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.
The next day was a track day for South Sound Honda and I rode around the first few sessions to get warmed up then noticed some gals that could use some help. I came across a gal named Julie and helped tow her around a bit to get her to follow my lines and she did awesome. Next session I found a young gal named Sienna, who was pitted with her father and boyfriend and asked if they wouldn’t mind if I took her around a bit? She was on a CBR250 and she was new to the race track, but had been on dirt tracks most of her life. We did a few sessions together getting her used to riding a race track and trying to teach her to the lines to help her acclimate getting her track legs. I then went back to Julie and we hopped on and we were planning on doing a few lead and follow laps, first I let her lead to see if she was paying attention, then I got in front and led. During this session I was hit as a rider tried to come on the inside of turn 12 and as I was leaning over felt my bike start to slide, then as I was accelerating out, I felt a big clunk. I was unaware I had been hit and the rider that hit me had high sided, until I heard the scraping of metal behind me, I shook my head and motioned back to Julie to follow me as we would go for another lap. When we came around we saw the rider was ok, but there was fluid on the track so they motioned us to one side and we got up a hand to exit the track. This was Julie’s first time on the track and she was stunned to have witnessed the crash, but saw that despite being hit you can still stay upright and continue on. A great lesson that could never have been described, but only witnessed. Upon entering my pit, I told my boyfriend, who is hard of hearing, I was hit. He said, “I know someone high sided and crashed.” At which time I repeated a little louder, “No, I was hit honey.” “Oh” was his reply as I got off the bike, “Are you OK?” Yup all good and then we looked at the bike where we saw that he had hit me, his bike flipped and his handlebar came down on my passenger cowl and took a chunk of paint and scraped the tail section as is came down. That explained that clunk I felt. The guy that crashed seemed fine and the only thing he was upset about was telling his wife.
Track days are fun, they are for learning and pushing your limits a bit to see what your bike can do. Bear in mind, you will never be able to outride your bike’s capabilities, so don’t try, everything in baby steps. The track is a safe controlled environment consisting of the same corners lap after lap for you to try to perfect your entry and exit speed, your lines, gear selection, braking, reference points, etc. If your goal is to drag a knee or get faster, you are that guy that will either end up crashing or causing a crash. Getting faster is about practice, not just practice, but repeated perfect practice. You are never going to be perfect, but you can get close once in a while and that is what will bring you back, that pursuit of perfection. Everything is a byproduct of the last, in getting more skilled, smoother, faster, you will naturally drag a knee or a knee and elbow, but that shouldn’t be your goal as it can lead to dire consequences. All the skills you acquire at the track directly translate to the street, but at a different speed and with far more obstacles to be worried about. Vision, which is learned at the track, helps a great deal with this as well as reference points, the speed you must acquire information is much faster at the track and once you’ve gotten acclimated it is amazing how slow things happen on the street. It gives you the ability to troubleshoot and create escape routes just in case. You will find that your mind works quicker and your ability to predict obstacles or accidents is heightened after you start making track days part of your life. Track days can be an incredible learning experience, a place to hone your skills, a place to release stress, ride at ridiculous speeds without getting a ticket, being part of a community and push your limits in a safe environment. While my last two track days saw some crazy things, the benefits far outweigh the risks. You will learn more that you’ve ever imagined and you’ll end the day hot, sweaty and feeling completely drained, but it will be with a gigantic smile on your face.
