Mid-Ohio
07.04.06: SportBike Track Time
The next day i woke up more or less rested, thanks to being woken up by thunder all night long. When i looked outside, to roads were damp, but drying and it was VERY humid out. Packed up and on our way to the track and it is raining. again.

Once at the track we see that it is wet but it is not raining and beginning to dry. I volunteered to coach the novice group, which i realized was a mistake as soon as i put my hand up. Yesterday was nice not needing to be on the track if it was wet/raining, but if my novice riders want to go out, i must as well.

So into the classroom after the riders meeting. I have met the instructor before when he was acting as a normal coach and he is a really nice guy. However, i dont entirely agree with his teaching style. He told me that he prefers to have the coaches be the main source f information for the students, not the instructor. Makes sense, but i feel that his style did not provide enough background information in the classroom. I made up for this after every classroom session by meeting with my group and discussing in more detail what we described in class. And also to make sure everyone knew what we were going to be working on.

THe first session was just riding the outside, inside and racing line of the track. THe track was damp but it didnt matter as we werent going very fast at all. THen next session was a little drier for the "single gear" drill. But then the inevitable happened. it rained again. i asked my students how they felt about riding in the rain and all but one wanted to stay on the track, so we did. Unfortunately, we were supposed to be working on "flicking in" ht ebike by making it turn faster, but since the track was slick, there really was no safe way fo practicing it. I did find that a couple of the turns (the two wihtout sealer in the entry) enabled me to do this, but for hte most part it was not good for practicing.

Later in the afternoon, we got one more relatively dry session. at that point, my students were doing very well and seemed to be one of the faster groups out there. Only one student would "fall back" and even then, it wasnt too much. I would have liked to work with her a little more as it was only two corners that she was VERY tentative about that was causing her to fall back.

All in all, it was a good break. I had not rode in the rain in a while and i now remember wha it is like to drift wide, slip around and genreally be very smooth. it can teach you alot. but for the novice group, it is not too informative. at their level, it is less about learning to ride and more about surviving. and that is not a good atmosphere.

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