Vaidas Posted August 26, 2009 Report Share Posted August 26, 2009 Hello everyone, My name is Vaidas Gaurilcikas, I have attended level one and two last weekend in Kacergine, Lithuania. Although I was somewhat aware of the high standards of coaching in CSS from what I read on the internet/in the magazines, it is something else experiencing it first hand. The classroom lessons from coach Glenn were as entertaining as they were informative, and advice from the riding coach Johnny second to none, very useful and, most importantly, confidence inspiring. It's been a great pleasure and I look forward to meeting you lot again in the near future. Cheers, Vaidas Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bullet Posted August 26, 2009 Report Share Posted August 26, 2009 Hello everyone, My name is Vaidas Gaurilcikas, I have attended level one and two last weekend in Kacergine, Lithuania. Although I was somewhat aware of the high standards of coaching in CSS from what I read on the internet/in the magazines, it is something else experiencing it first hand. The classroom lessons from coach Glenn were as entertaining as they were informative, and advice from the riding coach Johnny second to none, very useful and, most importantly, confidence inspiring. It's been a great pleasure and I look forward to meeting you lot again in the near future. Cheers, Vaidas Hi Vaidas, It was really nice to meet you guys last weekend. Your levels of enthusiasm and your passion for biking was almost unsurapssed in our experience. I think it was fair to say a great weekend was had by all, both by students, and by us the coaches that came and shared our school and learnings with you. The circuit was a little eye opening, I don't think myself, Johnny or Gary had ever experienced a circuit as bumpy in our lives, but we all agreed though it was a tremendous challenge, the cicuit was very enjoyable to ride, and somewhere we'd like to ride again with luck next year. Now you're part of the family, please feel free to ask questions, share your thoughts and learnings, and we'll see if we can't keep improving your knowledge and skills for the foreseeable future to come. Stay safe and keep smiling! Bullet Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acebobby Posted August 26, 2009 Report Share Posted August 26, 2009 Welcome to the forum Vaidas, feel free to join in with some of the discussions, or even start a new one! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hubbard_28 Posted August 26, 2009 Report Share Posted August 26, 2009 Howdy. Congratulations on the school. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilfuel Posted August 26, 2009 Report Share Posted August 26, 2009 Vaidas, Welcome my friend. You are now an official member and as such you have to post on this forum or your membership will be revoked! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vaidas Posted September 7, 2009 Author Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 Thanks for the warm welcome! I don't know if this is the appropriate forum but below follows a short story of my recent pathetic effort to apply my newly gotten CSS skills in a race in Poland. Although I wasn't expecting to race any more this year, an opportunity presented itself to take part in a race in Poznan, round V of Polish championship (I am racing in Rookie 600). I'm sure this is typical, but the first impression that I got after the first practise, was that, combined with 3 months off racing, CSS made me a very confident, but veerrry slow rider. I managed to get on my earlier races' pace in later stages of the practise, but, as the locals weren't resting throughout the season upping the pace by whole 5 seconds (don't forget it's a Rookie class), my times that used to be good for the upper middle of the time sheets before, now were firmly at the bottom. I was lacking corner speed badly - braking into my comfort zone before every corner and being slow as a result, not remotely using the available lean angle and traction. Probably the crash in previous round in March (lost the front) left a dent in my confidence as well, although that was in the rain and shouldn't have had any connection to the actual conditions at all. The goal to improve my lap time from the previous round by 2 seconds was looking a bit remote. I ended up qualifying 29th out of 32 and being a little bit depressed to say the least. I knew I was capable of more, but, not-crashing being the first concern, I felt just couldn't get over it. Anyway, for the Sunday's warm-up I set a goal for myself to relax on the bike as much as possible, stop concentrating on every precise detail that was taking away so much of my brain power, and try to get a rhythm instead. I did not check the times of the session (in order to not to fall into depression again), but it certainly felt quicker, both in terms of corner speed and the number of opponents I was catching. My plan for the race was keep myself calm, get a good start and try to fight back as many positions as possible, it's the guys in front of me that are under pressure, not me. It all worked out pretty well, I managed to overtake a couple of opponents right off the line and during the first lap, then settling behind a group of riders and fighting with them until the end of the race. It felt better and better as the race progressed, I regained courage getting into turns faster and carrying more corner speed. I managed to overtake all but two of the group I was sticking to and finished 18th, improving my previous round's best lap by.. yes, two seconds! And it didn't remotely feel like being on the limit, like the previous races. Although the result surely isn't something to brag about and my lap time was still seconds off the best times in the class, I am satisfied that I have reached my goals. And even though at the start it felt like it was getting nowhere, I still ended up being faster than before on that circuit, while feeling confident at the same time, credit for that must be given to CSS. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fossilfuel Posted September 7, 2009 Report Share Posted September 7, 2009 You can't get better if you don't keep trying. I am sure once you get the "feel", you will have a more positive outlook. Hey! you are out there doing it, way to go man. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GregGorman Posted September 8, 2009 Report Share Posted September 8, 2009 Taking two seconds off your time is something to brag about in my book. Congratulations! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cobie Fair Posted September 9, 2009 Report Share Posted September 9, 2009 Taking two seconds off your time is something to brag about in my book. Congratulations! For sure taking 2 seconds off is a good result! Best, Cobie Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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