AJ is a great American and a super coach. He's an asset to both YCRS and N2.
Glad to hear you've made the commitment to invest in yourself.
I've attended Champ School twice and will be attending a Champ Grad Day in the Spring.
The first Champ School I learned how many bad habits I had.
The second Champ School I made a commitment and really set my eyes on following the path to proficiency and I continue to develop every time I get on the track.
I'll offer a couple of things I learned along the way.
1) Watch ChampU several times through to get familiar with all the topics. This will minimize the amount of new information your brain is trying to absorb when you're in the school. This will be a big advantage.
2) Take lots of notes during your two days. This will pay dividends later as a very useful reference "book". The more complex an activity is, the higher the likelihood that relying on memory will fail. Good notes will make up for bad memory.
3) Stay on top of hydration. Weather, cold or hot, amplifies fatigue. You won't be watching a golf game. You will be in leathers all day, in the classroom, on the bike, back in the classroom, back on the bike, on the tarmac watching a demo....you get the picture. Stay hydrated to keep yourself mentally and physically alert.
Below are some longer perspective notes you can read tomorrow when work sucks and you want to read something about motorcycles.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT #1: Although the course is two days, you will continue to learn long after the course is over. You will learn principles, methods and techniques that together form the blueprint to follow as you build yourself into a proficient rider. Take lots of notes. Your "return on investment" will come in the days, weeks, months and years after the course as you apply the skills on the street or track and the light bulb suddenly goes on. One rider at a Champ School shared that he had been operating a motorcycle for 34 years but finally learned how to ride it in two days at a Champ School. Imagine if he had made the investment in himself earlier in life. Congratulate yourself for signing up now and not 34 years too late!
CHAMP SCHOOL TRAINING APPROACH VERSUS OTHER APPROACHES: Champ School will break down the riders into experience groups and provide tailored coaching for each group (3-4 riders) and each individual. If you’re new to track riding, you will learn with others that are new to track riding. If you have multiple seasons on tracks, you will learn with others who also have track experience. In contrast, other schools will throw all riders of varying experience levels into the same group and force everyone through the same exact sequence of courses over multiple weeks. Champ School does NOT do this because it burdens both the new student riders and experienced student riders by grouping them together. Each rider has legitimate learning needs but shouldn't be grouped together making it difficult to focus on one's particular training needs. Case in point: Earlier this season at a track day, a stranger commented to me how he was very frustrated to have paid for an expensive school (it was NOT YCRS) only to get lumped in with guys who had a lot more experience. The experienced riders were constantly buzzing the newer riders on the track in the course everyone was obligated to go through to follow the program. Needless to say, he was very disappointed in an expensive yet unproductive and uncomfortable learning experience. He was still hungry for high quality training and was encouraged when I shared with him the Champ School approach.
CHAMP SCHOOL COACHES: Champ School's coaches are simply top notch. Almost every one of them is a current racer in MotoAmerica and the West East Race Association Endurance Series or a team manager/crew member and not only wins individual races but the entire season. However, they are hand selected because they are humble and totally focused on building up your skills and confidence. They do not spend YOUR time bragging about THEIR race accomplishments. They spend their time training you on the same principles they use to win those races but at the pace you need to grasp things. This is a direct result of Nick Ienatsch's leadership in YCRS.
RETURN ON INVESTMENT #2: The cost of the course includes something that isn’t really advertised. You are "buying into” a network of reliable and safe riders. Whether you only ride a couple of times at the same track each year or you're as badly addicted to track days as a junkie living under a bridge and sharing needles, you will be joining a network of riders who take pride in their Champ School training. It's magical to meet up with instant track buddies from all over who speak the same language as you AND the top racers in the country. You don’t have to race or ride a Yamaha to benefit from the incredible network of riders that Yamaha and YCRS have built. The fantastic bonus is that N2 and YCRS share a lot of DNA so you're get a two for one membership to a network of great riders.
HOW MUCH WILL I GET TO RIDE?: Nobody ever complains they didn’t get enough riding at a Champ School. Most everybody is pretty tired at the end of Day Two. You will get your money’s worth.
Sorry to be long winded but I'm all in on YCRS and try not to miss an opportunity to share with folks my observations.
