Utah Sport Touring - Advanced Rider Training Class 04/07/2007

[Clair]

The Utah ST-ART Class begins!

Okay, the email letter about the class said to be there between 7 and 8 AM ... knowing Todd and Chuck the the challenges they face ... Todd being on time, Chuck waking up on time ... I figure meeting at 6:30 and leaving at 6:45 would get us to the track around 7:30. Should be perfect. The only killer part of this is the wake up at 5:30 fricken AM ... have I mentioned I am NOT a mornng person?? Anyway, the night before I get everything ready, food organized, sandwiches made, gatorade set to go, bike all ready. Oh, and I installed a camera mount so I can now take pics while riding! Wa Hoo!

At 5:30 FRICKEN AM, the alarm goes off and I get up, shower ... REALLY hot shower to wake up ... have I mentioned I am NOT a morning person ... and get ready to go. Given that it is 44 degrees outside, I put on my electric vest, liner, and Airglide jacket. After giving Deb a kiss good by I head out the door. Riding this early is nice, no traffic, and I head toward the McDonalds where set set to meet. When I arrive, Tom and Jim are already tehre enjoying a coffee. Tom rides a V-Strom large, Jim an FJR. Jim took the class last year with me, good man. About 6:35 or so Chuck arrives ... totally flooring me! No wake up call needed and he arrived before Todd! A few minutes later Todd shows up and heads inside for his morning energy ... coffee and McGriddle. We all chat a bit, excited for the class. About 6:50 or so we mount up and head off, with Jim leading us there.

It's a clear crisp moring, maybe, maybe now 46 degrees. I am really glad I brought the electric vest and have the grip warmers going. It's supposed to get into the low 70's in the afternoon, but right now it's cold out. The drive consists of a REALLY boring straight slab ride 30-ish miles on I-80 west toward Tooele (two ella), then another set of boring roads south from that exist. We get off the exit and start heading south when ... WHAM! ... somebody left the damn refrigerator door open! It must have dropped 10 degrees!!! Somebody mentioned that their bike was now registering 38 degrees! Yes, that's right, 38 friggin degrees!!! BRRRRRRR. Okay, nudge up the electric vest a bit ... poor Todd and Chuck, no electric happiness for them!

We get to the track, get signed in, and then try to find our meeting place ... guys at the gate tell us to go to the west end. We do that ... there's dirt there ... no ST-ART setup ... um ... uh ... WTF? Todd gets happy, he has new tires, wants to try them on dirt, but the rest of us out vote him. I head back, on the other side of the garages we passed and behold ... I see a yellow Tiger and a Tall guy ... MIKE!!! Yay! So, we park the bikes, say high to Mike, and then pretty much in unison say "Holy Sh$t It's F'ing FREESING!!!" The sun is barely over the mountains so we try to stand there getting any warmth we can ... not much. I contemplate getting back in the STeed, plugging the vest in, and riding in circles! lol

Soon other riders start showing up. More Triumphs, St1300's, FJR's, and so on. We're supposed to have 30+ riders so this will be awesome. Eventually Dale and Dave show up, the two main guys running this. See, they stopped for coffee and to chat, and the trailored things so they were nice and warm. I suspect that since this was Mike's first time as Instructor they told him to be there at 7, which he was. They, however, chose a later time! Some initiation Mike! lol With more riders there now we're all excited and chatting, inspecting all the bikes, hopeing like hell it's gonna warm up. In time, Chuck's friend shows up, nice guy on a GS500 ... the "baby" bike of the day. lol We all head up to the classroom, partly for warmth and partly to start getting things organized.

The day begins ...

[Clair]

In the classroom Dave keeps us entertained with info, stories, and a summary of what we can expect from the day.  We discuss who's riding what, how many years riding, and so on.  This is when we find out we have THREE Cruisers ... Harley riders ... who will be with us!  AWESOME!  Great folks they were, in great humor about being the "outsiders".  Some people had been riding just a couple years, some of the guys over 50 years!  We all wanted the same ... get better with curves, smooth out our lines, improve speed, learn to lean, learn more about what our bikes can do.  This day would do all of that for us.  In time, I see a woman enter and sit near the back ... this must be "Raven" I surmise.  She's an ST1300 rider I talk to on the ST13 site ... she's ridden up here from Tucson AZ!!!  yes, that's right, she rode all the way here from Tucson AZ!  Now there's a true sport touring rider!  I instroduce myself to her and chat for a bit.

