A Day At The Track

A few days ago I took a day-long class at the "California Superbike School" where they teach the "Art of Cornering" for sportbikes. It was taught by Keith Code (founder of the school as well as author of the 'Twist Of The Wrist' book series) as well as his other instructors. The class that I attended was at the 'Streets of Willow Springs' race track (they also have classes that are on other tracks world-wide) - which is about an hour north of Los Angeles in what seems to be in the middle of the dessert. I was pretty impressed with the school and with how they dispersed their lessons - very effective. Although, I wish it was more track-time than classroom time. =)

The downside of it all I'd say was my crash on turn 14 (right before the straight-away) which happened as a result of me skidding out from going on the sand (my turn was too wide). I wasn't hurt (just a very minor sprain on my right wrist and a scratch on my pinkie). I rented out their full-body leathers and boots which worked really well. The bike (it was their bike that I rented), however, suffered cracks in the fairings which I had to pay for (big, big OUCH!). The other downside was that I had to leave early cuz of the extreme heat (remember, it was in the desert and I was in full leathers) and my body wasn't at 100% cuz of surgery. I missed a few hours of class but I think I got mostly what I needed from it.

The upside was that I learned to lean the bike enough to almost drag a knee on (I think) turn 4!

In all, I had a good time my first time on a track.

Changing subjects, I just might be on TV! Yup! I was shopping around the Burbank mall today when I apparently entered onto a set RIGHT when they were filming after exiting off the elevator to the third floor (the food court) in my motorcycle gear! They wanted me to fill out a release waiver (which I gladly did). I was like "what the hell is going on?!?". Now that I think about it, they might not use me in their video as I looked directly into the camera for about a second and cuz I looked out-of-place with my gear on. But what excellent timing on my part! LOL.