eager ambitious rider willing to throw his body at anything

[OskyATL]

Yo! Just signed up with NESBA hope to do my first track day in May at Road Atlanta. I'm bout to be 25 and am from Dalton, Ga. My experience is pretty much nill and I began riding last may, with no dirt bike experience and before that it had been a good 12 years since I had been on a bicycle. But I'm on my second bike up from a GS500F. I was able to(atleast in my fantasy) master the 500 around the local twisties and drag the pegs through turns on my little 500. Upgraded to my 06 cbr600rr and am learning all over again, and this bike has taken a lot of my ego away by being a lot more critical of my actions in just about every aspect compared to my 500. That being the case, it has made me want to learn with experienced, well trained, intelligent riders who can reduce risks and speed up the learning process for getting someone off the street and on the track. I have had the urge to learn it all, and I dream of great things, and I hope NESBA is the place to do it.

As the title says I'm not really afraid of coming off the bike, I've come off a couple of times and it hasn't slowed me down. Doesn't mean I'm necessarily reckless but that I enjoy pushing my limits, and love to learn even at the cost of mistakes. For anyone offering any instant advice, I'm all ears always willing to listen and take it all in.

opcorn:

 

[dpullen]

Welcome to the club! We'll get you up to speed, be sure to hook up with a CR.

Just remember, speed is all about being smooth and consistent. Learn your lines and reference points early (going slower), and it will pay dividends by the end of the day!

- Dave

 

[HondaGalToo]

Welcome, sounds like you want to do it the right way, and NESBA is the place! Sign up in the Beginner group and pick the Control Rider's brains. One word of advice, you say you're not afraid of falling off the bike. Yeah, that happens sometimes, but DO NOT get complacent about it. Crashing sucks, and it should not be a routine part of your learning experience. Get it in your mind that crashing is unacceptable. Focus on smooth and the speed will come.

 

[Folly1]

HondaGalToo +10

Crashing sucks. You are showing everyone that you don't know how to ride your bike and that you are an out of control, testosterone blinded idiot. You are wasting or stealing time from everyone else who loses time while they pick you up and or clear the track. Worse yet, you might take someone else out, as happened at RA the Easter weekend. (The innocent party has a broken collarbone. If there were justice, the perp would not allowed to ride until the innocent guy was healed!)

I rode 65 track days before I crashed and I crashed then because I was in my idiot mode. Thankfully I only hurt myself.

I hope that you will adjust your thinking before you get on the track. Our CRs are very good. Get and read "Twist of the Wrist II". It's hard to read and you might like the DVD better. If you can afford it, consider taking Keith Code's class. ( California Superbike School ). He will be at Barber in May or Early June. It is not cheap but costs less than a visit to the ER.

Good luck.

Ben.

PS. I wrote this so that the newer and kinder CycleRant would not have to.

B.

 

[slowpoke]

HondaGalToo;120250 wrote: Welcome, sounds like you want to do it the right way, and NESBA is the place! Sign up in the Beginner group and pick the Control Rider's brains. One word of advice, you say you're not afraid of falling off the bike. Yeah, that happens sometimes, but DO NOT get complacent about it. Crashing sucks, and it should not be a routine part of your learning experience. Get it in your mind that crashing is unacceptable. Focus on smooth and the speed will come.

:agree: great advice from someone with years of experience.

welcome to the club.

 

[OskyATL]

Don't think I'm complacent about coming off, I definitely avoid it. but the possibility of it happening to anyone including myself doesn't stop me from wanting to learn and do better. I think in the frame reference of skill, so that's partly why I signed up with NESBA is to be around other riders that have that same idea, and not just bigger testies. I take pride in being SKILLFUL at anything I do, not being an idiot showing off for anyone. I try to correct any bad habits I have as long as someone tells me I have them. Also I don't enjoy putting others at risk so no problem there! But Thanks for the advice I will definitely think about it in reference to any mindset that I have going into it.

Also I don't expect to crash or wreck under any circumstance. And I have heard from from certain people that CRs enjoy beginners who ride smooth over speed. So I'm not going to pass a CR, another rider, or do anything that would put anyone else at an unnecessary risk. So hope that clears up any misunderstanding about why I'm here. I am signed up for the beginner group because I already accept that I'm at the bottom of the barrel. I'm here to learn and gradually get better at whatever pace is possible. I've taken MSF, Read Proficient Motorcycling, gone through Total Control, and I have Twist of the Wrist2(is there much difference between Total Control and Twist of the Wrist?). I've also been thinking about taking the ERC do you guys recommend me taking it?

