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June 1st, 2001 2nd Creek Raceway, Denver Colorado Last year, I took
Jason Pridmore’s STAR, and was really happy and learned a lot.
Unfortunately, this year, both Keith Code and STAR come on the same days (how stupid is
that?), so I decided to stick with STAR again, but since Reg Pridmore’s CLASS
was on a different day and earlier in the season, I would take that and learn something. So, I get out there early, get both bikes ready to go, and get registered. I took the 500 and the Ducati 748. The 500 because I’ve already got brand new tires bought for it, and it’s a good learner bike and the power won’t overwhelm you (ok, maybe me anyway. :-) ). And the Ducati as a back up bike in case something broke on the 500. I was going to take the 2 smoke but the fork leg broke, I got the new fork leg late Thursday and didn’t fell like thrashing late into the night on it and then jumping right on it. (yes, I have too many track bikes). However, as you will see it turned out to be a good decision. So, I go up with the first bike and all my gear to get teched in. (they are supposed to tech your gear too, make sure you have their requirements. And, first off, most everyone’s head lights are either on, or uncovered, or both. Apparently they don’t care. I thought that was a little strange. Then, some of the gear was ummm, interesting. One guy had leathers that had a rip down a seam on the hip side. Another guy had like leather jeans. Ummm, ok. So, get the Ducati teched in, and he moves along. Then, I come back with the 500 and then we go off to the classroom session. So, I start off in the B group on the track, trying not to jump in over my head. Pretty quickly I realize this is not going to work. I’m faster than everyone in front of me, but they are all taking the wide (classic) line and since you can only pass on the outside, I can’t get around anyone. And, I'm not going to get around anyone on the straights with the underpowered 500. I figure that since I run middle of the road lines, anyone can get around me, so even if I’m the slowest guy in A, I’ll be able to work on my stuff and those guys can get around me. So, I pull in, wait for an instructor and say “can I move up?” He says "sure, you were in control, go ahead, you’ll do fine." Ok, so by now, I’ve missed the A classroom session and
A is heading back out to the track, B is coming in.
(now mind you, I’ve been out there, A hasn’t been out for at least 30
minutes or so, and their 2nd session was being led around by
instructors at a higher pace. So, I
go out one of the first couple people out (I’m already geared up) and take the
first lap easy like always (2nd to 3rd gear, no brakes, warm up the
tires). Then, this guy on a Aprilia Mille
R goes screaming by me between 3 and 4. I
mean fast. Oh, I think ok, the A group is fast, cool, just like a track day.
By the time I get around to exiting 6, I look across, see two people
riding slowly out of 7 looking back.
Hmm, hard on the brakes., sure enough, Mille R on it’s side on the exit
of 7 (rat’s nest). Duh, tires are
cold. Later, when talking to the guy whom he had just passed, he went into 7, got on the power, back
of the bike came right around. Bike was
reasonably thrashed, he went off to the hospital, but came back later. (this is maybe 9:30, his whole day was wasted).
So, we sit for a while, they clean him and the track up, then they let us
back out. (the A group). We go back out, I have a really good session, try and put
some things together, and now my brain is working again and I'm having a good time.
After this, I go in, find Hunt (we are always right about the same speed)
and say Hunt, you need to move up. I
think he did two laps with B group again, and then was all of a sudden sitting
in the A group classroom session. Guess
he moved up. :-) Classroom
had some good topics, but not as tightly focused as I would like, some rambling,
but some good stuff to take notes on and work on.
