Women of action – make your mark!
So many times we discuss women helping women, yet it is just about that, mere talk with no action. What many of us forget is that as an individual you can change the course of things, including what inspires and motivates you, whose life you can change and how you make an impact on the world. You may not be able to do it alone, but as a group you can make a difference. Using this very philosophy after being an instructor for many track day companies over the years and being the go between for customers and the organization, it was time to fix what I felt was broken. You get to see the good, bad and ugly of the rolling circus and after listening to customers and how they felt, I could understand their frustration and decided to venture off on my own. Believing I could make a difference even though it honestly scared the living heck out of me, being fortunate enough to be in the position of my sponsorship and relationships built over those years, it was time to tackle this endeavor full force. It has been a very quick education of how track days are run and how the passion for the sport I love is not a great business plan for financial gain. However, I love this sport, I love every aspect, nook and cranny of it…the fact that it feeds my soul and makes me feel alive and I believe you must do what you are passionate about.
When I decided to start doing track days I was fortunate enough to speak with Doreen Walmsley, owner of Ducati Richmond, who has been an avid supporter and sponsor from the beginning. She’s gone so far as to close her shop one of the days to come join our events. She not only sponsors our events, but she brings her employees to join in the fun as well as customers and yes we are talking about them driving from Canada to participate. It has been a great honor to have her on our team and attend our days. This is a prime example of a woman owned business owner helping another and allowing growth and exposure together. She has been paramount in our success and we are proud to have her on our team year after year.
When we asked Jason Pridmore to do event days with us (yes I’m aware he’s not a woman), the truth is I never imagined he’d agree to do anything with us. He surprised me, not just that he believed in our mission, but he was so open minded and believed together we could make these events truly special. When I say we are unlike any track day company, it is completely true. CC TrackEvents/MotoVixens a woman owned track day company and the only one that I am aware of in the PNW and maybe even on the west coast. We are also the only track company that does special events currently in the PNW (not just days called events, but events sponsors donate items for raffling off, is catered, is done on a special schedule, includes vendors, etc. to make it truly special) and hires a guest coach who is so sought after he doesn’t have the time to do many of these events. Jason Pridmore (only coaches our track events in the PNW) is currently the only coach on the west coast that has won multiple championships worldwide, coaches MotoAmerica racers and is the commentator for beIn Sports. JP has been an instructor since his teens and the thousands of people he’s instructed will tell you that he is the best coach/instructor around. To top it all off his ability to teach any level of rider is astonishing, probably why his Star Motorcycle School sells out all the time. His list of credentials only requires a google search and you will find an extensive resume of his accomplishments (he would kill me if he knew I was writing this). We are also the only track day company where our focus is on education and comfort level of the student above all and our low numbers offer the ability for our elite instructors to give you the most efficient use of track time and help you achieve your goals for the day. Caroline Olsen (here’s our amazing woman) and Benny Solis , current MotoAmerica racers and JP43 training proteges, come up and help and we couldn’t have asked for two more charismatic and kind individuals to be a part of our events. If you haven’t signed up spaces are going quickly and I know because Doreen booked quite a few for her crew already.
MotoVixens recently teamed up to sponsor Caroline Olsen (AKA Carro43 and Caroline Racing). It is rare to meet a woman in this industry that is so composed, confident, personable, intelligent, kind, determined, driven, focused and professional and yet so young. When she heard about JP doing events with us, she jumped on the phone to me to say she’s excited and wanted to come and help. I’ve been fortunate to have these two women that I respect greatly and consider my friends, supporters for me as I am for them. Needless to say when I heard of Caroline’s need for funding, when it became possible for me to help, I did it without hesitation. To say racing is expensive is an understatement, the crew of people it takes for that machine to run smoothly is unbelievable and imagine being a racer having to try to fund this on your own, it’d be impossible. We are one of many sponsors that help keep Caroline racing and allowing her to focus on riding. We are incredibly proud to sponsor this young athlete and look forward to seeing her grow and succeed (bear in mind she is not in a special class, she is racing with the boys and always placing in or near the top 10), we know that Caroline will be an amazing up and coming racer. If you ever wanted the opportunity to get on the track with her or Benny come out to our events and ride with these two amazing young riders and yes our lovable JP too! Let’s support each other in our endeavors whatever they may be, together we can do great things and opportunities will naturally open up for all of us. Let’s be women of action…not just words.