 

[Folly1]

Good on you for the attitude and the reading. TOWII, again hard to read, is used by many schools as their lesson plan, though they don't often give Code the credit. IMHO he was one of the first to verbalize how to go fast. If you learn from reading then it is worth the pain. Also you will understand the language that is spoken by the CR's. More than one beginner has asked "what is a reference point". I took the ERC and while you can learn something from every course, it was taught at such a slow speed that I could not see or feel the bike doing what the instructors said it was doing. I did not get that much out of it. I got more out of the first day of the Code class than I did out of 3 previous schools, not counting MSF course.

We all learn in different ways. I have asked some very fast racers how they rode so fast and they told me," I just watched and did what the fast guys did." ( Some crashed a lot in the process. ) Some of these guys are intuitive enough that they are not going to learn, except by watching.

Google "barber motorcycle videos" and watch a few of them. One of my favorite has James Toseland riding a honda 600 at the 07 launch. It is interesting to watch his lines, then look at some of the other videos.

Good luck.

Ben.

 

[HondaGalToo]

:congrats: Good response. I wasn't trying to sound harsh, just reading a bit into what you wrote. I did trackdays for about 12 years before falling, hundreds of days. You don't have to crash to learn was all I wanted to point out. A little bit of fear and respect about this sport is a GOOD thing. Again, welcome! You'll have a blast!!

 

[lemondrop]

c u there

 

[dbakerpa]

If your not afraid of coming off the bike just throw me a note on which track days you do. Cause that scares me brother. lol
Honestly -welcome and listen to these guys I learned more in the track days with NESBA than any other group.

 

[Folly1]

HondaGalToo;120286 wrote: I did trackdays for about 12 years before falling, hundreds of days. You don't have to crash to learn was all I wanted to point out. A little bit of fear and respect about this sport is a GOOD thing. Again, welcome! You'll have a blast!!

Judy,

12 years. I am in awe. I will never again post about my 66 days of not hitting the ground. That is great. I do have about 100,000 miles on the street with one dumb parking lot, loose gravel crash, but that does not compare with your record. NESBA should acknowledge your achievement. DJ are you reading this.

Ben.

 

[OskyATL]

Hey everyone thanks for the posts. I'll keep that in mind Judy(if you don't mind me calling you that). I'll definitely re-think some things before hoping on the track and take as much advice as I can from people and be taking it easy while I adjust and maybe I can reduce some more risks...Hey, that's what I'm here for right?

 

[beac83]

Another voice for using the resources available to learn. Keith's books and classes are good. I've been riding street for 35 years, have taken the ERC twice over the last 6 years, and been on the track for a season and a half. I took Code's Level I and II classes a couple of weeks ago, and it was a valuable learning experience. Wish I had done it long ago.

NESBA will teach you how to go fast, in control. It's up to the rider to listen, learn, and practice what we are taught.

Crashing sucks. It often ends the session for everyone, and often ends your day due to damage to your bike, you, or both. Learning comes faster when you are still within or very near your comfort zone, and not pushing it to the full limit.

So come on out, have fun and learn. Welcome to NESBA.

 

[Trent1098S]

It's probably not the right time, and I'm probably not in the right mindset to reply to this at the moment, because I'm usually really nice to the new guys. I'm not going to direct this personally at you, as I don't know you, and for all I know you're being lighthearted and joking around.

That being said... Let me offer a bit of advice.

Crashing at any speed sucks. Crashing at high speed sucks a lot worse.

YOU may not be afraid of coming off the bike - hell, I'm not afraid of coming off the bike. But I'm wise enough to know that when I come off the bike, I'm going to get hurt, and being hurt sucks. So I don't like coming off the bike, and I do everything I can to AVOID coming off the bike.

Even though I proved yesterday that even if you're careful, it can still happen. I got the bruised body and ego from my bike landing on me after flipping to prove it.

Anyway I'm going to end this debate, argument, whatever right now with one sentence. After I say this, I'm going to take some painkillers and go to bed. I suggest you read this a couple of times and ease in to things, and spend time learning instead of running around with your hair on fire.

A friend of mine broke his neck today on the track.

Go back and re-read that again. I want it to sink in.

I personally know several other people who have ended up in similarly bad shape after crashes. Track riding is addictively FUN, but you ABSOLUTELY MUST respect both the speed and the reprocussions of your actions - it's not just for your safety, but for those you may inadvertantly stuff, spook, bump, asspack, or hit while on the track.

