blends
03-09-2009, 09:35 AM
I went to MSR-H on March 7th. This was my first time at a RideSmart motorcycle school trackday, but my third trackday total.
First impression - Very affordable, lots of people/bikes, lots of people/bikes! :eek3:
I was there very early, like 20 minutes before the gates opened, and when I pulled into the paddock area, there were already about 50 bikes ready to go and about 5 empty stalls total.
Riders meeting - I know I am not alone in this when I say I didn't really get very much information out of this meeting. The meeting started before I had realized, and I didn't hear any announcement that it was time for the riders meeting. The fact that the meeting was also being held all the way over by the classroom meant that I had to walk like a penguin in my leathers/boots (just saying that it took me longer to get there, missing possible important information) a couple hundred yards to the meeting. Once I did get there, I could hardly hear anything because I was in the back.
I rode in Level 1 - Novice class.
Classroom session 1 - Now I know it is in my best interest to attend the classrooms all day, but I only went to the first two. The first classroom before we rode informed us of the structure of the first riding session. Everyone line up at the staging area and do a lap with your instructor, then drop to the back of the line when he raises a hand on the front straightaway and let the next rider get to see the lines.
When the instructor asked the class how many were there on their first trackday ever, over 25-30 peoples hands went up. Only 4 or 5 had been to MSR-H before and another 5 or so had done TD's but not at MSR-H.
Session 1 - We went out and I was waiting in the staging area with 1 instructor, 2 riders in front of me, and 3 behind me. Not sure who the instructor was. The 3rd lap came around and I followed the instructor around for a lap, and dropped to the back to let the 4th rider up to the front after my lap. During the 4th lap, the checker waved so there were still 2 riders that didn't get to be right behind the instructor. This was true for most of the groups.
Classroom 2 - We went immediately back into the classroom and had a little more talk on safety/track rules then we watched a video. Before we split off again, Brandt(cdill) grabbed 3 guys and said he would spend one full session with each of us. I understand the rest of the instructors did something just like this also. With 5 instructors and 40+ ppl, some of the folks weren't getting instruction until the end of the day! There may have been a couple guys who didn't get any instruction at all if they didn't ask for it. This is something I didn't like at all.
As soon as we left the classroom from the 2nd time at about 10:30 we had a good 45 minute to hour long break break before the helicopter left. Apparently this was treated as our lunch break. I didn't realize this so as I was walking to go make myself a sandwich, I heard Dave on the dirtbike "Level 1 to the staging area!" and then we got back to the track. Good thing I packed my own sandwiches cuz I never did get a chance to get a lunch. This whole ordeal seemed impromptu and not very organized.
Session 2 - After one round robin session of being introduced to the track, one classroom, and then everyone standing around watching the helicopter, they cut the level 1 group loose on the track. I think this created a lot of confusion. I know of one person who went down due to a lot of traffic in diamonds edge and people not knowing how to navigate that (difficult) corner very well/bad lines. The second session is when I followed cdill for 2 laps and then he motioned for me to lead and he followed me for one full lap. He gave me the thumbs up on the lines he showed me and pitted. I was very thankful to have such a talented rider spend most of a session with me to show me the lines he thinks are best for me to take. I followed those lines for the rest of the day and all I can say is he's a fast rider and I trusted him to show me where I need to be at all times on the track and I appreciate it a lot!
That said, there was a lot of traffic everywhere and I saw a lot of confused riders. Following Brandt around, I probably passed a dozen or so riders that were on the outside of the track around corners way off the line with no instructors nearby and a couple people turning around to see if there was any bikes coming up on them in straights and coming into corners, again with no instructors nearby.
The rest of the day - Like I said, I only attended the first two classrooms (and cdill made sure to let me know he noticed I wasn't in classroom :happy3::keke:) so I can't speak about the rest of the class sessions.
As far as the riding goes, everyone did start smoothing out their lines and getting faster as the day progressed, and MSR-H let everyone stay on the track until close to 6pm due to the delay for life flight which is awesome of them! I simply used my 3rd-6th riding sessions to build on what Brandt showed me, ignored everything happening behind me, focused on my own riding and gradually increased my speed throughout the day until I got more comfortable with the track.
I personally had no incidents on Saturday which I am very thankful for! No pucker moments or anything like that. I got a little headshake a couple times when I dropped down a gear without blipping enough and I felt my suspension under huge load on a bump coming out of the carousel while I was leaned way over, but those things I have felt before on the track so I wasn't too surprised when they happened and I just made a point to miss that bump from then on. :thumb:
To summarize...
The morning was too hectic and could have been more organized.
Quite a few riders did not get all of the information they needed at the riders meeting simply because they couldn't hear.
There were too many people on the track.
The level 1 riders were cut loose on the track in the second session and I personally think they needed more instruction. This would have proven difficult with so many riders.
