(NEW - 1/6 updates) SoCal - STN Trackday. STAR School, Feb 23/4th (sat/sun).

[Lawn Dart]

Where's the Friday night dinner going to be?  (priorities!)

KeS

Given the number of us going I'm going to recommend Pizza.  There's what, 6 from SoCal (Miles, James, KS, Vern, Chris (tar snake)Trina, Me and another 5 from the North?  

Yep, that's Pizza crowd size.

I called town and chatted with four people for recommendations on Pizza.  The answer?

The Best Western has the best Pizza in Town.

 1101 S Highway 160,  Pahrump,  NV,  89048-4700,  United States
Phone: 7757275100

I'm thinking 8pm gathering time at the BW.  

[kevin_stevens]

Sounds fine.  Well, the BW having the best pizza in town sounds scary, but the time sounds fine.  I fully admit that Pahrump isn't the culinary capital of the world, I've eaten at the Saddle West restaurant and the whatever-big-name casino at the crossroads, and neither were remarkable.

KeS

[Mr Sunshine]

There are 8 from the great white north.  


Very interesting about the best pizza in town.  

[Viffer Vern]

Best Western and good pizza aren't exactly synonymous.  But count me in nonetheless.  There is also The Mad Greek in Baker For the SoCal the contingent, however that might make for an early dinner.

[Mr Sunshine]

Best Western and good pizza aren't exactly synonymous.  But count me in nonetheless.  There is also The Mad Greek in Baker For the SoCal the contingent, however that might make for an early dinner.

The point is to hook up with me.

[Lawn Dart]

Are we there yet?

[Mr Sunshine]

I'm going home from work now......let the party begin!

[Viffer Vern]

Almost ready.  Just a quick trip to the store and and to load the bike(s) on to the trailer.

[ksann]

Enjoy!!!!




ken

[atypical1]

Man, it is f'ing pouring out here. Gonna be soggy by the time I get up to your place Vern so we will need to pick up some coffee on the road!!!

Got my bike back last night at 6:20...the shop closes at 6 but my mech (feck, I pay these guys enough to call them "mine"  ) was fixing an exhaust leak and doing some last minute adjustments. It runs well now and it all ready!

[Lawn Dart]

Man, it is f'ing pouring out here. Gonna be soggy by the time I get up to your place Vern so we will need to pick up some coffee on the road!!!

Got my bike back last night at 6:20...the shop closes at 6 but my mech (feck, I pay these guys enough to call them "mine"  ) was fixing an exhaust leak and doing some last minute adjustments. It runs well now and it all ready!

Yep, rained all here in the OC.  Let's hope this means that Pahrump is clear!

As to your Duc shop - yeah!  I feel the same way about Seavers.  That's MY BMW shop!  My "Boys" there truly do take care of us!

I picked up Vern's trailer last night.  Bikes are prepped and taped off.  clothing's packed.  Just need a loaf of bread for sammiches!

[Mr Sunshine]

are we there yet?  


Sent from SeaTac waiting to check in.

[atypical1]

Wow. What a great time! We are heading back now (just going through Barstow). Lot's of fun riding with everyone and glad there were no incidents. We even did some recruiting.

Props to Trina for hanging in there and sticking with the program! No matter what you stuck with your lines and rode your own ride so huge kudos for that. Now you can say you have been on the track which is more than many riders can say. Stick with it and you will really learn your bike. .
Huge thanks to Robert for setting this up for us! As always it was a great time!

James

[ksann]

Props to Trina for hanging in there and sticking with the program! No matter what you stuck with your lines and rode your own ride so huge kudos for that. Now you can say you have been on the track which is more than many riders can say.

Yup, more than I can say!





I am impressed.



ken

[Lawn Dart]

Good Times!

If I've said it once I've said it a thousand times:  The Company of STN'ers is truly priceless to me.  Here's to the Best of Friends!

The STAR track day was diferent for me this time.  I could say it was the new bike.  I could say that once again I had something to prove.  Hey, let's face it, I wanted to drag a cylinder head again.  

No, the difference was that this was my third school and my 4 & 5th track days.  Things have changed a LOT in my riding style.  Heck, the GS is a wholly different animal than the RSL - riding style had to change.  But so did my skill level.  My riding abilities are far, far better than they were 2 years ago and 4 years ago.  Smoother, faster - but I'm not perfect.  I needed something - not sure what though.  That elusive "Thing".

I started in the Street Group intentionally.  It's a new track and I'm still "learning" the big GS.  I ran two sessions in the Street Group.  During the second session I passed nearly everyone on the track..twice.  When the call came for people to move up to the A group - Jason simply said "You Know Who You Are."

I'm gone.  "A" group it is.  

Truth be told, I also wanted to leave my wife as much alone as I could.  For me, this track event was more for her than anything else.  It's not going to do her a lick of good if I'm lapping her and waving.  Plus, I'm a protective sort of guy - Me flying wingman isn't going to be good either!  

