0
**WARNING*** LONG.
Cliff Notes: Great Class and I learned more than I thought I did.
So before I broke my clavicle saturday I had taken the Penguin Advanced school friday.
Started off great with only 3 of us in the class. Big bike guy on a 954, middle bike guy on a 600 and lil bike guy on a Hawk GT (Me).
We meet Eric Wood and the rest of the instructors and are seperated from the Beginner class. We go into timing and scoring and have a nice lecture on the different types of corners and what to do in each, among other stuff. I get about 10 pages of notes, then we get a body position seminar in the classroom (good tips on knee out and balance, also transitioning quickly) and we then go out for a track walk and as we get to the end of the front straight it starts to rain. Eric borrows Jeff's truck and we do our track walk in the comfort of the Duelie. (Heated front seat too!) Eric goes over each corner very throughly and shows us the line for each of our bikes (lil bikes with less HP can open it up/ stand up sooner). We then circulate the track a few times at a good clip in the truck in the wet to get an idea of the line. Very good session!
I know the line but it was awesome to have Eric point out his markers and different areas of the track to look at as you go into and come out of each corner. I never realized there were that many permanent markers.
Into the pit and back out on our bikes for a FTL session in the rain. I was able to get a rear rain on the Hawk quickly and went out. Speeds were down but it was the first time through the new chicane and I hadn't been on the bike since last season so all was good. Just clicked off laps behind Zev and stayed smooth. Slid the DOT front a couple times but stayed loose on the bars and let the bike do it's thing.
Stopped for a little chat near T10 and Eric pointed out something for each of us to work on. I needed to stop doing the 3 point transition in the corners, side, seat, side and just go side to side.
Zev and I let the other guys go and then get back on track. Well we were circulating pretty good because we caught and passed the other 2 advanced school guys and their instructors.Nice confidence boost that was.
Back into the pits to put my front rain on, this is where my day got lost.
I end up going out with the beginner group not knowing I wasn't supposed to. I even got with an instructor while out there and had him lead me through all of the students. Once we got open track he signaled me to go in front of him and I thought I was going to get some good feedback so I wicked it up a bit. He was on an Aprillia Motard on DOTs (almost slicks) while I was on full rains. Needless to say he had a hard time keeping up and when I looked back he was gone. (I forget his name but I have seen him around before). From what I got from him back in the pits he said I looked smooth.He was joking with me about "leaving him" out there.
I came in and figured out I wasn't supposed to be out there. Went and talked to Eric and he said no worries, but there were a couple videos that the beginner class had that we should watch after lunch. (Body Position and a track corner by corner video). Watched those but missed a couple afternoon sessions where Bob (another instructor) was going to watch me through 3/10. Sun came out and the track dried up so I missed another putting the DOTs back on. Got out for the last couple and tried to work on the line, staying smooth, transitioning quicker and getting over the front of the bike in a couple corners. The speed was down but it was a good couple sessions to help me cement some stuff in my head.
All in all a good class. I wish it wasn't during the construction and I was hoping for a little more critiqueing of my riding but I learned alot and I have alot of notes to continue to learn from.
Reply With Quote
I haven't taken the advanced class yet but I'm lookin forward to taking it eventually.
Originally Posted by nt650hawk
