Hey There Cobie!

[jodypresti]

So how far in advance should I request a coach? I'm bringing four friends with for the August CSS at NJMP. I will be doing levels 3-4 on Monday and Tuesday and continuing for the two day school on Wednesday and Thursday. Pete was exceptional and I'd like to request him for me if possible? Is this appropriate protocal via the forums?

 

Thanks, Jody...

[Kevin Kane]

So how far in advance should I request a coach? I'm bringing four friends with for the August CSS at NJMP. I will be doing levels 3-4 on Monday and Tuesday and continuing for the two day school on Wednesday and Thursday. Pete was exceptional and I'd like to request him for me if possible? Is this appropriate protocal via the forums?

 

Thanks, Jody...

Jody;

Pete is an exceptional coach - really exceptional and I was fortunate to have him as a Level IV coach at Infineon back in March and why I felt compelled to respond to your request.

 

I have attended a whole bunch of Schools and would sometimes request a specific coach and it was all good. After a number of years of schooling I took a couple of years off and only Corner Worked for the School. I realized in my track days and efforts at racing that I had plateaued; I concluded that maybe I needed some Continuing Education to break out of my rut. Instead of returning for another Level IV, I decided to re-do the entire cycle over again. My goals were simple; to see if I could re-learn what I had forgotten about riding and to reconnect with the School to reinforce my role as a Forum Moderator.

 

My self imposed rules were simple: I didn't ask for a particular coach and I wanted to go with the flow and let the School do it's magic.

 

In November of last year I found out that Mike P is an awesome Coach as well. Never worked with him before but he helped me see things that I had long ago forgotten and he relit the flame of my enthusiasm for this sport. After a long winter layoff, I attended the School's first two-day camp at Laguna Seca for Levels II & III. Day 1 I was working with current racer/coach Greg Gorman; another coach that I never worked with before. Greg helped me overcome some barriers I didn't even knew I had and my enthusiasm just contimnued to build. Greg is another awesome coach. Day 2 I had the opportunity to be trained by Kristi Martel; a newer coach and racer who continued to help me overcome the myraid of barriers and my reawakening continued. Kristi is also an awesome coach!

 

Two weeks later I had the chance to work with Pete at a return to Infineon and this magical training ride just got better and better. As I said earlier Pete is an awesome coach but to be fair, they are all awesome. The talent level of the entire staff is extremely high and you cannot go wrong with whoever is assigned. All I can say is that if I had asked for a coach I already knew, I would have missed out on what Mike P, Greg, Kristi and Pete all saw in my riding; each in their own way helped me see what needed correction and how to overcome the barriers that had settled in my way.

 

In fairness, I did off track drills with my very first Superbike coach Jason and his guidance on the lean/slide bike worked so seamlessly with Pete's on track coaching that I marveled at how effective the School is and its whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts.

 

It is only one person's opinion but I offer it to you because taking this approach allowed me to climb above the plateau that had frustrated me to no end. As good as Pete is, someone you don't know yet may help you in ways you're not even imagining right now. I know that I will attend at least one more School this year and look forward to the possibility of riding with another coach who has never seen me before.

 

...but like anything else, YRMV.

 

Kevin

[jodypresti]

Kevin,

 

What a fanstastic perspective and I very much value your input. I have done several track days since levels I & II in early May and the control riders are most helpful. However, some of the folks I have come across are providing information, while it may not be completely wrong, is wrong for me. I'm an open minded guy but Pete really gave me some practical things to work on versus track day CR's that have a one-size-fits-all approach to training.

 

Truth be told, everyone I have worked with at CSS was exceptional. You can tell that this is their jobs and they are very good at what they do. I understand why Keith has such a long training program. Everyone is on the same page.

With all of that in mind, I have registered three of my friends for the August school and it is impractical for all of us to work with Pete. Your advice is taken, I'm going to go with the flow and see who I am paired with for the four day campaign. I can't imagine I could go wrong with any of the instructors teaching at CSS. Again, thanks for the note and ride safe.

 

Jody

[trixie1]

All I can say is that if I had asked for a coach I already knew, I would have missed out on what they saw in my riding. :D

[Bullet]

All I can say is that if I had asked for a coach I already knew, I would have missed out on what they saw in my riding.

 

Thats a really excellent post from Kevin, and I'd just like to echo some of his thoughts and how things are run in the US with what goes on here in the UK also.

 

As you rightly said Kevin, all of the crew are excellent, regardless of who you have, you won't get anyone thats not able to move you forward in some way or other. When the crew pairings are done here in the UK, the level of riding experience that you have, say the amount of trackdays you do, whether you race and so on, are mapped up to the coach that you're like to get. This way, we ensure that you're likely to get the best experience you can from your days with us.

 

When students do multiple days, we rotate the student with different coaches, the reason is that as Kevin rightly pointed out, different coaches spot different things, and we all have different strengths and things that when we combine them together, we can really add a lot to your days, and you get several different perspectives and also slightly variations in approach, personality, styles etc that we all bring to the party as well.

 

Bullet