foxtrapper
foxtrapper UltimaDork
8/4/16 6:32 a.m.

Me, on the Road King, on the New York Safety Track.

This is the course.

Cornering Skills

I highly recommend this class to anyone wanting to learn to ride faster and harder, without the drama speed of a true track day.

In a nut shell, it's a small class of less than 25 students, broken into two groups. You ride the track single file with on passing except on the straight aways. Makes for calmness and serenity, so you can focus on your own riding.

Each group is brought in from the track for a small ~15 minute lesson on something, then back out onto the track to work on that particular skill set. About every 45 minutes you're flagged in for a new small lesson. So basically, you're on the track, riding as hard and as fast as you are comfortable with. Since the class is small, there really is quite a bit of room between riders. So you can indeed corner about as hard and as fast as you wish.

On the track itself are riding coaches. They have the nifty safety green belts and harnesses so you can identify them. Their job is to follow you for a bit, then pass you in a straight away and get in front so you can observe them. They will demonstrate what they see you needing to work on. Then did a great job of making it clear through exaggeration what they wanted you to do. They would also talk to you during a pit stop. For me, the big thing was to move my body enough on the bike. It felt like I was hanging off like a monkey, but as the pictures clearly show, I wasn't movign all that much. That said, most of these pictures seem to have been taken early on in the day. I was moving over a lot better later on. At least that's what they said.

There was some drama, namely two crashes. I wasn't one of them! A BMW rider lost it in the deceptively tricky turn 3&4 and went tumbling. A coach got to horsing around in the wet afternoon and low sided in turn 12 (think it was 12). Both bikes were out, and the BMW rider suffered a little rash, but no real injuries.

I did not embarrass myself. Never went off course or off track, never crashed. Nor did I apparently do anything stupid and cause others any serious problems. Happily, I was not the slowest person on the track either. By no means was I the fastest either.

I got what I wanted. More practice and a lot more comfort at throwing that bike far harder into turns far faster than I'd been doing. Nope, never masters drifting it, never slid anywhere. Only threw sparks once that I know of. But I think I'm a lot more comfortable at pushing harder in fast turns than I've ever been.

All in all, a very worthwhile class, and one I'd recommend to anyone looking to ride better at higher speeds. By no means is this a Motorcycle Safety Foundation course. Though interestingly, I did get a discount from my insurance for having completed the course. Huckleberry, thank you very much for turning me onto this course.

Ian F
Ian F MegaDork
8/4/16 7:40 a.m.

Definitely sounds worth while. Were you the only one there on a Hog?

foxtrapper
foxtrapper UltimaDork
8/4/16 7:53 a.m.

Yep, I was the first and only Harley, so far.

This is not a class full of teenagers on CBRs. There were a bunch of Moto Guzzi's, several Ducati's, old BMW air heads, my Road King, a Goldwing, and a smattering of other things. The Goldwing was seriously fast.

Let me see if I can get this linked correctly.

https://youtu.be/m_cRAkCTTzk

Fast Goldwing

T.J.
T.J. UltimaDork
8/4/16 9:01 a.m.

In reply to foxtrapper:

Did the Goldwing guy run with a trailer? Looks like his camera was maybe mounted to a trailer since it is behind the bike and doesn't lean with the bike.

minimac
minimac SuperDork
8/4/16 9:12 a.m.

Looks like it was great learning experience for you, no matter what you ride. While there's quite a bit of difference between cornering on the street and on a maintained course, the principles are easily applied. The biggest thing I took away was the need to focus further ahead of me than I was. Thanks for sharing. I hope more riders will take advantage of this!

RealMiniParker
RealMiniParker UberDork
8/4/16 9:15 a.m.

In reply to T.J.:

Could be something like this with one of those new gyro-stabilized cameras.

Huckleberry
Huckleberry MegaDork
8/4/16 9:29 a.m.

Nice pics!

And yeah - I think the photographer takes all his pics on day 1 in the AM... I had my arse out of the seat and a knee on the ground on day 2 but there aren't any shots of that.

