This weekend was to prove quite unexpected for a number of reasons. First off, i wasnt even signed up and was supposed to be spending the weekend with my family. But earlier in the week, my friend Mary convinced me to drive her up to Mid-Ohio at a greatly discounted price for the track time.

The beining of the journey was miserable at best. It took me almost three times as long to get up to Mary's house to pick her up and i vowed never to try to get to her place on a Friday afternoon ever again. Although i think i have made that vow before, so well see how well it keeps this time. So with a new bottle of orange Mountain Dew we got onthe road much later than expected for the 7+ hour dirve.

We arrived at the track at about 11pm and parked with the rest of the early comers. They all had RVs, we had tents. Without any direction as to where we could set up our tents, we chose behind some large trees to be less conspicuous come morning. I was pretty tired and i ended up not even blowing up my air mattress. Thankfully the grass was soft and thick and i slept better than if i had used my mattress. Morning saw the usual "up at the crack of dawn" but then it was greeting friends and heading into the track.

We set up our pit close to pit in/out and the garages. And after tech i went and said hello to Bonnie and Monte, the owners of Sport Bike Track Time. It was because of their genreosity that i was able to be at the track, but it wasnt just generosity. i was on the hook to work all weekend. I was to be a track coach.

At the staff meeting, the staff was asked who wanted to take care of the novice group, and i immediately raised my hand. I had never been to the track, so rather than humiliate myself as i learned teh track and all of teh intermediate group passed me, i chose to ride slow to get used to the track and see what i could do with some novices.

I managed to sneak out onto the track after the first classroom session. i really wanted to see which way the track went before i led my band of merry band of novices into a corner. the track was great, it seemed like a narrower and shorter version of Barber Motorsports Park, but with concrete patches in most of the corners. Actually Barber ond Mid-Ohio are closee to the same length, but for some reason, time really flies on this track. I was a little worried about the concrete patches, but i was pleasantly surprised that most of them are perfectly level with the asphalt of the track and the bike barley notices it. ITs just the look of the concrete that was teh problem. some of the lines cross teh concrete, others follow it, so the only real limitation was myself.

I was happy to have gotten out before i got my group for our first, very slow laps, even if i was shakey and unsure. Outr first session consisted of riding around the track on the far left, then the middle, then the far right, and then a typical racing line that uses all of the racetrack. this drill was especially beneficial because i could see the track and figure out my lines as a greatly reduced pace whithout the pressure of getting ass packed by a faster rider.

The morning progressed with more classroom sessions and more drills. It was my policy, which i hope my groups apppreciated, to meet with them after each classroom session in case they had any questions, to review teh drill before we went out on the track and to meet with them immediately after leaving the track to give them any feedback and to answer any question they might have. In a few of these post-track sessions, a few people complained that we were going too slow. We were supposed to be re-organizing the groups based on speed and skill level, but i hung onto those people for a session or two more. After our "one gear, no brakes" drill, a couple of people complained of going too slow. I then asked if they used their brakes and they did. but in their defense, another group was holding up our group so my entire group had to slow down so we wouldnt get mixed up.

After lunch, we did the body position classroom session and got out on the track. At first i found it difficult to hang off the bike as drasticaaly reduced speeds. In fact, i was a bit wobbly at first. I can only imagine what my group was like. Actually, i know what they were like as i spent a lap following each of them. Most of them were not hanging off the bike enough as i would have liked, but they were hanging off enough for the speeds we were reaching, so i guess it all worked out.

When all of the classroom sessions were over, we had "unstructured" track time where we still had to stay in our groups, but we had no drills to work on. Just as my group was getting the hang of riding the track instead of concentrating on one single aspect, the session was over and the day was over. The session was cut short and it turns out the track kicks us off earlier than most. So at 4:30, our day was over.

I had a great time with my students and really enjoyed teaching them (or at least confiusing them). most of the information we were giving them was to get them into good habits that will help them progress. However, the track is tricky in a couple places with a couple blind corners and a couple of decreasing radius off camber turns. it was with the latter type that had one of my students asking me to clarify the throttle technique he should be using. basically the rule of thumb is to lean the bike and smoothly roll on the throttle (accelerate) through the corner. well, in these tricky corners, that "rule" doesnt apply. It was a little frustrating telling him what we told him doesnt always apply and he too was frustrated by it, but we came up with a game plan and he said that the new plan helped. Other than that minor bump, the only other thing that happened was one of my students had an off track excursion. i was following him so he wasnt too sure about his entry speed. i saw him go in a little too fast and NOT look through the corner. Luckily he did not go down and when we got off the track, i was happy to hear that he knew exactly what he did worng. And as GI Joe says, "knowing is halff the battle."

Day 2 >>

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