Ladies' Track Training Day 16 January 2010

If anyone knows of any ladies who may be interested, please let them know, as this may well be the last one for Ladies only.

Gents or Ladies this is for this SATURDAY open to any/ all LADIES, member or non member on a motorcycle.....BMW, Harley, KTM, Zogshen, Blowmoto, this is not exclusive to a brand ....must be roadworthy though!

It is safe and fun.....

But very, very likely the last Ladies only one.

650 twin with a really sweet sounding leo vinceGeoffEricaPink beastErica 2JohnMoreNeiloolala .... THE BIKE!!!!oolala ... with oomphEnd of main straightmore sex on wheels .. the damned BIKE!!!that oh, so lovely 650Can

t miss the yellowJohn 2Neil trying his best to scare the ladies... and againPink beast 2

The Ladies Track Training Day 2 went off very well, in spite of a number of hitches: the last date been rained out, limited options for this one, a number of ladies having to cancel, sadly the lady who would have sold food and drinks  had a relative pass away and suddenly had to cancel, Saturday morning whilst changing to road tyres found I needed new back brake pads, Warwick away and the number of ladies fluctuating almost hourly on Friday night.

So on Saturday at about 12h30 Dave and Max started scrutineering the bikes  and Jane doing the paperwork: indemnities etc. I only arrived about 12h50 to fill-in my indemnity etc., then check a few bikes and appropriately sticker them....Pink for fast/ more experienced and Green for slower /less experienced!! This was Jane's colour decision.

At about 13h15 Max commenced the briefing and lecture with a total of 15 ladies riding for the day...some only having  started 6 months ago.

At +-14h10 we all went out, instructor and x3 ladies, instr. and x3 ladies..... orientation laps....

Then Pink group out then Green, later all out together.

It was a delight and a pleasure to be involved, and see how well they rode, how willing and interested they all were and how they delighted in each others improvement.

John Carr and I took some of the ladies pillion, I took 4 or 5?, as Geoff needed some slower riding practice,!!

And at 16h10 that was it ...

Huge thanks to Killarney for the reduced rate as this would have not have been able to take place otherwise' and all the volunteers: Jane, Max, Dave Higgs, John Carr, Geoff Russell and as our medics, Kim and Brendan whom PeterO organised... the ambulance was my Vito van... back-board in the back on a chip- foam mat,and to Rhian for her creative efforts at trying to find more ladies!

Unfortunately Nelle's camera packed up halfway through so she hopes she snapped everyone (I really hope it is a small problem) See her site www.visage-effect.net... they should be up in the next day or two.

The best for me was to see no-one felt intimidated by the track and all stayed to the end, and departed happy.

Sorry I took no pics, was busy!

Thank you to all involved that made the day possible.  

I had a blast - despite that fact that Neil scared the living daylights out of me when he took me around the track!    

I can't wait to go back and conquer that horrible first corner

brilliant idea!

Jane, all the Ladies, Instructors, Minders, Marshals & Medics,

Another great day of "on road" training/practice for all the Lady riders that attended.

Jane you must be sincerely complimented for putting these training days together. I know only to well the time, effort and hassle that is involved in putting this entire event together.

For the participants it is a doddle, sign up, arrive, pay, listen, ride.

For you it is to many things to mention.

Keep up the fantastic effort Jane it is sincerely appreciated by one and all and I am sure lots of the ladies  would look forward to another training day in the not to distant future.

Geoff

Jane,

I was very impressed with your organisational capabilities on Saturday. As an innocent bystander(!) I took in the fact that you had ice-cold beverages available and handled the admin, which is a huge task, without appearing flustered or ruffled. Well done!

It looked like everyone enjoyed themselves, including the instructors, which is a good sign of a well run track-day. Nelle's camera repair came to R 1 500.00, and learning from the experience, she has now gone into total debt by buying another camera body so that she always has a back-up available. The photo's are being uploaded onto her website today, and I believe they are worth a look even though there are not as many as there should be.

The pictures of the day taken by Nelle are up on her site...www.visage-effect.net

 Go to the gallery ... Ladies training..

“You should perhaps think about attending those memory-training classes,” my husband commented last Saturday evening. “You’ve already told me FIVE times how much you enjoyed today’s training day.”

Hah.

Saturday’s training day on Killarney was my third. Neil must have been in a really kind mood as he put me into the faster group – and I then surprised the heck out of myself by not being dropped by all and sundry at the first turn ;-)

IMO, the smaller groups worked really well. You had more of the track to yourself, and the instructors could pretty much keep an eye on every rider, the nice thing being that you learn different things from different instructors.

So, what did I learn this time?

