Texas Tornado Bootcamp

[tsorfas]

Speaking of WVRC closing... Unity Raceway in Maine has been converted back to dirt. Mostly running cars but they have had bikes there as a test, there's a chance they may do regular bike days next year.

When did WVRC close? And why?

[TheIglu]

That shit still hurts. A little more of this should take care of it...
Attachment 58667

"YOU BOYS LIKE ME-HE-CO???? WOOOOO!"

[JettaJayGLS]

Wow - looks like a damn blast. Miss you guys.

I saw Henry on the top of the charts in day 1. Did he hold onto it? Is he a crazy ripper now?

[OreoGaborio]

When did WVRC close? And why?

Last year I think... Or maybe early this year?

And because $

I was so bummed. My brother was going to rent the place out and surprise my nephew on his birthday.

Wow - looks like a damn blast. Miss you guys.

I saw Henry on the top of the charts in day 1. Did he hold onto it? Is he a crazy ripper now?

We miss you too, man! Woulda been awesome to have you with us.

Henry did really well. He was SUPER fast and took 1st place in the Day 1 Superpole, but also going a bit too beyond the limit and constantly having to recover... Colin made the hilarious comment that he looked like he was riding around having an epileptic seizure because of his constant big slide recovery corrections.

For Superpole day 2 he finished 4th but hurt his wrist that evening so he opted to take a rest day on day 3... but Day 4 he was back in form (and smoother this time) and took 2nd place in the final day's Superpole. He made great progression. It'll be fun watching him and his riding mature.

[tsorfas]

Last time I saw Henry he was riding bicycles. Jesus

[OreoGaborio]

So here are a few of my own reflections on the TTBC (beyond the superficial "holy shit! That was fun as balls!!!")

First off: Chris Sumner mighta walked away with the "Most Improved" award (and deservingly so!!!), but coming up with a winner for that award had to have been supremely difficult for the TTBC team. I'm pretty sure in the end they just went with Superpole 1 vs Superpole 4 times which makes total sense, but when I look down the names on the Superpole time sheets I really can't pick out any one person that DIDN'T make massive improvements... including those who have been there before, but ESPECIALLY those who were first timers. Seriously, they could've gone down the entire list of riders and any one of us could have been rightfully chosen for this one.

Now obviously I'm biased but I'm especially amazed at how Sylwia improved (Hopefully she won't mind me saying this but I doubt she'll see this anyway...) She felt pretty out-of-place coming into the trip having had the least amount of experience in this type of intimidating environment "against" so many TTD instructors and track day regulars. She almost didn't come, but I'm really glad she did and so is she. It was a supremely welcoming, supportive and friendly, but also COMPETITIVE environment and I'm super proud of how well she did and the strides she made. In four short days her riding TRANSFORMED! She'll always be her toughest critic but hopefully one day she'll fully realize how much progress she made. She's really built a solid foundation of skills on which she can build from. Hopefully she & I get back on two wheels again soon so she can keep everything that she learned nice & fresh.



Here's a short list (in no particular order) of what I learned and worked on the most and where I had the biggest "lightbulb" moments. They all sound so OBVIOUS, but four days of really working on them really drove home the point of each one. And much like the difference between "Knowledge" and "Knowing", hopefully this experience helped turned some of them from, I guess you could call it "reactionary skill" to "effortless instinct".

- MANIPULATING THE CG. Moving my weight forward and back & side to side, pushing the bike DOWN underneath me and weighting the outside peg, etc. helped a ton. The drills that really drove this home were "hand on the gas tank" and "FEET UP". Those were fun but suuuuuuuuuper tough, but holy cow did it drive the point home and emphasize its importance. That was awesome.

- THROTTLE. Feeling that rear wheel, understanding what it needs from your right hand and using the right combination of both gross and super fine adjustments to get the most out of the power. Think the drill that drove this one home was the "back it in allll the way until you slide it out" drill or whatever that was called It was tough and definitely one that I struggled to get consistent with.

- REAR BRAKE (even when applying the throttle) As a pavement junkie I was waaayyyy out of practice using the rear brake and it showed. I spent SIGNIFICANTLY more time working that right foot and it really made a big difference, not just on corner entry, but also in the middle and on the exit. It was a pretty noticeable sensation when I didn't use it effectively versus when I did.

And when I put all of those together well:

-SLIDE CONTROL! Not much to say here, but when I really payed attention to the three things above, I really found that I could get nice & close to the limits of traction without overstepping them.

When I looked at how some of the more experienced dirt guys were riding around & sliding so smoothly (Like Paul, Tommy, Rob, Kris & others) I was really impressed. And with their ability to slide the bike a lot more consistently & smoothly than I could, I really felt like I wasn't near their level... but riding bar to bar with those guys proved that I was a lot closer than I thought. It was (and always has been) an absolute pleasure and I was super pumped that I was able to put the lessons into practice & hang with em as well as I did.


Honestly, there's a lot more I could add but I can only bore you guys so much so I'll leave it at that. But hanging out with Colin Edwards was pretty friggin rad.


Definitely hope we can make this trip happen again!