We go over the rules of the day ... there will be a 1:3 ratio for teh day.  One instructor/coach for every three riders.  We'll stay with the same coach throughout the day.  Well, that was the plan, it kinda fell apart at times but I was lucky to remain with my coach (Randy) for the entire day.  Anyway, other rules ... front straightaway is a 40 mph zone!  The Track people think we ST'ers are slow and we're gonna let them believe that!  On the curve ... hee hee hee we'll go faster, but in thr straightaway ... nice and slow.  NO PASSING!  NONE, don't even think about it.  This is a safely course, not a race day.  We'll run 30/30 sessions ... 30 minutes rideing, 30 minutes of classroom or one on one time with our coach.  Everyone is instructed to ride their own ride and keep the rubber down.

We head out to our bikes, to chat some more and gear up.  Kevin is here, he trailored his bike the whopping 10 miles from his house so that he could bring coolers and tools.  here's Mike helping get his bike off the trailor ...


i'd like to label this photo Mike saying "Ya know, if you just let me pick it up and carry it, this would be a lot easier..." lol

Here's a pic of Todd ... he knows he parked his Strommy somewhere around here ... he's sure of it ... damn these parking lots ...


Remember the Harley's I mentioned, the female rider had an awesome looking Sportster...


Have I mentioned we had a lineup of incredible looking machines?


Next, we prepare to head onto the track ...

[Clair]

Now it's time to get on the track.  I get assigned Randy ... he's on a beautiful yellow Ducati ST.  With me are Kevin and I believe Lance ... I've forgotten your name, so please forgive me!  Anyway, Keven was on his Blackbird and Lance on a silver BMW K1200T .  We made a great group and had a blast together.  We even abused Randy at times ... like nailing our horns in unison when he was smooching with his wife instead of taking us out onto the track.  "Get a room later!  It's track time NOW!!!"  LOL

Oh, before I forget ... the obligatory pic of Todd's bike and the dead sheep he mounted on it lol


Here we are, ready to head out.  randy is INSTRUCTOR IIII


Another pic of the group ready to head out.  raven can be seen in this one, in black with the flip up helmet.  Awesome ST1300 she has!!!


My first pic with my digi camera mounted on the bike, not bad.

Here we go, heading down the straighaway

[Clair]

The first 30 minutes is us just following Randy, getting used to the track and the turns.  Randy sets a good pace for us and we gain our confidence as we learn the turns.  On the back, after the straightaway there, we encounter a tight hard left (see map) followed by a longer decreasing radius right turn.  okay, should be no problem but wait ... as I lean into the right hander ... is that ... is that ... aw crap, that's a professional photographer!!!  He's snapping each and every one of us!  He's about to take my pic ... wait, wait ... what the hell am I doing looking at HIM???  I'm target fixating, look through the turn damn you, look through the turn ...

That corner became the infamous Cameraman Corner ... it phased all of us for a while! lol

In the classroom we talked about lines, leaning, how to handle entering early and late, when to brake, all that.  Good fun discussions and the goup was actively involved here.  Good riders that tells me.  Round two ... actually all the remaining track rounds except for the end, would be a "revolving" round.  First lap by the instructor, then I would take the lead with Randy in the #2 slot.  BMW rider in #3 and Kevin in #4.  Next lap, I would fade to the back, BMW rider takes the lead, Randy still in #2 and kevin now in the # 3 slot.  So, basically, each lap one of us would lead with the coach behind us watching, evaluating.  It is a very good system.  During one of the mornign sessions randy had me lead the lap consecutively and he passed me and indicated for me to follow his lines.  Seems I was taking my corners too wide, missing the apex.  He wanted me to plant my apex, come in as it were.  So at the apex of each turn he's hand signal me and I worked to follow his line.  I knew that behind me the other two riders were doing the same.  Working our lines, working our flow.  Man what a fantastic time.