Let’s ride! The season is upon us and after this lousy winter and spring, we deserve a bit of two wheeling fun in the sun.
CC: For many new to riding, they might not know who you are can you give us some background and a summary of your accomplishments? 
CC: Do you have any pre-riding routines and/or superstitions? For example, Aaron Yates used to wear the same socks until he crashed, do you have a list of things you do on and off your bike?
n our continuing “get to know” series, I wanted to do a blog on JP. I have never met JP face to face, but have spent many hours on the phone speaking to this amazing and kind man, which strikes me as surprising and refreshing since I’m around type-A men who are usually ego driven (excluding Troy of course). JP is not like that, he’s genuine, self-deprecating, humorous and kind. Not at all what I expected from such an accomplished individual as himself. He doesn’t want to talk about motorcycles, he wants to talk about life, how you are, how he can help, …he is a very giving individual. I wanted to ask him some serious questions and some fun ones too and there was a question I had asked him at the end of our Q & A that he answered with such humor, which I can’t print, that reminds you of what you already know…he’s awesome!
With the upcoming event on June 27-28 I thought it would be fun to interview a few people who are special guests so you could get to know them more personally. For our first installment, RedSpade, aka Anna Rigby, will be our subject. Jason Pridmore, our guest speaker and coach for the upcoming event, made the introduction and it only took a few minutes of speaking to Anna before I realized that JP associates himself with people very much like him. Anna is very sweet, centered and humble, which I find so refreshing in this sea of narcissism and social media. Let’s get to know Anna who will be RedSpade for the purposes of this blog. I want to thank Jason and Peter Bacon, Marketing Manager for Dainese, North America for supporting us and our mission to educate riders by providing events where riders can learn from the best coaches out there today. Anna and her husband, Steve will be at the Ridge on both dates, please don’t hesitate to come and say “hi”!
I wish someone had introduced me to motorcycles at this age, taken away all the mystery and fear associated with it and given me the ability to concentrate on strategy. What a wonderful gift that would’ve been, but since this is real life and my parents were deathly afraid of my brother riding motorcycles, that meant an absolute no for me. There is an inherent fear of motorcycles and the danger associated with them, when you get into a discussion with non-riders you find yourself almost defending why you ride, I had people go so far as to say I’m a terrible mother for wanting to put myself at risk. It’s interesting that people have such strong opinions about riding. For me and I believe for many of us that ride, it is our place of zen, somewhere where you can reconnect with yourself, have fun, feel the outside world whizzing by your face and through your body, it is completely visceral and centering.
Sure riding is inherently dangerous, however just like any other sport, the more you practice and are coached, the more knowledgeable and more confident you become. It is an investment in yourself. As riders we invest in gear, exhausts, aftermarket stuff, but we don’t invest in us and the knowledge we need to possess to continue riding for a lifetime. All that bling doesn’t mean a thing if you can’t ride it or are deathly afraid of it. Better to save your money, learn to ride skillfully and then bling out your dream bike. Let’s be honest, you will lay your bike down, you may lay it down a lot to start. It will hurt like hell if you have put on all the bells and whistles and it gets totaled. It may even keep you from continuing this amazing sport, so save your money for pimping out your bike in a savings account as a reward and invest in improving your skills. If you don’t think you have anything to learn, try a class and find out, I believe you will be surprised.
