My first road trip & Superbike School

Wanted to give an account of my weekend on the road and my experice at Superbike School. So this is going to be a long one .

I could get off work only at 3:30PM Friday so by the time I got home packed, checked the bike, fueled up and got on the 15 it was close to 5PM. I had 190 miles to go and traffic was already backed up. This lead to me learning my first lesson on this trip, splitting lanes. I have seen others do it, but was never forced into a situation where I had to do it until this Friday. Ended up riding a total of 30 odd miles splitting lanes. About 100 miles into the ride to Rosamond (this is where Willow Springs is) I could not take the discomfort anymore so decided to pull into a gas station and take a break. I pulled into Shell, when I saw Arco and decided to go there instead. This is when the only misfortune of this trip struck. On the incline leading down and away from Shell, I ended grabbing too much front brake resulting in me and the bike toppling over to the left. My legs were already like jello from the ride, and I just could not keep her up. The damage was mostly to the upper left faring close to the clutch lever. My leg was between the bike and the ground, which I guess reduced the damage. A guy in a Chevy truck helped me get the bike up, where I parked it and just stared at the damage I don know for how long.

Anyway I had to keep moving, so topped of the tank and continued to ride. Overall I think I did a good job of putting this behind me and ride on. I got of the 15 and took US 138 via Palmdale to get to Rosamond. The 138 is beautiful. It goes through San Bernando forest reserve through hills and flat desert. Close to Palmdale the wind on the highway picked up and was really tough riding through it. This was the real sh*t scary part of the trip. The wind kept pushing me to the right, and at one point pushed me a whole lane to the left. Luckily there were no vehicles beside me at that time. Got to Palmdale and then took US 14 N to get to Rosamond. I reached my motel finally at 9:30PM. Parked the bike right outside my room door. Chained the front tire to a close by wooden beam, locked both disc brakes and spent a sleepless night with nightmares of people stealing my bike. Kept waking up every hour or so to check on her.

Saturday May 13 7:00 AM Superbike school.

Doing this course I can now say has been the best decision I have made so far. The amount I learnt in one day, and in an environment as safe as it can be, is priceless. Thanks to all the folks in this forum who helped me make this decision.

I attended Level 1 of the course. The emphasis was on the fundamentals of cornering technique. Registration is at 7AM. I got there by 6:45. Had the bike pass through inspection, where they check tread on the tire, tape up the lights and mirrors and top up tire pressure. They also tape up the speedo on your instrument console. Throughout the day I never knew what my speed was. Come to think of it, I really din need it. All it would have done was to distract me on the track.

You have a choice of using the school bike and gear. However, I highly recommend taking your own bike. The following are my reasons,
1) You know your bike best. You are most comfortable on your bike. Very important when you do not know what lies during the course of the day.
2) Whatever you learn will be in relation to your bike.
3) The school bikes are Kawasaki ZX-6R. Great bikes. But they are lighter and smaller. Smaller being key when compared to our VFRs.

There were about 54 students who attended level 1. They were divided into 3 groups white, yellow and green with 18 students in each. After registration we had breakfast followed by
1) Introduction to the training team - Riding coaches, track marshals, wranglers (they keep us students on with the program)
2) Track rules - Riding etiquette, the different signal flags and what each color designates
3) What it takes to navigate a corner - Here Keith Code explains all the fundamentals, and kicks of the day with instructions to the first drill.

The day was split into 5 drills.
1) Throttle Control
2) Turn Points (Here they have yellow crosses on the track denoting point where you turn to negotiate the corner)
3) Quick Turning
4) Rider Input
5) Two Step Turning
Each drill is preceded by a classroom session where instructions are given, and on track hand signals shown by the riding coaches explained. The whole process is run like clockwork and is really amazing to watch.Between each drill a group has sometime where they are not on track and not in the classroom. During this time they get instructions from the steering coach. This was where a lot of my riding techniques was set straight. The steering coach looks at your body position, counter steering technique and body movement when you ride. All this is done on a skid pad off the track.

Each drill has rules. If you stray from these rules, you get pulled of the track and set straight. The school is very particular about this cos they want you to get your basics right. There are guys monitoring your riding at almost every corner. The first drill only allowed riding in one gear. Either 3rd or 4th with no usage of brakes whatsoever. Brakes were only allowed in the last drills at the end of the day and the number of gears allowed were also increased as the day progressed.

There are 6 riding coaches. Hence on track each coach trains 3 students. My coach was Lonnie. Once you are on track the riding coach follows you for a bit, after which he pulls up in front and signals you to follow him for about one loop of the track. After the track session before heading into the classroom for instructions on the next drill, you meet your riding coach. Here you discuss your on track experience and get feedback.