Reg is all about being smooth. Work
it hard, but let the bike do the work, don’t upset it. Before lunch they have two things. You can either do a braking drill (be smooth) or “walk” the track and ask about corners. I’ve got a lot of time on 2nd creek, so I decide my braking could use more work. They line you up in about 4 lines, with an instructor at the end, you accelerate to about 25 or so, then reach a cone and brake. Front’s only, rear only or both, whatever they tell you at the time. I happened to get in Reg’s line. Some people were moving around lines going to the shortest. I thought it made more sense to keep going back to the same guy so he would know what you did wrong the last time. So, we did front only, I come up, hammer on the brakes smoothly, no clutch and come to a stop. Reg says very good, great stopping power, but see how the front dived on you? Yeah. So, be smoother initially and then go hard and then roll off, keep the bike from being upset. Ok. So, I go around, practice a couple times on the way back (might as well right?) get back in line. When it’s my turn, I go off and I get too hard on them initially and upset the bike. I yell at myself as I come to a stop F*((&*K!!!!!!!!!. Reg is like what? And laughs, and says hey, you know what you did wrong, and you were working on it, try it again. Go through same drill, get a good one. Distance is the same (which shocks me honestly) and I don’t’ upset the bike. We do one rear only. Heck, I had to find the pedal, I’m not a rear braker. Probably less than 5% of the time. So, then we do both. First time through, too hard initially, F*(&K!!!!!!, he laughs, says try again and then I’ll let you go to lunch. (cool, cuz you know I’m wasting away to nothing :-)). I go around again, get a good one with both. He’s like good, real good, now, go do another one. What happened to lunch? He chuckles and says “it was a fluke, prove to me it wasn’t a fluke” Oh man, cheeseburger riding on this one. I get a good one. I go off to lunch. So, I did learn some stuff there, was really happy with that. After lunch, the classroom really deteriorates into some less focused stuff, while Reg is out giving rides. Maybe it's better for the B group. This was probably the most disappointing part of the day. I don’t get a ride (probably should have, didn’t want to, Hunt and June did), but his bike does have a camera which he takes videos of the students. So, after the first track session, we get to watch the camera of our work. (the A group) So, next session, I grab an instructor before we leave and say look, I don’t give a damn about anything else, I want these virgin knee pucks to go away. Can you follow me around, and say you’re 1 inch away, try this, or you are 2 feet away, don’t’ worry about it, tell me what I can improve on. He says now we are crossing a line, I don’t’ want you doing this on the street. Nope, I ride a BMW, I never speed. He doesn’t believe me. :-) He says look at my knee pucks (his).
They are virgin. So?
So they are brand new. He’s
like nope, 5 years old. Huh????????/ He says he never puts his knee down (oh, and he’s fast too,
and won a championship in something somewhere).
I ask how he knows where the edge of the bike is?
He says it’s never a problem. I
still don’t understand this, if anyone has any ideas on this, I’d like to
know. So, I follow him, he follows me for 2 laps each, he passes me, we pull in. he says “you aren’t going to like this”............. I’m like yeah, 18 inches off the ground right? He’s says "yeah BUTTTTTTTTTTT you are really really smooth, you are good on the brakes, you have decent lines, you have good body position and you don’t upset the bike." Well, that’s interesting, and now my helmet is going to be tight from
head swelling, but how do I improve? What
is the next piece of the puzzle I need? (this was one of Reg’s points earlier that I really liked.
Riding a bike is like putting together a jigsaw puzzle.
You might get one piece and it makes a couple pieces fit.
You might get another that makes you realize older pieces are in the
wrong place. Good analogy)
He says tighten your lines. This
confuses me. Since taking STAR last year, I don’t run the full classic outside
line, I run about the middle.
He says no, inside. All the
way inside. Connect the dots.
Run inside, you drift out on the power, which puts you on the inside for
the next corner, etc. This seems very strange.
But hey, I’ll try it. He
says TRY IT. Ok, so I slow down a
bit, and try that. Inside entry to
every corner. (like white line
inside) And Well, IT WORKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! By the end of that session, I’m hammering around,
running quicker than I’ve gone before and way more in control, lot less wasted
motion and, I realize later, it’s the racing line.
Think about it, you can’t be passed.
Someone has to be faster than you to go around you, and they still have
to take the long way around (outside).
Also gives you way more room to brake if you mess up and get in a bit
hot. Wow, this is great.
I come in for classroom. I
find Stuart (the instructor) and say “thanks man, that really works”.
Reg is astride his bike having just come in, and is talking to Stuart.
Reg sees me and says “you are very smooth, nice lines.’ Hmmmmmmmmm,
helmet is really getting tight now. During the classroom in the afternoon, they talk for a while,
then they show the video from Reg’s bike. This is great. I
would pay big money for this. They
should do this the whole time. You
watch other people and Reg is doing commentary the whole time. “following a 929, red jacket, guy is running wide here and
his toes are hanging off”, “following a VFR, red areostich, he’s pretty
smooth, a little wide here.” Etc.
