Kevin Kane

I stopped wearing glasses at the track when I found I was looking over them when my head was down on the tank. I switched to disposablle contacts and they are well hydrated but I also found that I need to be careful with helmet ventilation as too much air movement over my eyes tends to dry them quickly. YRMV. Kevin

Cobie; I have been able to get limited internet access so I will try to maintain cover this weekend. Kevin

Petros; I have tried both but I bought Tech Spec Snake Skins. IMHO, They do a better job because the surface is more uniform. Also the Tech Spec's do come off if you want to remove them. I do not know about Stomp Grips. Kevin

Hubbard; At the risk of acknowledging that I missed some detail in the earlier posts here, can you explain your thoughts on potassium tablets? I have found relief from cramping muscles (thigh in particular) by taking potassium during the day. I also drink a 20 oz Gatorade between every session regardless of air temp so my guess is that my cramping is probably not from de-hydration. I will admit that my Physician’s nurse freaked out when I told her I did this (she said it can have an adverse impact on my heart) but it does seem to work. Am I imagining this? Kevin

Probably not necessary...the posts with photos here are all about generating discussions on the techniques used in cornering a motorcycle. Kevin

I dunno...if I recall his was the only bike examined at VIR so one could speculate but the simple truth is that we'll probably never know. Kevin

There are two other Aussies that should be acknowledged IMHO; Mat Mladin and Troy Bayliss. Mladin is like the terminator while Bayliss will throw it all away trying to win a race. I appreciate that Spies has won the last three AMA Superbike titles but Mladin has won more races over the same time period because winning races seems to be more important to him than winning titles. Bayliss is just so determined that he won't let up even if doing so will insure a World Title - witness his last lap crash in R2 at Vallelunga. Kevin

T.O.C.; I agree with Racer; take the school first. My first track day was Level I with CSS at Watkins Glen and their coaching and classroom training allowed me to acclimate to track riding in a way that even the best run track day could not. Good Luck and let us know how it went. Kevin

Bpez; Yes; level IV is where you help structure your own cirriculum and it starts with your Level IV Questionaire. Your Level IV Liason will sit with you at the start of the day to determine the most effective way to accomplish your stated goals. What I found is through their vast experience, they will get you there but not necessarily how you anticipate it would happen. When you get to Level IV, take the time to really think about the questions before you answer them because it will pay bigger dividends if you do. Kevin

I learned how to ride on a similar bike, my older brother's Yamaha Twin Jet 100. Kevin

No, but I would prefer to try and do something to enhance my technique and get to know the bike better first. Adding something to it will be my last solution . Petros; You may have answered your own question. There is a technique to riding any bike, you're just going through the adjustment to find yours. That said, I have a street 996 and a track only 748SPS and it was more challanging to "lock in" at first but I figured out how. This season I decided to try the Tech Spec Snake Skin pads and it became sooooo-o-o much easier that I regretted waiting for as long as I did to get them. YRMV. Kevin

[gulp!] ...never mind sir.

Now Sir, we are on the same sheet of music. I want to know (like you) WHY they aren't competitive. I don't think it's physiology (although they are more "top heavy"). I wonder if it's a matter of desire and cultural grooming telling them that it's not ladylike to compete. And then you have normal rate of attrition in this sport due to injury and just .....life. I suppose cause we start with more men, more stick. There have been women that have made it pretty far up--who was the German(?) girl that ended up with some kind of championship, Katia-something? Of course we have had Misti doing well, and Jessica Z has been out there, but Misti regularly is 3 seconds a lap faster. There are for sure fewer women that race than men, so pretty small pool to begin with. One could ask the same in car racing--any world champs there? C How many AMA wins does Misti have? Podiums, Top 5's? Top 10's? .... Hey, I'm not ragging on her or anything, she's a better woman than I'll ever be, but I wanna see a woman scrap it out for a championship alongside men. Seems that no one can offer a good hypothesis as to why we don't. Okay.....I see that Misti won the 2002 WMRC 650 Supersport Twins Championship. Congrats on that. So it IS possible for a woman to compete against men and win. Who's next? ...so where are we going with this thread exactly? Up until recently, women basketball players couldn't dunk the ball... I thought that this was a more fascinating topic when it focused on physical training techniques for cornering a motorcycle...but that's just me. Kevin

Jay; ...don't let Misti see this post. Are you aware of the WCC in Canada? http://www.womenscup.ca/ One of our newest members GiGi is a competitor in that series and she may also take exception to your comment. Some of these ladies are also running in the top ten in the 600AM series up there. Kevin Kane

Cobie; Hard acceleration and hard braking is the fastest way to heat them short of tire warmers. Kevin