Lunch was served around noon. Really good food. Throughout the day there wer snacks and drinks. They asked to drink a lot of water and take 1 tablet of sea salt and 1 tablet of potassium between each drill. I did this religously and this is what kept me from cramping up and getting head aches.

Twice during the day I ran off track. I was reprimanded severely during the second time with a warning that if it were to happen again I would not ride the rest of the day. Both times I ran off was during the Turning Points drill. With the yellow crosses on the track it became easier to negotiate the turn, leading me to ride faster. Be careful, you learn stuff really fast here but keep a check on your confidence. A fellow rider crashed (no damage to him) and was not allowed to ride after that.

Speaking of fellow riders. You will never guess who was in my riding group. Keifer Sutherland. Yes, read again. Keifer Sutherland was in my ride group. Freaking Jack Bauer. It was really cool. He mostly kept to himself but if other riders were around would exchange a few words. It was really cool nobody made a big deal of it, everyone was there just to ride, including Keifer.

Anyway class ended at 5PM with a final wrap up lecture and certificates of attendance were distributed.

Left for San Diego the next day around 7ish. The winds on the highway was minimal, and I think if you are driving through these parts best to ride in the morning.

Overall I must say this has been an epic weekend for me. My first road trip, became confident with lane splitting, foolishly dumped my ride and got that out of my system, learnt the tools to negotiate corners better, met Keifer Sutherland, broke in my leather suit and got back home safe.

Thanks for reading.

 

"Doing this course I can now say has been the best decision I have made so far. The amount I learnt in one day, and in an environment as safe as it can be, is priceless. Thanks to all the folks in this forum who helped me make this decision."

I've been saying this since I started. A few hours on a track will give you years of street riding experience.

Sounds like you had a great weekend. Road trip, track day, celebs...almost too much to handle right? Your excitement probably far outweighs the unfortunate incident. It happens...ride on!

 

As far as dropping your VFR, done there, been that! It gives the bike some "character." It sounds like you had a great weekend overall, and improved your riding skills in the process. Thanx for sharing.

 

Someone please bounce this ass clown!!!!

 

DITTO! :crazy:

 

Kiefer Sutherland huh? Here's a vid I stumbled onto this morning :smile:

YouTube - Kiefer Sutherland rides his 1985 VF1000R

Twenty years later he takes a riding class :thumbsup:

 

Kiefer is da frackin man!!!:thumbsup:

 

thanks for sharing.

 

From sources I cannot divulge, Sutherland attended the Superbike School for a specific reason. In production is a reprise of the 60's film "Easy Rider". Sutherland will re-create the role of Captain America originally as played by Peter Fonda.

Billy as played in the original film by Dennis Hopper will be played by UK actor Sasha Baron Cohen.

The reprise film will contain no drugs, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, obscene language, gratuitous violence and scantily dressed women or subliminal messages about Dianetics.

The leads as in the original version will not be assasinated by shotgun wielding rednecks but will end in the Blu-Ray 3D ascencion in L Ron. Hubbard's newest spaceship from the launchpad at Disneyland in Anahiem.

 

Priceless,, nothing like a good track school day to get ones self in order, lots can be learned at one of those events. Wow, to have seen Sutherland t0o, crazy who you can run into down there in S,Ca. cool good to hear it all was a great experience, less of course a simple opps. thanks for sharing.

 

No problem. Kiefer looks just as tough in real life too. Looks like the spammer got more ppl to notice this thread :biggrin: For once them spammers got it right. :tongue:

 

Thanks for the great read. I hope to do this someday.

 

Hey, Nabster: what was Keifer riding, if not a zx-6r?

 

Actually he arrived in his Escalade. On the track he was using the school's ZX6R.

 

Congrats X glad to see you made it to the track and had a blast.

Getting reprimanded on the track is a lot better then what you get on the street ain't it.

 

do you have any previous track experience? im all for more instruction, but i was wondering if the level 1 school would be painfully slow for someone who already know their was around a track. mostly because for the same price you could get 3-4 regular track days.

 

No I did not have any previous track experience. The school policy is you have to go through Level1 before you can advance to Level2. They keep records of previous students.

If I remember correctly,

1st session - No brakes, only 3rd and 4th gear.
2nd session - No brakes, only 3rd and 4th gear.
3rd-5th session - Everything is allowed.

My recommendation, do not look at it as another track day. Look at it as a consultation. Take all your knowledge and get it verified by the experts. The riding coaches adapt to your riding style. They will always work on fixing your riding faults if any. So you have nothing to loose but a lot to gain. :thumbsup:

Damn sounds like an Extenze commercial :tongue:

 

Amen to that. I was stupid! I took their no brakes rule literally. If you find yourself going off track.. please apply brakes and don be like me :redface:

 

school will be helpful regardless of track experience, bear in mind if you really want to get the most out of it, plan on taking all three levels. No speed limits, passing rule is a "courteous" 6 feet.