ThomasDark

How old is that little guy?

Track notes: Perhaps start recording what gear you're in where. Also maybe where you're doing things like the "pick up". I had a battle with downshifting at my last track day and I found you can downshift as you brake if you practice it. Combine that with learning to blip the throttle like Hotfoot says so your engine is matching your wheel spin and not the other way around and I think you'll find your problems are over. I'm no racer, but I enjoy to "hold my own" at trackdays too. My typical downshift is a 4th to 2nd (on a 954rr, so it's basically a liter-bike with comparable compression) and after learning to blip better and brake and shift at the same time all was well and I was happy.

I think you mean "you will die from it". Shedding the delusion of immortality is the first step to being a good rider, IMO. After that I think a good rider is someone who does their best to mitigate the threats to their person while sacrificing as little as possible in the pursuit of your personal goals. When I say "does their best" I mean on their own personal scale. You're best mitigation may be vastly better or worse than mine. In this regard I feel like it's an "A for effort" type of system. If you're a novice and doing things very wrong unintentionally that is much different then a seasoned rider taking unnecessary risks for no reason. When I say "your personal goals" I mean everyone throws a leg over the subframe for a different reason. Usually over the course of life people will happen upon others that share similar motivations for getting on a bike and they become riding buddies. Stunters always seem to find other stunters. Canyon carvers find other like minded souls. Racers have it easy cause their cronies gravitate to an actual geographic location but the result is the same... friends with common goals. In that light, everyone's motivation is different and therefore the risks they're willing to take are similarly wide ranging. A stunter would not want to risk a full-lean corner with their knee down at the threshold of rear tire traction but a racer would. A canyon carver doesn't find much joy in drifting the rear tire out in a parking lot or doing a 50' stoppie, but stunters may. A racer or a stunter may never be interested in a 3 state, 400 mile, 6 hour session of 2 lane mountain roads but a touring rider would take that ride every day if allowed. As long as you're trying your best to reduce your risk and staying true to your personal goals and motivation I'd say you're a good rider.

See, I missed all that cool stuff! Walk the track? Are you kidding me? We would be allowed to do that? Wow! Definitely camping next time. Thanks for the tips! Sure you can walk the track. We showed up the day before and no one was there/Track was cold so we just walked the whole thing. I found a bent engine rod, part of a cylinder head and all sorts of bits and pieces. You can also look closely at the "tar snakes" and see how different they are from the ones you see on the public roads. You'll be surprised how far/big things are when you're on foot. Enjoy. Also, the water referenced above is potable (I think) so no worries there. You can back your car up to the SE corner of the building to assist in shade/wind shade. Check out the stars while you're there after all it is a desert. Befriend the people in the front office, they're fun too, as is the gate attendant. We lucked out and there were drag races on Saturday night (we were there for two track days) on the big track (Unfortunately we missed them due to some 'health' issues with one of our riders) It'll be good times, I'm sure.

Franco802, I camped back in June. It was a little warm for me. I'd say it's totally worth the money to head into lancaster. There's something to be said for the quality of sleep the night before you hit the track hard like they do at CSS. If you do camp I'd recommend setting up your tent on the east side of the classroom building by the A/C unit. There's water available on the southwest corner of the building. Walk the track if you do because there's all kinds of cool stuff to see. Also, there is a thermometer in the fence next to where your tent will be for your own sadistic knowledge...

For me it's always the electrolytes. Gotta take a salt and a potassium every session. Drink all the water you want but without those you're just as toast (or more) than if you drank nothing at all. Glad you had fun out there Franco. Discretion is the better part of valor. td

That is the focus of Level 3. Is that Streets of Willow? I don't see any candy striping...

That is both impressive and awesome...

I'd have to ask Mr. Doohan what his favorite memory was.

Stay in Lancaster like KHP says. I think the CSS team likes to stay at "Inn of Lancaster"... I've stayed at the Town House Motel and it was just fine for $80/night with internet... and there's a large pool too!