Popped over to the A group and started running.  Two laps to warm up, then let cry the dogs of war.  My goal?  Learn the track and my sight lines.  Damned if I didn't pass a couple of riders in the process.  Heh, damned if I didn't get passed by some seriously skilled riders from "SoCal Track Days".  As in, left freakin' standing still passed.

Anyway, the day goes on and we rail about.  JP's always got good stuff in the school.  I changed a few lines and got turns 3 and 5a/b down right and realized that I'm riding as well as I've ever ridden.  I'm smooth, I'm clean, I'm not making mistakes.  I've passed a few other riders.

Time for an instructor to help.  So I grab Middleton and ask him to follow me and give me some pointers.  We roll two laps and then pull off to discuss my ride.

After a long pause Middleton looks at me.

"I got nothing."

What?  

"Your lines are perfect.  You're getting great drive out of the corners.  Your body language is is great.  You are getting off the seat, getting great movement and you look very relaxed out there.  The Heads are 'this far' (he holds two fingers an inch apart) off the ground.  I don't know what to tell you.  You ride this bike increadibly well.  I really just don't know what to tell you."

Well, thanks.

Hop out and run the track, pass a few, get passed by a few.  Pull in.  At Lunch (GREAT sliced pork plate!) we're all chatting and Chris Burgess (aka, Mr. Sunshine) looks at my tires and starts laughing.

"You see that?  Holy shit!  Your riding on the sidewalls!"  

I'll have to pose a pic of this later.  Looking at the sidewall showed a very distinct band of slightly scrubbed rubber (darker) on either sidewall of the tire about 3/4" wide.  Basically, I was leaned over and cornering so hard that the tire has deflected enough to let the sidewalls of the tire actually bend to touch the road.  

Chris also comments about the bump in the front straight.  "You feel the bump?"  errrr, no...  "You can see the suspension just suck it right up."  There were a lot of bumps I discovered I wasn't feeling at all.  

We all took turns staring, laughing, and pointing at the bike.  Bottom line:  I'm out of tire.  End of story.  I might be able to lean the bike a tad more but the reality sets in:  The Laws of Decreasing Returns have just set in.  I have no more tire to maximize - any more lean will take away from traction.

So much for getting a knee down or a head down on the Boxer.  

(Reality check:  I'm a little bummed, but not really.  The GS is one tall beast to begin with.  Add a set of +2 Ohlins shocks and I'm riding a full inch taller than stock on an even firmer suspension.  I can barely tip-toe the bike at a stop as it is today.  Truth is it probably was never realistic to think I could drag a knee on this bike.)

Oh well.  We wrap up the day and I do feel very good about my riding.  My skills have improved significantly over the past two years since my last track school.  I'm running hard on a bike that really wasn't intended to be run quite like this.  I've passed guys on the outside who are knee down on far more track ready equipment.

We all meet at "Wulfie's" Bar & Grill for dinner.  It's ok.  By 8:15pm we break out and head to our rooms.  I'm asleep by 10 pm.

Sunday's ride.

So we meet back for day 2 of the school.  More lessons, more good times.  I'm bound and determined to push the envelope just a little more.  I'm missing something - I know it.  Just don't know what IT is.  I'm also going to do a Jason Pridmore two-up ride.  I did this with Pop's Pridmore a couple years back:  should be interesting.

For the first two sessions I work on two things:  Smoothing my body english and my lines.  I do have one overiding goal as a rider:  to be as absolutely smooth as possible in transitions.  Being on a bike with 9" of suspension travel actually makes it even more difficult to be smooth.  The bike simply wants to flex and pogo a bit if you are the least bit jerky.  I pull my lines tighter here...more open there...and get on it.

Around the third session I decided to try a completely new line and took the GS off-roading.  Four guys blew past me.  Nope, that didn't help!  I just rode it out, killed a bush, rolled back on the track and kept right on it.

Around the 4th session I pulled Middleton out again for some "one on one" and truly ran a near perfect flying lap with him.

He just shook his head.  "Even better than yesterday.  You've really smoothed out turns 3 & 5a/b and are getting even better on your exit speeds.  I really want to tell you something but I just don't have it.  I don't know what to tell you.”

Nuts.  

Lunch time and then time for the Jason Pridmore two-up ride.  Trina did it yesterday.  Vern, James and Myself will do it today.  JP's running a bone stock Gixxer 1k.  I'd love to tell you what it was like but I really can't.  It was all I could do to hang on and remember to breathe.  What impressed me the most:  JP's ability to control throttle, braking and shifting to such a degree that it was nearly impossible to sense where one actually started and the other ended!  Unbelievable how hard they brake and smooth their shifting is.  

Riders at JP’s level (Mladdin, Hacking, etc.) are so unbelievably good it’s hard to imagine what the GP riders are really like.  All I can say is:

“we’re not worthy!”

Good times!

So I'm doing well, Vern's kicking ass, James have moved up to the A group and we are all having a great time.

Towards the end of the day I track down Mark Gallardo - track instructor and business partner to JP.  I also remember him from 4 years ago when I did my first track event.  Anyway, I get him to follow me.

