Superstuddc27 wrote: how do you KNOW how much you have to countersteer, or ... move out of the way without actually looking at the object?
Good question. You don't look at the hazard, but at a path
around the hazard. However, that's contrary to MSF gospel, isn't it? A similar question came up in a different forum recently, and this is the answer I posted:
With due respect to MSF, I think instructors sometimes "steer" riders astray with visual techniques for turning. The gospel is that you must look to the end of the turn before you've even made your steering input. Sorry, but interpreted literally, that doesn't always work.
The problem is that you can't make an accurate steering input when you're not looking at the path you want to follow. In an MSF drill where you're going through a 90° turn at about 15mph, the instructor will have you turn your head toward the exit of the turn before you enter it. In that case you don't have to look at your path through the turn because the speed and the bend require a gentle steering input that can be adjusted dynamically. Press gradually on the inside bar until you're sure you will get to the end point you're focusing on. But in the real world, not all turns are like that.
Consider the turn pictured below, which I ride often. Terrain rises steeply to the north, so the turn is "open"—as you enter from either direction, you can see across to the exit. But do you really want to be looking at the exit as you make your steering input? Good grief, no! Looking at the exit, with the apex not in your field of view, the tendency is to steer too sharply. Taken as a right-hander, you're likely to ride off the inside shoulder; taken as a left, you'll cross the centerline.
To steer a good line, I progressively move my focal point around the turn. As I approach, I look at the apex I want to hit (the mid-turn point where my path will come closest to the inside of the turn) and steer. Because I'm aiming at the target when I steer, I can put the motorcycle right where I want it. But immediately after I've steered—before I reach the target I was aiming for—I move my focus to the exit of the turn. I've established the mid-point of my trajectory, now I'm concerned about ending up in the right spot, some point comfortably between the shoulder and centerline. My eyes are always ahead of the motorcycle, but not so far ahead that I miss my intermediate target.
For a better description of visual technique than I can give, I recommend Keith Code's systematic visual sequencing technique called the "two step" in his book
Twist of the Wrist II. As you approach a turn, first find a turn-in point. Before you get there, find an aim-point and move your focus there. Then, when you reach the turn-in point, which you spot out of the corner of your eye, steer. Practice at moderate speed to ingrain the habit, and soon it will become automatic.
In another good book for visual techniques,
Sport Riding Techniques author Nick Ienatsch describes a method similar to Code's (using former Superbike champion Scott Russell as an example) : "As Russell approaches his braking marker at the entrance of the corner, he moves his eyes off the braking area and into the apex of the corner. As the bike turns into the corner, Russell moves his eyes off the apex and to the exit of the corner, and continues to move his eyes up the track..."