Those of you in the Novice group got to see me taking my son who just turned 15 2 weeks ago out on track. Alex has been riding dirt bikes for a few years and pretty much picks up things on a bike quick. I took him out last year on Dickies Ninja 250 at NC Bike but there were very few riders that day and we only did a few sessions. We thought he was going to be riding Jimmys SV650 but it turned out somone else was using that bike. Of course Jimmy says "Alex, take the R6" Dad says wooooah, wait a minute. No R6. Baby steps Alex, Baby steps. I could see his disappointment so I said ride it around the parking lot awhile (this was a stall tactic so Dad could wrap his brain around what was about to happen, lol). He went to find neutral and we realized it was set up for GP shift. Jimmy said "Leave it GP. Teach him right from the start." Way too much risk for me to process at one so I chickened out and flipped it back to standard. Unfortunately he looked completely comfortable riding around as I knew he would. I was out of excuses......time to put up or shut up.
I jumped on my R6 and we went out slow.......However by the second lap he was carrying some pace and looking more comfortable. He has (obviously) attended a lot of riders meetings, seen a ton of body position classroom sessions, and heard YCRS coaching over and over again. I didn't much worry about his body position as much as I wanted him to first get comfortable with the speed. We did the entire session and he had a blast. Next session was more of the same. After lunch, I forgot to flip the shift pattern and he comes riding over saying, "Dad......this is still GP but its fine" Dads eyes get really big here. Ok he says, It'll be fine he says....I can feel more gray hairs every second. Ok, let go. He once again did fine. He said I messed up once going into turn 1 but after that I was fine. Pfft, punk. So I told him to get off Jimmys bike and just use mine now that you can do GP shift. He and Robbie played the rest of the day.
I want to thank everyone for conducting themselves in Novice in such a way that I felt comfortable with my flesh and blood out there riding side by side with you. Everyone who came up on us gave us plenty of space and allowed my son to get comfortable. I can't tell you all how proud that makes me as a Director of this club to know we have the best members who really look out for each other. THANK YOU!
I jumped on my R6 and we went out slow.......However by the second lap he was carrying some pace and looking more comfortable. He has (obviously) attended a lot of riders meetings, seen a ton of body position classroom sessions, and heard YCRS coaching over and over again. I didn't much worry about his body position as much as I wanted him to first get comfortable with the speed. We did the entire session and he had a blast. Next session was more of the same. After lunch, I forgot to flip the shift pattern and he comes riding over saying, "Dad......this is still GP but its fine" Dads eyes get really big here. Ok he says, It'll be fine he says....I can feel more gray hairs every second. Ok, let go. He once again did fine. He said I messed up once going into turn 1 but after that I was fine. Pfft, punk. So I told him to get off Jimmys bike and just use mine now that you can do GP shift. He and Robbie played the rest of the day.
I want to thank everyone for conducting themselves in Novice in such a way that I felt comfortable with my flesh and blood out there riding side by side with you. Everyone who came up on us gave us plenty of space and allowed my son to get comfortable. I can't tell you all how proud that makes me as a Director of this club to know we have the best members who really look out for each other. THANK YOU!
getting Alex around the track and I did notice that his body position was very good! Its only a matter of time when you and Alex will be dicing it up in "A"! 