I’ve had the opportunity to travel and attend track schools, but I know for many this isn’t in their budget. I always wished they would come up to our area and put these schools on, but to this day only one currently does and with a hefty price tag. I started doing events to bring top level coaches and riders to our local track and give people the opportunity to experience the level of instruction that makes the difference. I believe that to be the best you need to learn from the best in the business. You may never reach their level, but you can always strive to be better every time, implement skills everyday and improve your riding every time you throw a leg over. It is a fraction of the cost of traveling to a track school and for many this will be their first time on the track so we try to make this as accommodating and comfortable as we can so you can have an amazing day of learning. Last year we had Ken Hill instructing and this year we have Jason Pridmore of 
k (please see the event schedule for more details). Group 3 for the 27th is a women’s session (which JP will love me for) so that we can provide an environment for gals who want to learn at their pace, no matter what level you are. On June 28th, Group 1 and 2 are co-ed and limited numbers and the special session is for men. Last year after putting on the event, I was approached by men asking if I would do one especially for them as well…you asked, I delivered. Click on the CC Track Events on the home page for more information and to signup. Spaces are limited so sign up and reserve your spot today. If you have groups of people 5-10, please contact me directly at caroltcarpenter@motovixens.com.
For those who are savvy to track days, just skim to the section that applies to you, for those who are virgins to track days…let’s get you comfortable with the concept. Track days typically are structured with three 20 minute sessions per hour distinguished by groups, a level 1 (novice), level 2 (intermediate) and level 3 (expert) or something of that nature to clarify which group you will ride in. Most track days will limit their sessions to 40 people per session not including their marshals and instructors. Marshals are individuals who ride the track to police traffic and help those riders who require assistance or go to a corner to help deal with a crash. Instructors are assigned to students and are specifically there to help those individuals. Instructors and Marshals wear different color vests (depending on the track day company) and are there for the customer’s safety. If you see a person wearing an instructor vest, be aware that the student (who is also wearing a vest) will be either in front of or directly behind the instructor…do not try to pass in sketchy areas, try to complete a safe pass by both of them. For this Event, we are doing two half hour sessions…that’s a whole 30 minutes on the track to warmup, get your groove on and then push your limits a little to really test your skills. For those attending the track only session which is open to all riders, male or female on any bike, 
I was recently at the track more days of the week than not, not complaining at all, most people would kill to be in my position that is for sure. I’m fortunate to be in a position that allows me a bit more freedom to schedule myself out and unless there is a project that I absolutely must do, I can make myself available to be at the track to fulfill my passion…helping others learn to ride. I was recently at the Father’s Day track day with OPRT on Sunday and we had a full house, as usual, level 200 was full and people signed up for levels that were either above of below their skill set. As the day progressed and people were shifted to their appropriate levels, things started to mellow out and everyone got in a groove. I was teaching a student in level 200 and due to some technical difficulties I had to pull off, check my bike, then I jumped back on to find my student. I came across a rider that looked a bit confused about the lines so I tried to block his inside so as not to have him spooked by passing riders, he tended to swoop a bit so I figured if someone tried to pass they would notice that, back off a bit and then choose a safer place to pass. I must remind riders all the time, it is the passing riders responsibility to execute a safe pass, if you can not, just don’t do it. It leads to bad consequences…as we saw on this day. [youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d3T7XbD8u-Y[/youtube] As we both entered turn 10 the rider behind us decided he wanted to pass so dropped back a bit and went to the right in hopes of getting a straight shot into 11, however as I previously mentioned the rider I was protecting would swoop, which is exactly what he did causing the rider who wanted to pass to panic and brake so hard he did an endo. This led to a scattering of bikes and one rider behind to hit the rider that went down, all this was caught on a video that was posted on youtube and I later shared that on my timeline. Never overtake someone until you watch them through a few turns, just understanding what they feel comfortable doing helps you make a judgement call as to when it is safe to pass. All in all, the rider looked ok and he rode off the track 2up with a Marshal.