You know what?  I'm tired and mentally not as sharp as I was.  I have one of my worst laps of the whole weekend and I am grateful.  All of a sudden I make a number of mistakes (including a nice little bit off off-roading) - pushing too hard, running a little wide, etc.  And I discover what I was looking for.

When we stopped, I was laughing and before he even said anything I beat him to it.

"I'm doing too much all at once!"  And that was exactly what I was doing.  I was trying so hard to drive my entry speeds up that I was compressing too many activities into too short of a time frame.  Literally, I was trying to roll off the throttle, bang a downshift, and brake hard (shed 40mph) in the space of maybe 50 yards and 1/4-1/2 a second.  

Now that's not to say I didn't make that type of activity LOOK good during the earlier hours when I was fresh (because I did).  What I am saying is that it took so much mental concentration to do all that in such a short span that my margin for error was increasingly small.  On the street at speeds of 30mph coming up to the right at my home street - no big deal.  Do it at 90 mph tapping the limiter in third on an uphill hard and tight turn Three...that's another story!  Do it a .10th of a second late and I'm running the corner a tad deep, too fast, and then running it wide on the exit.

Doing too much all at once - not that I haven't been accused of that before!  

All of this leads to the other "lesson".  Big bikes don't carry corner speed.  Little bikes DO.  I'm on a big bike.  On a big bike the focus needs to be on the EXIT - to be in position to maximize the exit speed and to maximize drive out of the corner.

To do that means being ready at the ENTRANCE of the corner.  Where I need to be at the entrance is dictated by where I need to be at the exit.  Which means a slower entry, in the right gear, at just the right time and rpm.  Better a touch slower with perfect exit setup than a touch faster with lesser quality exit setup.

"Slow down to go Faster".  

And THAT was my Lesson.  

GOOD TIMES.  

[doug5551]

Mr. Bmw-K,

Many thanks for the essay about your experiences.  It is better than what I have read in magazines and on other sites.  Very inspiring.  I still have to get to my first track day.  Your post gives me some hope that I will be able to improve when I give it a shot.

It is really great to hear about your improvement.

Maybe you can borrow Ksann's BMW and give it another shot!!    I have heard that he sometimes trades bikes with people.    

Doug

[atypical1]

My best day was the second when I ran with the advance group. I was, frankly, somewhat apprehensive about running in the fast group because I didn't want to hold everyone up. But I decided that in order to learn more (which is what I signed up for) that I needed to follow some fast guys and cue off what they were doing. Humility is a great teacher in my experience.

Miles gave me great advice on the first day about turn 8 (this one was a nice right hander at the end of a decent straight but led into a really tight left) which was to carry as much speed as I wanted to into it and initiate my slowing at the end of that turn as I transition into that left. I followed Miles and one of the instructors (who was on a B-King) for my first session and what an eye-opener that was! I found that you really could carry much more corner speed which allowed me to actually make a smoother transition into that left (I no longer had to think about turn 8 and could concentrate on that sharp left). This actually allowed me to sorta catch up to some of those who passed me in the straight. I made one session in the street group that day because we missed ours waiting to ride with Jason Pridmore and that technique was something that was not being practiced in that group which meant I probably would not have learned it if I stayed in that level.

I ended up really working on each turn individually. Practicing my lines, trying new ones. Which, was one downfall about the weekend. I am at a certain level in my riding in which I am comfortable with the bike and comfortable with going fast leaned over so most of what I learned was specific to Spring Mountain as opposed to generic riding. That is not to say that I could not apply these techniques to other tracks or to my street riding. Instead it meant that I never once had this epiphany of knowledge in which all became clear.

The school was good. This is the second formal school I have taken. The first was Keith Code's school two years ago. Both had their advantages and disadvantages. One thing that I really liked about KC's school was the one on one attention that you received from it. At Star you really had to seek one of the instructors out. When they did talk to me they really were not critical enough about my riding. The curriculum was also a little more structured in KC than it was in Star. Star was all open track sessions and you could bump from level to level without needing permission or showing any improvement in skill (i.e. it was the honor system). One thing that I saw the street group not doing was looking through the turn and at where they wanted to go. Many riders that I saw were concentrating on the road directly in front of them which gave them less time to react to what was happening. I definitely feel that is one thing that should have been pressed a little more. But, I liked the casual atmosphere and the price was not bad ($625). I am not sure I would take another Star school class simply because the format did not work as well for me but I think that a lot of folks learned a lot and it is a great introduction to track riding.

As Robert stated, the company of my fellow ST-Ners was simply amazing. I truly feel lucky to have met such a great group of friends and I look forward to many, many more good times.

james

[ksann]

Mr. Bmw-K,

Many thanks for the essay about your experiences.  It is better than what I have read in magazines and on other sites.  Very inspiring.  I still have to get to my first track day.  Your post gives me some hope that I will be able to improve when I give it a shot.

It is really great to hear about your improvement.

Maybe you can borrow Ksann's BMW and give it another shot!!    I have heard that he sometimes trades bikes with people.    

Doug

I will deliver it to her garage any time that she wants.




ken