackdays are still pretty frequent, often far quieter and, because the track might be cold or wet, you'll have surprisingly good chance to concentrate on just one thing. If you want to watch rather than ride the UK club racing season starts surprisingly early in the year so, when you've done your swatting and note-taking, get yourself out the house.