davejennette

OK. I have completed the two day course. Like many have said throughout the Forum, the light came on. I get it now! So I did get my confidence back on day one. Yes, good throttle control fixed that. I planned on picking up this critical skill when I signed up for the school, but it is what I did not expect that I thought was the biggest improvement factor during my two days at CSS. Everyone here at the forum at one time or another has heard "you go where you look" or "look where you want to go" and that is a simple concept. It was the other statement that always threw me - "Look through the turn". OK great! But what does that mean? Where do I look? How do I look? What should I look for? When do I look? These questions have all been answered with the Two Step and Three Step drills. It was very apparent to my coach and me how much I picked up the pace around the track. The visual drills were very unexpected. Once more, how much they helped. Your eyes are your enemy as Keith would say and training and practice with the visual skills learned are the counter attack to that enemy. Everything just seemed to come together. It turns out that I could not un-train myself during the panic brake bike drill. I just couldn't bring myself to clinch the front break for this training exercise. I have been riding long enough to quickly, but smoothly apply the front break. The drill involves intentionally locking up the front wheel to learn how to handle that. I found out I can do great stoppies though. A similar mistake can be seen by the coach whether you actually lock up the front or not as the bike "kind of" responds similarly during heavy breaking. Even though I could not perform the exercise drill, Kristi was able to point out the similarities during my stoppies and what I was doing correct and incorrectly. Very cool Kristi! Due to my crazy work schedule, I have yet been able to get out to the track to put all of this to practice and continually improve, but having the privilege to live in So. California, I will get there when the 2010 track day schedules come out! I will have goals on my next track day and specific areas I will focus on while there as opposed to just going out and wearing some tires down. I'll bet this time I won't have to replace the plastic fairings on my bike either! Thanks CSS! Great school!

Hey Rod. Glad to hear you feel like you have improved so much. How would you have evaluated yourself before taking the class? What was the biggest skill you felt you needed work on? How do you evaluate yourself now? Dave

I'm psyched! I have done three track days and the Novice rider’s school with Fastrack Riders. Last track day at Pahrump, LV I laid my Ducati 998 down. Fortunately a guy from Sport Rider was behind me (they were out doing bike reviews) when I went down. He approached me after getting back to the paddock to ask if I knew what I did wrong. Knowing better than opening my mouth and sounding stupid, I asked what he saw. He simply stated "you chopped the throttle." I immediately threw my explanation of not being on "track tires" out and admitted and agreed with the mistake. I probably would have never recognized the mistake if he did not come to talk to me. This actually prompted me to start looking for information on riding techniques and a Google search kicked back one of these threads on throttle control. Since then I have purchased and read TOTW 1 & 2 and can not believe how much I did not know. I am a very mechanically, thought oriented person and to start reading about the physics and how the bike reacts to input really got me amped up. I am really looking forward to the two day course and the near one-on-one coaching. There is a lot to work on and one of the biggest barriers for me is understanding the traction limit. I openly admit that my bike is and probably always will be far beyond my capacity, but I sure do want to understand it and where I should not push given my skill set. I am completely open minded and will work on each step methodically with my coach. I can't wait! See ya soon!

Another intro from a newbie. I am definitely going to enroll in a 2 day class this year. Unfortunately my wife and I got ripped off during a kitchen remodel that put us $16K behind, so it is going to take some convincing that this is money well spent at the appropriate time. I am from So Cal and my last track day was at Pahrump NV. My first session out after lunch break I went down. I was really going to blame it on riding a track day on street tires. Fortunately one of the guys from Sport Rider Magazine (doing bike evaluations) was following me and asked me if I knew what I did wrong. Instead of replying with my thoughts, I just asked what his observations were. The bulb came on when he told me I chopped the throttle on a decreasing radius left. I am glad that he was there to make the observation and point it out to me, otherwise, I still would have blamed it on the tires and learned nothing. Anyone who reads this, I hope that if you see someone go down and are experienced enough to share an objective observation... share it. It may just help open someone's eyes. After this revelation I looked into this school and actually picked up both Twist books. It was very eye opening at how much I did not know. Can't wait to fix up the ol' Duck and practice the material. I have a long way to go. Can't wait to get to school!