lind spot is a “Death Spot”, a place where you are in harm’s way if that vehicle changes lanes or decides to share it with you. Try to avoid these spots no matter what. As soon as your front tire is parallel with a vehicle’s rear bumper you are entering the death spot and will remain in it until you are past that vehicle. A Porsche’s death spot will be far less than a Ford F150, but either one can take you out. As riders we are always forced into blind spots in heavy traffic, do whatever you can to get noticed, whether its slowing to fall into the car’s mirrors or accelerating to the vehicle in front of you to be visible to the car in the next lane, always trying to get clear of the death spot. Remember motorcycles have this incredible ability of speed to get us out of sketchy situations, use this when you need it, especially when your instincts are telling you to get the hell out of there. “Riding well in traffic is a constant adjustment of speed an lane position, requiring the same total concentration needed while lapping a racetrack.” There are so many lessons you can take from the racetrack to the street. Total focus and concentration, a well maintained machine, practice and get better, ride sober (no racer would ever ride impaired) and the principle of no brake lights (road racing bikes do not have lights, so do some cars, they learn to judge speed and deceleration without relying on lights as should you.
Not sure what to expect at 
while the price may seem steep, once you attend you will see that you get more than you paid for. Rickdiculous was started with a father-son team who loved the sport, however did not like learning with 30-50 people on the track. Adam Bronfman, otherwise known as “Papa Rick” and his son, Josh Bronfman, aka “Ricky” decided there was a better way and made it happen 
with Rickdiculous including elite coaches to help others reach their riding goals. Their style of teaching is unconventional, not classroom based and truly designed to make you a better rider no matter your level. Quite often you receive a private coach for the day which was in my case true, there was only one coach there that received two students and 
their riding styles and levels were compatible so it worked well. My plan was to take 3 days and really immerse myself in this process, but due to a family death I was forced to cut my trip to 2 days. However, on my long drive home and judging from how sore everything is, I think two days was plenty of riding and enough information for me chew on and absorb. This is not an easy school, they will work you hard, break down your riding, discuss things you really need to work on and you ride pretty much nonstop. If you are looking to just attend a school and not get your head around things, don’t waste your money and time, but if you are committed to being better and safer all the while naturally getting faster, this school is for you.
Since I was there for two days, I spent my first day with my coach, George Grass, speaking about what I wanted to work on…braking. I can go fast, who can’t? That part is easy, it’s the braking to make the corner that scares the living daylights out of me, so that’s what we did…we broke down my braking and discussed how to make that better, safer and more effective. Change is hard, we become lazy, complacent or just accustomed to what has worked in the past and the drills we did to help make those changes as minute as they were, made all the difference later on the track. George applied only a few applications at a time, but each building on the last until I think I didn’t scare the crap out of him anymore (corner 5 at Thunderhill being one of them to start) and we could quickly move on to the next challenge to tackle. By the end of the day we had tackled a great deal of my braking issue and I was getting comfortable with the track. Sweaty, tired and sore I went back for a good nights rest to recover from a long hard day.
Day two of my training was like boot camp, 
much emphasis on looking the part than the real reason we teach body positioning. I have seen it all too often, the frequent track enthusiast who tries to nail this technique, but refuses to take a class where we can work one on one with you to help you feel what the proper technique should be. The truth is what you think you are doing is no where close to what you are imagining in your mind, it requires having someone follow you, meet you in the pits and put you on one of our bikes (which are on stands) and physically adjust your feet, torso, arms and head to really understand. If you can film yourself by placing a camera on the tail section of your bike this can help you visually understand what it is you need to do to get yourself in the position you’d actually like to be in. What you feel and what you are actually doing are two very different things and this will help you work on it productively to improve.
During the classroom portion of track schools, one of the lessons is about lines around the track. We talk to countless people about them, track day riders who most of the time have never taken a class and I see a look that usually means they either have no idea or they have a very loose understanding of what lines really are and why we use them. Firstly, lines around the track are a guide and they are usually set up with cones on various places around the track. If you come to a track day you have several visual cones to help you work your way around. There are cones for braking, entry, apex, exit and at times specific cones set for passing for different levels. It is very much like a puzzle and getting everything timed just so to work for the perfect turn or turns which is what we try to aim for and when it works, it feels fantastic! Secondly, the reason we use lines is it is the fastest and safest way around the track, that’s why racers use them and visualize how to set up each corner linking one to the other all the way around.
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