Foxxy

As I prepare and pack for my two days coming up at Streets of Willow, 3/12 and 3/13, I keep coming back to Keith’s articles and the forum to try and pick up any last second tips and ideas while I try to maximize my hard-earned dollars. For some reason, I keep coming back and thinking about the categories of riders and in particular number #6. “Riders who do something to improve. Here you find the rider who reads articles, goes to track days in search of answers or comes to a school. They make a commitment to improve and take definite steps to do it.” I feel that I’m a decent rider, but at the same time feel that the more I learn about the “art” of riding, the more questions I have and the more I NEED to learn in order to become a more efficient, safer and by default, a faster rider. As much as I think I know something about throttle control, vision or body position I know there is a way in which I can improve and become more efficient. Level 1 and 2 definitely improved my riding, so I’m hoping that attending the upcoming school will make another measurable impact. I have several street and track riding friends and acquaintances who fall into 4 and 5. They just don’t see the need or have the motivation to fundamentally improve their riding skill, OR, don’t think that they need to improve. I have trouble understanding this logic. I often wonder why I have such a passion for riding, no doubt being on a bike in the mountains or riding at a new track is invigorating, but I think a large part of the passion is the ability to always work on my riding skill, become a more astute rider and seek out answers, and sometimes for questions I didn’t even know existed. In this case, I’m content on being #6.

Greetings!!!! I attended several years ago in Vegas and was blown away in how much my riding improved. I’ll be returning next month to the Streets of Willow Springs and am hopeful for similar results. I’ve spent some time on the track (track days and racing) but am looking to get more serious in my ability to ride more efficiently and learn how to better communicate with the bike. In reading and re-reading TOTW II and “Soft Science”, I now better understand where I can improve my speed and confidence. An area where I’m looking to improve upon is Charging and being able to get on the throttle before the apex, or preferably sooner. When I think back to my riding, I’m getting on the gas at the Apex (or, perhaps being honest with myself, after the apex) and this is where I’m losing a bike length or two (or three or four) to my competition. I’ve become obsessed with the attached pic from TOTW II, page 29. This is exactly what I’m doing wrong and the book lays exactly what I need to do. This will also allow me to explore my limits of traction. If I can better understand this in my riding, I will fly home a happy man. See you at the track!!! Foxxy