It’s great. And people
admit to their mistakes and such. GREAT learning tool. Why
they don’t use this in the morning, I don’t know. So, this time we are watching, and Reg is done with
passengers, so he’s just working his way around following people, doing
commentary etc. By this time B is
coming in and Reg is sitting in the classroom.
And his camera is working his way through a long line of traffic
(commentary on one bike at a time) and the instructor starts to shut it off.
I’m like WAIT, I’m the next bike in line.
(I can see my fat a$$ up ahead. :-) ).
Reg says “yeah, turn it back on, you guys could all learn from this guy
(me), he’s very smooth, great lines.” Ask Hunt, true quote.
Oh boy, the helmet isn’t going to fit at all now.
So, we watch, his running commentary is interesting.
(and it’s true, I’m nowhere close to getting my knee down),
“ok, big guy on a little bike, this guy needs a bigger bike... he’s
very smooth, nice body position...... watch his lines, very nice... connect the
dots...” So, we go back out.
Oh boy, I’m working these lines, somehow my helmet went on despite my
head being so swelled, I’m just eating people up. Boom, total confidence, still no knee down, but running hard, hard
on the brakes, etc. Pretty soon,
I’m up this CBR600F4’s a$$. But
I can’t get around him. He
HAMMERS down the straight and has 100 feet on me at the entrance to one.
By turn 5 I’ve caught him. Every
single lap. But I can’t get around.
(on a track, or I assume a race, he’s toast, way wide, but I can’t
get it done limited to only going around the outside). I
finally putter down the straight so he can get away and I won’t keep running
into him. I still was up his butt
within 2 laps at which point I came in. BTW, I did the whole day on the VF500RRFS (race, really
F*(^ing slow). It ran great.
And the skinny tires that the tech guy was so worried about?
Yeah, not a problem. I
definitely belonged in the fast group (A) for this class.
Not so sure what I do now for STAR. So, what did I learn? I learned the new lines, and that really works. I got better on the brakes (although I still think a lot of that is due to the 2 smoke) but I did get smoother on the brakes initially and stopped upsetting the bike as much. I learned I should have grabbed an instructor earlier in the day, but I was busy being pissed that I had started in the B group. My bad. Was it worth the money/Would I do it
again? I dunno. I
think I could have gotten that out of a 150 dollar session with one of the local
MRA guys. But then again, are they just
fast, or can they actually break things down to small little levels so you can
learn? The more I think about this, the more I think not. I
think I wasted a lot of time in the morning which was my fault, they were pretty
organized. I do know I did
improve. Not a lot, maybe 4 or 5%,
but I am quicker and harder and more in control.
I never rode at 10/10th, all day. I was probably riding 8/10th or 9/10th,
always room in reserve. When one of
the slow 600's would roll from the outside in on me, I could just keep braking
and it wasn’t a big deal. I do
like the new lines and I’m going to work on that.
The personal instruction was very good.
I should have grabbed one sooner, and I will at STAR and more often. I think the class is very good for first timers. It was very non-threatening (oh, and that Mille R was the only crash all day, despite a LOT of B guys blowing turn 1.). I know that a lot of B group gained a tremendous amount of confidence (maybe too much). But how much of that is due to track time or the class, that I'm not sure of. I wasn't in that group so I can't speak to that, but if you are blowing turn 1, you are going too fast and need to slow down and gain control. I know June improved tremendously and gained a lot of confidence. While Reg is a very good speaker, I think the classroom sessions could use some improvement, where I thought they were very good at STAR. The more I think about this, the more this may not be a fair statement. I think Reg is a good speaker and he's throwing out ideas all time. But I think that I may like things very structured and quick and to the point, and that just may not be how they teach. I do think that it takes a couple of days to digest it all and keep thinking. I like the cheat sheet they included in the packet, it's up on my wall in the garage so I can glance at it. I think the video bike was great, they could have done a lot more of that. And I hope they sell that tape, I would pay a lot of money for that tape. Some thoughts I really liked from the classroom.
Anyway, that’s my opinion.
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