Let's see, more pics ... Here's Kevin heading onto the track


Here's Me doign the same


And me coming off the track ... I know, I know, all these Clair pics, but hey, I'm writing this part so there!  lol


More lap stories to come ...

[Clair]

After a while, we no longer did the classroom portion, rather after each riding session we'd talk with our coaches.  So, after parking and just glowing with each other, Randy would pull us aside and give each of us pointers.  Do this, more of that, less of this, watch your line, aim more for here, all that.  It was during one of these that Randy made my day by giving me the words I wanted to hear ... Randy told me straight out that I was riding incredibly smoothly all along the track!!!!  Good braking, good roll ons, good lines, smooth throughout!!!!  YAY, a big friggin YAY FOR ME!!!  What I got from the class last year was the need to smooth things out and I worked on that on all my rides.  So to have Randy tell me this was just perfect!  Smooth and fluid, that is what I wanted.  Kevin ... man what a speed demon he has become!  :-)  And Beemer dude ... what a leap he made.  By the afternoon he too was flying, having greatly improved his confidence, lines, and smoothness!

Some pics of me, good head turn if I do say so myself !!!


In this pic, hopefully, you can see the Harley's that we've caught up to


Another pic of me doing a good head turn, and Kevin at the far right already looking into his turn!!


Another pic later on ... I think Kevin is following me ...


I'm really happy with my head turns ... that looking through a turn can be a hard thing to develop and trust.

[Clair]

The final session started around 4:30.  now, you might not think it's tiring to only do 30 minute sessions, but it's a lot of work.  This is our final set of laps.  Tone it down some, take 10% off, ride safe, enjoy what you've learned and practice it.  So off we go, ready to play.  For a lap or so Randy has us doing our usual leapfrog thing, then, knowing we're good to go, he takes off.  Bye Bye Randy!  LOL  Off he goes to amuse himself on the track a bit.  SO the three of us leap frog, Beemer, me, Kevin ... then we all open it up.  Kevin, get ahead of me, have at it, go for it.  I can't ride as fast as kevin and I want him to let it rip.  So, for a couple laps I just worry about me, my lines, just enjoying it. Then, on my last lap ... ZOOOM!!!  randy come flying by me!  I've been lapped !!!!!  :-(  lol  Okay, I did say I was going for Smooth, not fast.  lol

Oh, another pic of the harley rider.  I think that is her husband or bf behind her


We do a final lap together and Randy brings us in.  A wonderful end to a wonderful day.


yeah, yeah, I know, all these pics of me ... deal with it!  :-)  I looked good out there, I was smooth!  YAY.

We all talk excitedly, sharing stories, saying our goodbyes as some riders leave.  I don't wanna leave, I wanna ride more.  But man, I'm tired!  ANd aw crap ... we have an incredible boring straight flat slab ride home.  Do you know how awful it is to spend all day riding a twisty track and end it by riding nearly 60 miles of flat straight boring slab?  ZZZZZzzzzzzz........




All in all I had a fantastic day!  I learned a great deal again and was very proud of my improvements.  I could feel the difference from how I rode last year.  I'm improving and that is great.  All the instructors were great and I know I'll do it again.

[Clair]

The pro guy that was taking those pics has them posted now:

http://www.photoreflect.com/pr3/thum...aspx?e=2826451

We are the USBA AM and PM sections.

[1KPerDay]

Remember the Harley's I mentioned, the female rider had an awesome looking Sportster...

Superglide.


Nice report. Thanks! And thanks for giving us the heads-up on this event in the first place.

[1KPerDay]

Another pic of the group ready to head out.  raven can be seen in this one, in black with the flip up helmet.  Awesome ST1300 she has!!!

Who's the Pillsbury Doughboy in the blue Aerostich?

[Clair]

Sportster, Superglide ... all the same to me ... all Harley's lol

Nice to meet you, must do a ride together some time 1K !!!

[1KPerDay]

Definitely. Watch the region 3 forums.