I'm not going to discourage ANYONE from riding on the track - it's very enriching, makes you appreciate life more, and it is both satisfying and fulfulling to learn and progress in speed, skill, and smoothness.

But this ain't bumper-cars, people can and do get seriously injured. Your 400 lb motorcycle don't give two shits about how tough you think you are when it lands on top of you.

Again, I encourage you to come out and have fun, and I'm certainly not trying to freak you out, scare you off, or personally attack you. I'm ONLY trying to get the point across that the people I ride with, I consider friends, and I don't want to see any of my friends get hurt. Your now a NESBA member, so this includes you.

So please be safe. Speed will come with time, you don't have to rush things.

 

[OskyATL]

Thanks for the time in the post Trent. And I will take it slow no worries :cheers:

 

[Trent1098S]

Thanks man, I appreciate it. Sorry about coming off harsh, it's been kind of an unusually stressful weekend. Normally riding is my sole source of venting stress, but this weekend it was kind of the opposite... me crashing, wadding up my 1098S, friends crashing.

I hate the early season because people are rusty and in a hurry to go fast. (Me included).

Just please learn from our mistakes - as a collective whole, we've made them all, believe me. When you roll through the gate, check your ego, take a breath, relax, and ride within your comfort zone.

My biggest mistake this weekend was I came in thinking that after a couple dozen track days I knew it all, but it turns out that my ego was a bit too big for my bike to carry around this time.

Pride goeth before the fall.

You'll learn a lot from the other guys, especially the control riders. As a group they are very good teachers, but that instruction only goes so far if you go in cocky. Listen to what they say and practice each thing they tell you. Don't worry about getting passed (it'll happen a lot, no matter what group you're in), and whatever you do, do NOT think that you have anything to prove!

The best - and in fact THE ONLY WAY - you can prove that you're a good rider is to bring your bike home in one piece. It don't matter how fast you go, what group you are in, etc. If you bring your bike home shiney, you win. So don't stress over speed - don't even THINK about speed. Be as smooth and carry as consistent of a line as you can. The rest will come in time.

Have fun this year.

And welcome to the NESBA family.

 

[HondaGalToo]

OskyATL;120343 wrote: Hey everyone thanks for the posts. I'll keep that in mind Judy(if you don't mind me calling you that). I'll definitely re-think some things before hoping on the track and take as much advice as I can from people and be taking it easy while I adjust and maybe I can reduce some more risks...Hey, that's what I'm here for right?

Sure, call me Judy, that is my name, LOL!! Glad you'll rethink some things, we encourage safe learning here! It is all about risk management. Crashing happens sometimes, but I figure I'm not getting paid to do this, I'm not even club racing, so my attitude is different from perhaps what someone who races attitude is. So, I don't go all out. I don't ride at 10/10ths. My main goal is to have fun, hang out with all the great folks I've met, learn and continue improving, and to go home with my bike and body in the same condition as when I unloaded that morning.

Ben, 66 days and thousands upon thousands of street miles is nothin' to sneeze at either! :adore: I'm relatively new to NESBA, started riding with them around '06 or '07. Used to ride with Reduc, they aren't around anymore. Really glad I tried NESBA, I really like the club, it's rules, the level of attention to helping riders that the CRs display. Great club atmosphere. I've learned a lot in the couple of NESBA years, things I hadn't improved upon before, and that's due to NESBA's CRs.

 

[HondaGalToo]

Trent, great posts!!! Couldn't have said it better! Sorry you had a get-off, hope you feel better soon. Sorry about your friend, and hope for a full, speedy recovery.

 

[litespeed]

OskyATL;120243 wrote: Yo! Just signed up with NESBA hope to do my first track day in May at Road Atlanta. I'm bout to be 25 and am from Dalton, Ga.

opcorn:

Hey!! I teach at Dalton State College and will be at the Ellijay campus full time starting this summer. I will also be at RA in May. Stop by and say hi...either at RA or in Ellijay.

Lynda

 

[hank]

HondaGalToo;120369 wrote: Trent, great posts!!!

Crashing does suck - not only for the crasher, but everyone suffers when there is a loss of track time due to a red flag.

Dying would suck, but that whole drinking every meal through a straw and wearing adult diapers would be worse...

The OP is only 25... wait until you're twice that age and see how you feel (with and without Advil) and what the recovery time becomes....

Ride safe so you can ride again.