“Trust your tyres!” Neil said to me. Hmmm.  A few laps later I went into Turn 1 a bit hot and the track seemed to disappear at an alarming rate. Experienced riders would probably have detected a bit of desperation in my riding style at the time – but – Neil was right…! Thanks Neil.

Max emphasized the importance of riding smoothly into and out of turns, and looking (only) at the exit point. I concentrated very hard on this and think I improved, although there may have been a chameleon moment or two ;-)

Dave told me to try leaning forward a little when entering a turn, and suddenly my cornering became smoother, I could lean the bike more and was even faster! Thanks Dave!

We practiced counter-steering and riding around the track using one hand only, steered the bike by pushing/pulling on the handlebars, tried different entry and exit lines into corners, experimented with the gears, and more.

As many have said before – the pleasure of a training day on the track is that you can practice all these things without having to worry about other (especially oncoming) traffic, and being able to do the same turn a few times means you eventually get a feel for it and can start playing with speed/braking – something which is difficult to do on the open road. And if you want, you can even go faster than the speed limit ;-)

Jane – a huge ‘Thank you’; not everyone realises how much effort and time goes into organizing an event. May there be many more training days!

Bella thanks for posting, I really enjoyed myself. I feel a bit like a reformed smoker when I preach about the virtues of the track, but it is the best and safest place to train for tar riding. There is much emphasis and support for dirt and lots of opportunity, place wise,  but very little for tar...with even less use being made of the few opportunities which do come our way.

Tar and dirt riding complement one another, they are not in opposition, ask Rossi or Stoner or

What I really would like to see is "A day at the track", not these" 2hr squeeze as much in as this is all we have", these have and do help enormously, but very little 'people time' and a bit tight for 'question > answer and go try' time.

With enough people, so that there are a number of groups, from 'recently started riding' groups, pillion sessions, various experience level groups, and then, time for lectures, social time  and enough time for different sessions to practice different exercises, some will spend a lot of time out others less , but still excellent fun!

As we had  the 'All the Passes' ride..... fully subscribed, an...'All the corners at Killarney'  Day!!

Here's to hoping!

Thats a great idea.

I'd be willing to get up at 6 am for that...
well possibly 7....

OK. OK.. 8

I'll definitely get up at 8:30 for that.

Would be awesome to spend time with instructors on the track, discussing the different corners. A very hands on kind of approach like those adopted at the off-road training days. 

Seriously, I'd be up at 9 for something like that.

Cloud, fist the bad news you may have to get up by 7.30... brushed teeth  combed hair is a pre-requisite!

The good news...well let's see..........

The good news is he'll have to extend the party the night before & stay awake, then won't have to worry about getting up so early.

We would expect to see him in the pink of health, and not yellow about the gills!

Cloud, it'll be worth the effort.

To be very honest, as a first timer, I found the track very intimidating. Cornering is not my strong point and there were moments (especially on the first corner) where I would have happily got off the bike and pushed it around the corner!!  So many corners, so little straights!!

Anyway after the 2nd or 3rd time round, my nerves settled a bit and I could concentrate more on the counter steering playing with gears/brakes and timing.  I had loads of fun and left feeling tired but a tad more confident.

I must admit that I it would have been great if we could have the track for more than 2/3 hours - For the first 45 minutes or so, I was so tense and nervous that going round the track was painful.  By the time my nerves settled and my confidence levels picked up, it was time to go!  The instructors gave us valuable advice, pointers and feedback and I'm sure that, had they more time available, they would have been able to spent a bit more one-on-one time with us.  Another suggestion is that the instructors arrange for a pillion ride at the start of the training and not the end. 

Wouldnt it be great if the club could organise the track for a whole day? Everybody could get the opportunity to ride in their comfort groups and the ones that are not interested, can socialise with the rest (and supply us with refreshments between laps)

All in all - a big thank you to Jane and everybody else who offered up their precious time to make it such an awesome day!

I have done a track day with the club - and there was a bit of instruction involved - and i did benefit from it.

But having a 15 min lecture followed by a few laps around the track is not quite the same as making a day of it.

For example there was no one instructing me, or watching how well i did in the corners.

I think what Neil is getting at is not so much a 'track day' but more a cornering day. Learning how to take corners, and having it be more of a hands-on type instructional affair.

I certainly like the Track DAY idea as opposed to the current format of a few hours.  The offroad training takes the form of a whole day and everyone leaves feeling so much more confident, even if they've done the course before, yet we all spend more time on the road and don't give tar training the same attention.

If we had a whole day we could structure the training and observe the riders and give personal feedback far more effectively.

That's not to say what we're doing now isn't useful, it's excellent, but I think it would be even better value and fun if we had a structured day at our disposal.