On the wall in my garage I have a whiteboard of all the drills I've ever done at CSS. I like to pick 1 or 2 for each ride and make them the focus. Every turn of the tire can be a turn toward improvement without sacrificing enjoyment. Lyle, I am jealous of your job every day I sit at my desk. You truly have a 'dream job' right there.... Just thought I'd remind you.

Chuck, The quick and most enjoyable fix is to go get yourself a couple track days. I ride the Pilot Power 3's, Power Pure's before that, and have never got that mysterious flat spot in the middle of my tire... And I only do about 2 track days a year. I actually wore the sides out before the middle on my pures through canyon riding and mountain roads. It has a lot to do with the where and how you ride. If you're hard on the throttle off of the line at every stop light and obsessed with doing 30mph-90mph+ pulls whenever possible to show those pesky cars who's boss then you aren't going to avoid a flat spot. In the end tires are tires. If you're feeling squirrely in the transition to lean you're probably spending too much time in that transition... It's called a quick-flick because it's quick... quick enough you don't have time to feel squirrelyness. If it doesn't feel stable when leaned then maybe you're rolling too much tire pressure. just my $0.02 have fun out there and keep the rubber side down, no matter it's profile.

Well Franco, how'd it go?

I had the same experience as Erik. Glad it's back as I was missing my daily drop-in. Good work on getting it back up and thanks! td

Tyler, I'm jealous. Even though I'm 6'5" and 230lbs I'm seriously considering getting a CBR250 just to get out there. I'm afraid with my size and that little bike I'd be just paying for an expensive track day though. To me there's no point in racing if it's impossible to be competitive. Good on ya for getting out there! Maybe I'll do the same one day.

Have fun out there this week. I wish I was out there having fun too instead of piloting my desk. GL & Safe Riding.

What are "O" classes? "O" classes are classes for 1000cc or equivalent (for V-type engines) GTO = 1000cc inline 4/1200cc V-twin GTU = 600cc inline 4/850cc V-twin Up here in UT there are no bikes to rent to race on. Perhaps taking a ride on a CSS S1000rr would be good to try a "fast" bike but the price tag for a day on one is out of my budget having just had a kid and all. It'll go up on the bucket list though and since I'm only 31 I'm sure it'll get checked off.

I have considered club racing. If it weren't for the high cost I'd be out there already. I'd likely try to buy a bike that's already race prepped. I feel like I wouldn't finish last but it would take me a while to get to the front of the grid. Since I'm a large guy I'd likely race in the "O" classes which means a longer learning curve before I could challenge for the lead if that were even possible. In summary, I want to try it BAD! Really bad. But starting a family is not conducive to starting a racing career. At this point I'd settle for getting to take a 20 min. session on a race-prepped bike to see what a fast one is like since I ride an '02 CBR 954rr which is ancient by racing tech standards. I am constantly watching the WERA classifieds and wishing...

I wouldn't worry. You're in good hands with the CSS staff looking after you. http://www.weather.com/weather/monthly/USCA0955?month=1

franco802, I'd look toward the humidity as the likely bad actor in your sweating. 91 is pretty hot too. The desert that Willow Springs is in is about 10% Humidity on the wettest day so it'll feel cooler. Sounds like you're ready to rock. For a real time temp check there's a thermometer stuck through the fence that is just east of the classroom building near the SW corner of the building... It's my inadvertent donation to the climate monitoring a SWS.

I usually don't have a lot of $ laying around for mods so I like to stick to only things that will make my bike handle better. My list is: 1. Tires I trust 2. Springs/Valves 3. Tank grip materials I'm sure if I had excess money I'd go with a Power Commander, Undertail, Integrated Tail light/Front signals but those are all unnecessary in my opinion since a 1K bike is plenty fast and the stock ECU has a more than adequate air/fuel map for 99.5% of riders. I try no to kid myself that I'd be "more satisfied" with a custom map when canyon carving. I find I never find myself thinking "geez, this bike needs a smoother roll-on for this to become fun" when mid corner on a 2-lane mountain road. It's always "WAAA HOOOOOO". I laugh on the inside at the street cronies that pull up and start talking about maps, their quick-shifter, and spiffy carbon farkles. They're also usually the ones that are obsessed with eliminating their "Chicken Strips" while wearing jeans, pleather replica factory rider jackets and non-gauntlet gloves. Some people's kids, huh. :D