I did this last year and can concur with the fox's review. We only had one group then - but everything else was the same. I also took an inappropriate tool for the track and had a blast. Not as fish out of water as a road king mind you , but still pretty far from the ideal bike for this. Dual sport tires, off-road suit and all. I even did a few laps with luggage on to see how it changed the feel of the bike. I had a great, fun time where I got to practice things only an idiot (guilty) tries on a public road.

foxtrapper
foxtrapper UltimaDork
8/4/16 9:38 a.m.
T.J. wrote: In reply to foxtrapper: Did the Goldwing guy run with a trailer? Looks like his camera was maybe mounted to a trailer since it is behind the bike and doesn't lean with the bike.

Yes, it was tripod mounted on a trailer. It was a good choice as he wanted to be able to see the whole package. His bike, himself and his head.

It was hillarious to watch the trailer bobbing and dancing along behind him, like it was in mortal terror. You could hear the screams and bleeps of R2D2 as he went ripping around. The only reason the trailer didn't flip was because the hitch tongue would hit the edges of the hitch or ball and lock. So the trailer would be up on one wheel in the turns, but no further. Not sure what that felt like to him on the bike.

Picture of said rig:

Dr. Hess
Dr. Hess MegaDork
8/4/16 9:49 a.m.

Looks like fun.

I have a swivel hitch for my trailer. It pivots L/R so the trailer doesn't put any strain on the bike.

Flight Service
Flight Service MegaDork
8/4/16 9:58 a.m.

Yeah GoldWings can seriously move a lot faster and turn a lot better than the scales and appearance would suggest.

Glad you enjoyed the course.

Huckleberry
Huckleberry MegaDork
8/4/16 10:02 a.m.
foxtrapper wrote: Yes, it was tripod mounted on a trailer. It was a good choice as he wanted to be able to see the whole package. His bike, himself and his head. It was hillarious to watch the trailer bobbing and dancing along behind him, like it was in mortal terror. You could hear the screams and bleeps of R2D2 as he went ripping around. The only reason the trailer didn't flip was because the hitch tongue would hit the edges of the hitch or ball and lock. So the trailer would be up on one wheel in the turns, but no further. Not sure what that felt like to him on the bike. Picture of said rig:

That is a flat out ridiculous thing to take out on a racetrack and hoon around. Irresponsible and dangerous even. That guy rules.

T.J.
T.J. UltimaDork
8/4/16 10:03 a.m.

In reply to foxtrapper:

Interesting. I imagine some of the folks were a bit surprised when he passed them with that rig.

Sounds like a great course and something that every rider should attend. The skills learned could save your life someday.

foxtrapper
foxtrapper UltimaDork
8/4/16 1:08 p.m.
T.J. wrote: In reply to foxtrapper: Interesting. I imagine some of the folks were a bit surprised when he passed them with that rig.

You mean like me? You can watch me get passed at 4:00-4:26 on that video. But, since it was pass only in the straights, we'd all gotten used to being passed by faster bikes and were looking out for them as we'd come into the straights. It was really very calm and orderly. Slower bike to the right, faster bikes passing on the left.

He didn't come out onto the track with the trailer early on. This wasn't until the afternoon, or maybe late morning. He'd already shown himself to be a fast rider, so we were all used to seeing a blue blur on our left.

But, when he blew past me with that trailer dancing and rocking, it cracked me up. Funniest piece of humble pie I've been served in a long time. I was thinking I was hustling along pretty nicely when he zoomed by. I sped up and hung with him for a few turns, but then let go.


Something I didn't mention about this course that I should. By about the 10th lap many of us were pushing it hard. I know I was. I was very close to the limit on my lines several times and was bunny nosing quite a bit. Without any admonishment, it was suggested that we focus on the particular lesson and not so much on imagined lap times. Work on riding well and the speed will follow. The class was made up of mature riders and it clicked. We all slowed down and chilled. Sure, we're still going fast, and of course there were faster riders. But there was a lot more focusing on the specific lessons and things that needed improvement.

markwemple
markwemple SuperDork
8/7/16 10:19 p.m.

Gotta love a motorcycle company that in 2016 makes a bike with a worse power to weight ratio than my 1958 bugeye.

markwemple
markwemple SuperDork
8/7/16 10:19 p.m.

And isn't as reliable

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