STAR Motorycycle School

[acrovixen]

For all you lucky souls privileged enough to go to the STAR School at HPR this weekend, have an amazing time! And know that there are a couple of very jealous peeps in Vegas who really wish we could be there...

Looking forward to some great stories and photos!!

[Teach]

I only did monday but it was fantastic! I learned a ton in just that one day! So many things that Im doing wrong and everything made so much sense. I CANT WAIT to get back on the track and work on everything!!
Great class!!

Im sore as hell today though.. but feels good!

[acrovixen]

JP and the boys always make it worth every penny. AND every sore muscle. :wink: Counting the days until I can do my next STAR school - hopefully Aaron and I can make it to HPR next year...

[AR]

So obviously I missed a lot with having to work the first day and only making it for the second. BUT... Tons of things started making sense, and I picked up a lot from the conversations other people were having. At the end of the day I was A LOT more confident on the bike.

I wasn't sure what was going on during the first session, if I could pass people, if so how, when, where, so I just started passing folks in the straights (no easy task on a 125) and on the outside but feeling nervous about it during the first session. Then I found out it was OK, we started picking up our speed, and I figured the street group wasn't so bad after all and stuck around. I also had no idea what I was missing as far as fundamentals were concerned, making the street group a good fit at the end of the day.

Two HUGE take-aways from the day.. Downshift early and don't be afraid to let it rev. That frees up time to spot the apex, commit to it, and then LOOK UP AND THROUGH THE EXIT once you're committed. Once you're committed, whatever happens happens and you can't do anything about it anyway, so just plan for success and look up. I went from being really confused and jerky to being pretty damned smooth and confident with everything I was doing on the bike. I don't think I was going much faster than before; however, I was going at least as fast as ever with less tension and five times the clarity of thought as before. I didn't feel as taxed and everything around me seemed to slow down.

Jason's emphasis on breathing helped a lot as well. He gave us a drill to try. Something like breathe in through the nose at the apex and out through the mouth at the exit. I've been experimenting with breathing through my nose and keeping my mouth closed while running. I can run at a pretty good clip for 3 or 4 miles this way. The effect is I feel less stressed while I run. So I tried it while riding the motorcycle. The effect was basically the same, less stress, less panic, less fear, more confidence. I think what the drill does is it gets you to concentrate on your breathing instead of stupid things like bumps in the road or your lean angle or your fear. Apparently breathing is a really useful distraction.

I quit smoking a couple weeks after I picked up the Honda RS125. I've been a non-smoker for 5 weeks now. It's the second time I've quit. I smoked from 19 to 24, quit for 2 years, was running 40 miles a week and doing sets of 15 pull ups at a time, graduated from college, got into people management at a ginormous business, started again, went for a year, quit, back running, back pedaling, feeling better than ever. I don't think I'd have done it without the new bike to fantasize about.

Watching Jason chirp his tire braking into T1 was well worth the price of admission, as was watching him whack the bike sideways as though it were an XR100 at the back yard dirt-track.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v458/AstonL7/91-Aston.jpg

I kind of can't believe this is a picture of me. It's the fulfillment of a childhood fantasy.

I'll be at the HPR round at the end of the month, packing a Honda RS125 and racing as many classes as I can afford.. Thank you Rybo (best advice ever), Brownie, Jim W., Lisa, Tilly, Jason, Bill, all the SS guys this year, and everyone else who loves this sport.

[acrovixen]

\:D/ Where's the "like" button?! SOOOO cool that you were able to get that much out of just one day! Same for me - best track money ever spent. Can't wait to get back up to CO and start racing again!

Thanks for sharing! I always love hearing good things about this school and recommend it to anyone who wants to improve their RIDING, not just their lap times. :D

[jeff healy]

Very cool!! Welcome to the addiction that is waaayyy worse than smoking :)