I really dug that Indy GP too. The battle for 4th was an epic one. I'm not sure if I agree with N. Hayden's decision to risk crashing in the last corner just to try to get 8th place. I understand it was in front of his home fans and family but c'mon, that was a sketchy pass. If you don't mind waiting until the race is over to watch it try this: 1. Download and Install "Expat Shield" (http://expat-shield.en.softonic.com/) 2. Activate/Connect Expat Shield. Usually I do this through the little shield in the Task Manager. 3. Open an internet browser and navigate to (www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/) 4. Go to "TV" 5. Find the "M" in the alphabet in the middle of the page and click it. 6. Select "MotoGP" Watch and enjoy BBC coverage of the pre-race grid and MotoGP race. I haven't found a good free way to find the Moto2 and Moto3 races yet but I'm on the hunt.

Franco802, I used that heat out gear as well. It's good stuff. If you get too hot try pouring water on it before you session, worked like a charm for me. Don't forget (Cobie and Dylan won't let you anyway) the potassium... My regiment was one of each of their supplements (Na, K) and a bottle of water between each session. Get psyched for the class. No matter how awesome you think it's going to be it will be more awesome than you expect. And that's a gar-unnn-teeeee!

Cowboy up Franco. I rode in about 110º back in June out there. As long as you drink a lot of water (16 oz+ per hour) and take their Potassium and Sodium supplements you'll be fine. I'd expect that in late Sept. it's cool around there anyway. Cobie and his crew will make sure you get through the day. As long as you follow their instructions you'll be fine. Their coaches ride 15 sessions a day and make it so I'm sure you'll be fine doing 5.

I have found that when riding my quads, hip flexors, and calfs are the muscles that are most fatigued at the end of the day. For my quads it's the very tips next to my knee, which can be difficult to exercise. To work them out I've found a couple useful methods. 1. VERY deep squats. I like to put about 25# on each side of a standard 45# squat bar and do about 5 sets of 30. When doing each squat I go down until the angle between my shin and thigh is 30 or less. I basically go as low as I can. It's important during this exercise that you perfect your form doing squats and keep your knee caps directly over the balls of your feet. Since I have done a lot of squats in my life training for ski racing I found my balance point long ago but I do remember that when I started it took a few workouts to even be able to execute the proper squat movement with just my bodyweight. At first I did them near the end of a squat rack facing it so when I missed the balance point (butt too far back) I could catch myself with my hands and finish the movement properly. If you are not performing a squat with proper form you will destroy your knee joint over time and possibly cause an injury requiring surgery in the short term. 2. If you don't want to learn the proper squat technique or aren't into the gym thing just go find yourself a steep hill. I've found that a 1:2 slope/50% (1 foot rise for every 2 feet of horizontal distance) or steeper is about the shallowest slope that works but the steeper the better. Hike directly up the hill. If you hike as straight (directly the opposite direction that water would run) you mimic the movement in #1. In addition you'll end up doing quite a few 'sets' of very high reps since it's hiking and you'll end up taking hundreds if not thousands of steps during a hike. On the return trip down be as careful and try to follow the same "fall line" direction. Stay in control on your way down. The act of constantly slowing/controlling your decent will work the quads as well. If you're savvy, on your way up toss in a calf raise at the end of each step and you can work out your calf too which helps during the "tighten your quad" method of locking onto the tank that is taught in Level 3. This will also work the hip flexors. 3. Bench step ups in the gym. For this you take any bench press bench and step up onto it from the floor. Feel free to add weight as you see fit. This is basically the same as hiking, yet in the gym and less dangerous then going straight up a hillside. Toss in a calf raise or a front knee kick at the top of each rep and you'll get those hip flexors/calf as well. Just some workouts I've found to work the muscles that are constantly sore after a trackday on me. Caveat: After taking Level 3 my quads take a much smaller hit during trackdays due to not picking my body up off the seat between each turn (Hip Flick)... So thanks for that.