mchale2020

Thanks warregl! I've heard back from the registration office and am hoping to get the details worked out for CSS. I 'll be studying Electrical Engineering at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. I won't spill my whole life story, but I think I have an experience to talk about that relates to this thread. When I was in high school, I was never able to get the help or direction that I needed to succeed in my math classes, so my grades were mediocre and I just accepted that I was 'bad' at math. When I graduated from high school, I just worked a lot because it felt like it distanced me from the challenges I would face at a college if I pursued Engineering, which is what I really wanted to do but just didn't have the self-esteem. Eventually I got laid off and decided I didn't have much choice but to attend school, so I earned a technical degree in Electronics engineering. This made me reconsider my approach to math and when I started taking Trig and Calculus classes, I decided to re-evaluate my attitude towards math and how I prepared for the material. It payed off with a scholarship I received and even though it about killed me, I made a 99 in my Differential Equations class this semester. The life lesson I learned is their really isn't such a thing as being 'good' or 'bad', just sometimes we have to change the way we approach challenges we might have not succeeded at initially. In relation to riding, I feel like the words 'fast' and 'slow' are four letter words that riders sometimes get hung up on and end up missing the big picture of just improving, especially if this is something you want to do for the rest of your life as a hobby. Sorry if I went off on a wild tangent. I forgot to mention I really enjoy riding at Barber's Motorsports Park. I've ridden at TGPR too, but the elevation changes at Barber just make for such an entertaining ride.

Thanks for the kind words Crash. I submitted my registration for Barber's this June so I hope I can get a spot in the program. I'm about to start engineering school and I know it's going to consume a lot of my free time... and sanity, thus it would be so valuable to me pick up the skills I need to make safe and consistent improvements on the track, even when circumstances don't exactly go according to plan.

Hey warregl, I would like to ride with CSS at Barbers this coming June, assuming it's not too late to sign up. I have the means to pay for my one day tuition if I can still join the school for the Saturday ride.

Thank you so much for the warm welcome! It's hard to put a finger on the skills I know need to develop when at a distance a lot of the issues feels so abstract. I think one problem is when I know I need to make the effort to take a safe step outside of my comfort barrier at a track day, I get this timid feeling that sort of holds me back. Sometimes it might be that I'll get held up in traffic and I'm afraid of 'spooking' another rider or blowing a safe braking point, so I'll just wait to enter the hot pit to let traffic go by, which adds up to a lot of time lost lap-after-lap. Or maybe I get placed in a group with a control rider that doesn't pay a lot of attention to maintaining a tight formation as per club rules, so I spend more time looking at the bike in front of me, worrying that I'm not doing a good job for the rest of the group, and less time going 'widescreen' with my vision and developing solid reference points that improve smoothness and consistency. Instances like that really discourage me because it's supposed to be the 'slower' part of the day to help set the foundation for when the pace is picked up in later sessions and if you start your day on the wrong foot for whatever reason, it's really difficult to recover and make improvements, especially if you're trying to safely navigate traffic. I think what it boils down to is that I would really like to become more consistent with how I improve and believing I have a strong skill set to back myself up every time I go out on the track to make that effort to be better and not feel like I'm leaving all these really crucial elements to chance. Anyway, I hope I don't sound like I've been rambling. I really appreciate you guys taking the time to ask me questions. That in itself is very helpful. Cheers! Jordan

Hey everyone, I just registered on the forum and wanted to introduce myself. I've been riding for about six years now and have gotten to the point where I feel 'stuck' where I'm at at track days. I think it's time to make some changes in how I approach how I want to improve my riding and I'm really interested in taking a class with California Superbike. It sounds like you guys have some really talented instructors and a helpful curriculum to assist riders. I know when I felt like I had hit a brick wall before, I read Twist of the Wrist II and it helped me take a more scientific approach to steering my bike. I hope to chat with the staff on CS on the forum, it sounds like a great place to be! I know I have a lot of room for improvement, but I thought I would share this picture with other members for my introduction post. Jordan