The 1 on 1 instruction I did receive was great! :thumb:
I still had a good day because my bike and I went home in one piece. :)
First impression - Very affordable, lots of people/bikes, lots of people/bikes! :eek3:
I was there very early, like 20 minutes before the gates opened, and when I pulled into the paddock area, there were already about 50 bikes ready to go and about 5 empty stalls total.
Riders meeting - I know I am not alone in this when I say I didn't really get very much information out of this meeting. The meeting started before I had realized, and I didn't hear any announcement that it was time for the riders meeting. The fact that the meeting was also being held all the way over by the classroom meant that I had to walk like a penguin in my leathers/boots (just saying that it took me longer to get there, missing possible important information) a couple hundred yards to the meeting. Once I did get there, I could hardly hear anything because I was in the back.
I rode in Level 1 - Novice class.
Classroom session 1 - Now I know it is in my best interest to attend the classrooms all day, but I only went to the first two. The first classroom before we rode informed us of the structure of the first riding session. Everyone line up at the staging area and do a lap with your instructor, then drop to the back of the line when he raises a hand on the front straightaway and let the next rider get to see the lines.
When the instructor asked the class how many were there on their first trackday ever, over 25-30 peoples hands went up. Only 4 or 5 had been to MSR-H before and another 5 or so had done TD's but not at MSR-H.
Session 1 - We went out and I was waiting in the staging area with 1 instructor, 2 riders in front of me, and 3 behind me. Not sure who the instructor was. The 3rd lap came around and I followed the instructor around for a lap, and dropped to the back to let the 4th rider up to the front after my lap. During the 4th lap, the checker waved so there were still 2 riders that didn't get to be right behind the instructor. This was true for most of the groups.
Classroom 2 - We went immediately back into the classroom and had a little more talk on safety/track rules then we watched a video. Before we split off again, Brandt(cdill) grabbed 3 guys and said he would spend one full session with each of us. I understand the rest of the instructors did something just like this also. With 5 instructors and 40+ ppl, some of the folks weren't getting instruction until the end of the day! There may have been a couple guys who didn't get any instruction at all if they didn't ask for it. This is something I didn't like at all.
As soon as we left the classroom from the 2nd time at about 10:30 we had a good 45 minute to hour long break break before the helicopter left. Apparently this was treated as our lunch break. I didn't realize this so as I was walking to go make myself a sandwich, I heard Dave on the dirtbike "Level 1 to the staging area!" and then we got back to the track. Good thing I packed my own sandwiches cuz I never did get a chance to get a lunch. This whole ordeal seemed impromptu and not very organized.
Session 2 - After one round robin session of being introduced to the track, one classroom, and then everyone standing around watching the helicopter, they cut the level 1 group loose on the track. I think this created a lot of confusion. I know of one person who went down due to a lot of traffic in diamonds edge and people not knowing how to navigate that (difficult) corner very well/bad lines. The second session is when I followed cdill for 2 laps and then he motioned for me to lead and he followed me for one full lap. He gave me the thumbs up on the lines he showed me and pitted. I was very thankful to have such a talented rider spend most of a session with me to show me the lines he thinks are best for me to take. I followed those lines for the rest of the day and all I can say is he's a fast rider and I trusted him to show me where I need to be at all times on the track and I appreciate it a lot!
That said, there was a lot of traffic everywhere and I saw a lot of confused riders. Following Brandt around, I probably passed a dozen or so riders that were on the outside of the track around corners way off the line with no instructors nearby and a couple people turning around to see if there was any bikes coming up on them in straights and coming into corners, again with no instructors nearby.
The rest of the day - Like I said, I only attended the first two classrooms (and cdill made sure to let me know he noticed I wasn't in classroom :happy3::keke:) so I can't speak about the rest of the class sessions.
As far as the riding goes, everyone did start smoothing out their lines and getting faster as the day progressed, and MSR-H let everyone stay on the track until close to 6pm due to the delay for life flight which is awesome of them! I simply used my 3rd-6th riding sessions to build on what Brandt showed me, ignored everything happening behind me, focused on my own riding and gradually increased my speed throughout the day until I got more comfortable with the track.
I personally had no incidents on Saturday which I am very thankful for! No pucker moments or anything like that. I got a little headshake a couple times when I dropped down a gear without blipping enough and I felt my suspension under huge load on a bump coming out of the carousel while I was leaned way over, but those things I have felt before on the track so I wasn't too surprised when they happened and I just made a point to miss that bump from then on. :thumb:
To summarize...
The morning was too hectic and could have been more organized.
Quite a few riders did not get all of the information they needed at the riders meeting simply because they couldn't hear.
There were too many people on the track.
The level 1 riders were cut loose on the track in the second session and I personally think they needed more instruction. This would have proven difficult with so many riders.
The 1 on 1 instruction I did receive was great! :thumb:
I still had a good day because my bike and I went home in one piece. :)