El Colibri

Welcome to the forum, I know you’ll have a great time with CSS at VIR. Enjoy

Welcome to the Forum. You’re going to have a great time at school - I’m stoked for you.

Roberts, Thank you for your response. I too agree that being aware, skilled and practiced is extremely valuable and has indeed helped me to avoid some scary, and perhaps catastrophic, situations. Not only on the public roads but also at the track... We had a rider crash at Barber about a week and half ago and it sent some of the subsequent students in very unexpected directions. As I came upon all of that somewhat blind; wide vision, quick turn, staying loose and practice in making those my default reactions (and not the SR's) undoubtedly helped to avoid making a bad situation worse. Much appreciated 😎👍

I appreciate the spirit of what you're saying and agree that skills, training and practice are extremely helpful. However, I am extremely bothered by what you're saying here - perhaps I'm misunderstanding but I'm reading that you believe avoiding accidents on the road are 100% in the the riders control (if we, gain/practice skills and "learn how to read traffic, observe changes... learn to pay attention...). That is just simply not true and perhaps even a dangerous fallacy IMHO. My personal counter example: Light turns green, I proceed through the intersection, on the other side of the intersection are a series of cars parked parallel to the curb. I'm traveling in a straight line at 20, maybe 25 mph (well within that 80% you refer to). As I approach the rear bumper of a parked car I observe a change (the car begins to pull out when my front tire is about 2 feet behind and 4-5 feet to the left of that bumper), instantly I realize I can't brake fast enough so I try to swerve (i.e. I put some skills to use and took avoidant action)... Had that driver been paying attention/seen me, perhaps she would have stopped and my swerve would have avoided the accident (I could not however control her actions). She did not stop, and she didn't stop until she was half way down the block, maybe 50 yards from where my bike and I lay in the middle of the street. Yes, the choices I/we make on the road are 100% in our control (or should be). However, my best attempt at paying attention and avoiding the accident was not enough. I have had 2 surgeries, 30 months of PT and OT, an accident investigation and a police report that concludes the other driver was "100% at fault," as well as a sizeable insurance settlement that proves - some things are just out of our control despite our best attempts to be focused, aware and use our skills to avoid them.

With the camps, you have more sessions and a little less down time between sessions. That said I wouldn’t say camps *require* a higher level of physical fitness. Off track training and conditioning helps tremendously. Even if you just do a week of it before your school, it will help. At the minimum, stretching- being limber will help a lot with fatigue and muscle recovery. I add to that cycling and Pilates. With cycling you obviously need a bike/stationary. Pilates = core strengthening exercises that help tremendously with the correct body positions and braking required on the track. There are numerous exercises that can be done without a Pilates reformer or equipment - free YouTube videos can help you with that. At the minimum, stay hydrated and do some stretching before and after your track day. I also add/take branched chain Amino acids (BCAA) daily, they help with muscle recovery. You can find them via online retailers or at your local dietary supplement store.

New2mac, welcome to the forum. I’d say that the skills learned at the school are very easily transferable back to your bike on the street. My first time at the school was on a school bike and I had no issues taking what I learned out to the street on my bike. I don’t know that it’s necessarily ’better’ to mix it up and learn on different bikes. I can imagine for some, getting on a sport bike when never having ridden one before may actually take away from focusing on the drills in each session (a lot of attention *could* necessarily go toward just getting accustomed to a new/different bike). Even if that’s the case, I’ve been to the school a bunch of times with a lot of non track/sport bike riders who gain a lot while riding the school bikes. The flip side is the time and energy you will necessarily and possibly expend on your bike while off track. Things like getting your bike track ready, getting it to the track, fueling your bike between sessions and possibly making any repairs or adjustments to your bike. Down time between sessions in the single day format is not significant (~20 minutes), though you would have time to do these things, you might feel rushed to attend to your needs + bike off track between sessions. Some people don’t realize how energy intensive track riding can be and if your not in track condition physically, just riding and learning all day can fill up your cup pretty easily. Riding a school bike allows you to just focus on learning, practicing the skills taught, digesting those skills and keeping your body hydrated and fueled. Either route you decide to go with, you’ll learn a lot and have a great time doing it.

