I've
always wondered what it would be like to ride around a track, and I've
heard all about track days and riding schools and so on. So, finally
I decided to take the plunge and meet up with a couple of friends at the
California Superbike School
at Watkins Glen NY.
The CSS is headed up by Keith Code, a Superbike Champion of the 70s, and it's basically a travelling show that works it way East from California during the course of the riding season. The 1 day class costs $395, so it is not cheap, and their 2 days intensive workshops are considerably more expensive. But hey, if it will help me ride faster and safer, the money is well spent. After all, one wipeout is more expensive than $395, that I can reassure you!
I rode up on the trusty Tiger from WV, a 7 hr trip that took me up to Watkins Glen NY. I was really looking forward to taking this Dual Sport on the track. As we shall we, it was not to be....
Anyway, I parked the Tiger at Seneca Lodge, had a nice dinner and figured I better get to bed early. My cabin was just the place to dump all my sh*t for a couple of days.
The race started early. Damn early. So I had to be up by 5am, and at the track by 7am. There was so much andrelin rushing trhough my veins in anticipation of my first time ever on the track I could not sleep the previous night.
I got
on the Tiger bright an early and I could see the sun coming towards the
horizon as I reached the racegrounds. I was a little late, but that
didn't seem to matter as there was a line-up of people signing up.
Anyway, as oon as I get to the registration area, curses, I discover I
had a flat tire! What a way to start the day, I growled to myself.
I do not know whether to curse my bad luck or be thankful. I figured
"well, better here than on the track at 100 mph in a turn, that's for sure".
The truck that takes CSS on the road. |
Some bikes ready to go |
Taping up before hitting the track. |
The CSS team was responsive. They have a good mechanical team ready to tackle my problem - only problem is, I have a tube tire, and most sportbikes have tubeless tires. Drat! They would have to go into town and see if they could get replacement innertube (they wouldn't let me on the track with a patched inner tube).
Examining the flat on the Tiger |
Lucky for me they've got a good repair station. |
In the end I decided to ride one of their 600 Ninjas. |
I surveyed the lineup of bikes ready to tackle the track. Needess to say you will always find a GSX-R, YZF-R or CBR, so spent more time looking at the other bikes. One Daytona and one Sprint RS. Those were the Triumphs. No Speed Triple (I was hoping). And definitely no other Tiger. The a BMW K1200 and I think maybe a R1200S showed up as well. And naturally there must have been a Duc or two but I didn't make a note of it (to me, all Ducs are red and basically look alike, so don't ask me the difference between a 948, 996, Supersport and all that stuff).
Most guys had ridden in from NY or maybe at worst - Connecticut or PA. Hey, I was the only dude from WV.
After getting leathers, and helmet, we stormed into the lecture room where Keith Code started lecturing us on what happens in a corner. A lot as it turns out. Entry point. Lean. Throttle Control. Trick is to stay relaxed and let the bike do the work. You know you've done it right when you don't have to do any correcting while in the turn.
After the first lecture, I was still waiting for the inner tube. I actually missed the first track session. Well, screw that. I decided to rent one of their bikes ($160) to avoid missing any more track time.....
4 track sessions later what can I say? I can see why these fast Japanese bikes are so addictive. No wonder all the kids want them. Compared to my Tiger, they are very responsive and shall we say flickable. That is, you can go side to side very fast in an S-turn - something that would be more challenging on my Tiger (but unfortunately I couldn't try it to compare).
My coach (Jason) thought my riding was pretty good (for what he could see, that is). What he didn't see was going wide on Turn #1, running onto the grass, but luckly not wiping out! Actually no one seemed to have seen that mistake, so I couldn't figure out what exactly I did wrong.
Anyway for the parts that did go where, Jason said I was doing what I was supposed to do, even though I was by no means the fastest guy there. Towards the end I got much faster. That's what Keith said - follow instructions carefully - speed with come naturally as a result. And it's true.
Will I get a Sportbike after all this? Well, it's a better possibility, that's for sure. If I do get a sportbike, it'll have to be the Speed Triple. By the end of the day, my Tiger was ready to ride home Only charge to me was about $20 and that included the inner tube so what can I say - they definitely treated me right.
I met up with Tony and John that night to share my experiences. Both have far more experience than me, and John especially has quite a bit of track time under his belt. They were pretty impressed by my track times (best time was 2:03) for my first time out.
Now that I'm hooked as they say, we'll see how it goes next year at Mid Ohio. Either way (through CSS or Sport Bike Track Time) it's bound to be a a lot of fun to look forward to. And let's hope the Tiger holds up this time.
Tiger Joe
Page created Nov. 27, 2002