Andre, that's a long circuit so the tires should have been up to temperature by the end of your second lap at a minimum; I would rule out cold tires but how many track days were on them? I remember losing the rear tire on an exit. I was just at the apex and back on the gas and then found myself sliding across the track. It was the eighth track day on the tires and I didn't have the experieince then to "hear" what the tires were saying to me. Now I do know that many many riders can ride on tires with more TD's than that but it could have been a factor with your crash. Can you post a link? If so, you will get a much more focused critique of what happened. Someone posted one a awhile ago and it was pretty clear that the rider just leaned it over and right off the wheel. Andre - that's what this Forum is all about...we post our questions/observations to generate discussions and exchanges. We all benefit by the interaction so post as often as you have a question or an observation to share. Kevin

Cobie; Sounds like poor or inadequate reference points to me... ; ) In ukilme's complete post, he wrote that he target fixed. Isn't that the ultimate RP mistake? By target fixing ukilme missed either his end of braking marker (read: turn entry speed) or his turn point RP. His situation all starts with RP's IMHO. Had he kept his focus on his RP's, he would have two-stepped (or three-stepped, depending upon when you took level I) the corner without a problem. Kevin

I vote for insufficient attention to reference points Kevin Kane

Chung; That's tough to answer but I will try. You need to be able to use the controls of the motorcycle to place it where you want it when you want it without "thinking" about how that's accomplished. I can't use your analogy to firearms training because I am unfamiliar with it but the MSF course and your follow up street riding will get you to that level of proficiency. You are correct that this is not a novice undertaking but you don't need to have a white number plate to enroll either. I would expect that you will know when you feel comfortable. Kevin

Chunger; Of all of your comments and questions, this one jumped out at me as it did with Racer. You do need to have your control inputs developed to be almost second nature if you want to maximize your investment with the School. Your intuitions are spot on when it comes to the concept of minimizing the development of bad habits and your decision to take the MSF course is an excellent place to start; getting the fundamentals of operating a motorcycle established up front. Once you are comfortable with the basics (which is more than just riding at freeway speed) then and only then would I sign up for the School. After that, there is no better place to learn how to corner a motorcycle at speed than the Superbike School IMHO. As for which format, I have done both more than once and the two day camp does offer more no question. It has (by design) a smaller class, it has only two groups instead of three so you are on track more than a conventional one day School. The student/track coach ratio is lower so you get more personalized attention at the two day camp and I believe there is more video shot there as well but it may be affected by which Level you are attending. The two day camp requires that you are in good physical shape because you will ride a lot and you will be tired at the end of each day. As for which bike or type, I will leave that alone except to say that you confirmed how rational you are approaching this by not including a litre bike in your choices. As for which track to attend the School, you can't go wrong with any of your choices but having been on The Streets and Laguna Seca, The Streets is a shorter and more technical track so you will have more repetitions there than the other two...but again you can't go wrong with any of these. Good luck with your journey. Kevin

Genevieve; Let me add my welcome to the Forum. I saw you at Mid-Ohio a few years ago when the three top Canadian WCC racers came to School there. You, MJ and Nat were there and I think it was the same time that one or all of you talked Misti into entering the WCC herself. Congratualtions on your season so far and we look forward to your participating here. Kevin

Check this thread. There are probably three or four like it in the Forum archives as this question comes up alot. http://forums.superbikeschool.com/index.php?showtopic=20 Kevin

Rick; The two day camp covers two Levels; one Level per day. If you have never attended before you will do Level's I & II. If you have Level I under your belt, you will do Level's II & III and so on. Good Luck. Mid-O is a GREAT place to attend your 2-Day Camp. Kevin

Acebobby; I have always beleived that lean angle is a component of cornering and when isolated as a goal of and by itself becomes a problem. If your Two-Step and Quick Turn focus has you on the line you want, I would suggest that you try to incrementally add to your entry speed by very small margins. As your entry speed increases, you will by necessity need more lean angle to carry the same line (or arc in this case). If you do this in small chunks maybe only focusing on one or two corners each lap, you will see an improvement in your lap times. A few seasons ago I mentioned a similar frustration to my CSS Coach at Mid-Ohio and he recommended that I try this technique. As I became more comfortable with the selected corners, I found without even realizing it that I had begun to make the same adjustement at other corners. YRMV but it worked wonders for me. The goal was accomplished by focusing on cornering more thoroughly including better corner entry speed and not from even thinking about lean angle. Kevin PS Working for CSS as a Corner Worker last season, I remember expressing concern about a member of our Corner Working team using way too much lean angle for the speed he was carrying into every turn. Within three laps, he dragged a footpeg and ended his day with an expensive low side.

Mark; Standard street pattern: 1 down and 5 up. Kevin