Yes, though we’ve never directly worked together, I always look forward to seeing the entire CSS team. It almost feels like extended family to me, but even better, because it’s always more than a pleasure.

I’ll be back for the 3 single days on my bike. Looking forward to seeing you again 53driver, and hope to see you there this year Cobie.

From the article: “ Erik Buell will not have a role in the new company, according to Melvin, because Erik Buell is currently involved with the electric motorcycle and bicycle company Fuell. “At the end of the day, it’s just a brand name,” Erik Buell posted on his personal Facebook page. “At one time it stood for innovation, but it was parked by H-D for 12 years. Time will tell what becomes of it next.” Link to article: https://www.roadracingworld.com/news/buell-is-back/

Hey Brick, welcome to the forum. Unlikely I’ll see you at VIR, but I’m sure you’ll have a great time.

Quick report: It rained and rained some more this past Saturday at COTA so I was never able to really put outside peg/foot to a true test on the track. I was much more concerned with smooth braking and smooth throttle than I was with trying to hit the apex/curbing with my tires (Q4s, unfortunately I didn’t have rain tires). Judging/feeling tire position just didn’t seem to be that difficult, or much of a big concern, at maybe ~35-40° max lean on a really wet track. I still stand by my previous leap forward/value statement about outside foot/peg though.

Keith, Merlin here. You were my off track coach for all 3 single days at Barber this past May. I believe it was on day 2 - I was able to shave 5-7 seconds (can’t remember exactly to be honest but it was a huge gain) off my lap times with a single drill you assigned to me. if that helps with “credibility” 😉 The freed attention and consistency in my lines with outside peg/foot “felt like” a similar leap forward for me. I think you’re on to something valuable here.

I just went for a great ride on my favorite local twisties and I'm super glad I checked into the forum this morning and saw this post before I headed out. I practiced knee to curb in one of my sessions at Barber this past May - indeed it was helpful. But as this thread inquires about tire vs eye position at apex, I found practicing/focusing on my outside foot to be tremendously helpful today. For me, it really tied together vision (keeping vision and attention well down the road) and precise tire placement through the corners. I played with both knee to curb drill and outside peg drill, and for me, without a doubt, my tire placement was much more precise with outside peg. It also freed up a lot more attention - with outside peg I was able to draw an arc with my mind's eye that essentially had the same radius from where I was to where I was looking. With knee to curb, I noticed some of my attention was eaten up with feeling and visualizing two of the same arc with different radii (if that makes sense). Regardless, I really enjoyed playing with it on the street as it also helped me navigate debris and potholes in the middle of some of those turns - never had a tire out of place. It also helped me compensate better for hanging over the double yellows at full lean. I'll be on track at CoTA next weekend and look forward to playing around with the outside peg concept on track. Will report back on the track practice of it if I have any additional insight. Cheers!

Perhaps it’s because I started riding on the dirt and continue to do so on KTMs, or perhaps it’s my Austrian heritage, but mostly, I’m super excited to see another manufacturer getting competitive in the GP class. That they have become competitive in a relatively short amount of time (4 years if I’m correct) is very impressive. I’m very happy to see some new competition in MotoGP. And WOW [last week spoiler alert] That multiple rider yard sale crash! SO close to being much worse and I wish all those involved a speedy recovery.

Though October in Vegas will likely be nice weather, I’d bring a fitted thermal base layer (top and bottom that’ll fit under your suit) just in case. Unlikely that time of year but the desert can get cold. I don’t know your age or fitness, but I typically spend some time on fitness and conditioning (especially my lower body) before 2-3 days with CSS - cycling and/or a stationary bike, core strength, plus stretching. Day 2 can be brutal sore if you’re not in track shape already. You’ll have a blast!