John Anthony
06-14-2006, 09:14 PM
Just a plug for the Street Masters training program www.streetmasters.info/ . Margaret and I rode our ST's down from Seattle to the Willows Spring race track just outside of LA. The staff who put on the clinic couldn't have been more helpful, friendly, or professional. If you check out their web site and look at their core staff, they've got a pretty solid stable of folks to work with.
The instructor/student ratio is 1:4 and you get plenty of track time and helpful critiques. Instructors are out on the course at various points to help you spot the best line through the curves. For those of you who are expert riders, this is probably not the best use of your time (or $360). But if you're like Maggie and me and ride maybe 3-5K miles per year and have 3-5 years of riding experience, this could be just the ticket to take your riding to the next level. I've always been just a wee bit apprehensive of the twisties, not 100% sure of my capabilities or the ST's. After draggin' the pegs a few times and having one of the instructors who was riding a Wing laughing about how much fun he had keeping up with me, I had this sh#t eating grin that I wore for the rest of the day.
In addition to on track time, there was also time reserved for refresher training on a practice pad. All of what we covered was also covered in the basic MSF training program, but it was good to work on some of the fundamentals anyway.
Our graduation ride had two students out with one of the instructors for a half dozen laps and then a "hot wash" to debrief.
Participation in the program provides for discounted lodging at a very nice nearby hotel and the program staff provides a full bar and good food the night before class. All of the instructors are they and they stayed until the last person's questions were answered and we were all ready to bed down for the night. Class size is limited to 30 riders and these folks draw people from all over the US and Canada. We had one ride from Louisiana, another from Maine, and a third had just completed a 4 corners ride.
In six days, we racked up just about 3K miles on the trip down and back as well as the track riding time. Took some nice diversions to Highway 1 on the way back, but that's grist for another thread.
John
The instructor/student ratio is 1:4 and you get plenty of track time and helpful critiques. Instructors are out on the course at various points to help you spot the best line through the curves. For those of you who are expert riders, this is probably not the best use of your time (or $360). But if you're like Maggie and me and ride maybe 3-5K miles per year and have 3-5 years of riding experience, this could be just the ticket to take your riding to the next level. I've always been just a wee bit apprehensive of the twisties, not 100% sure of my capabilities or the ST's. After draggin' the pegs a few times and having one of the instructors who was riding a Wing laughing about how much fun he had keeping up with me, I had this sh#t eating grin that I wore for the rest of the day.
In addition to on track time, there was also time reserved for refresher training on a practice pad. All of what we covered was also covered in the basic MSF training program, but it was good to work on some of the fundamentals anyway.
Our graduation ride had two students out with one of the instructors for a half dozen laps and then a "hot wash" to debrief.
Participation in the program provides for discounted lodging at a very nice nearby hotel and the program staff provides a full bar and good food the night before class. All of the instructors are they and they stayed until the last person's questions were answered and we were all ready to bed down for the night. Class size is limited to 30 riders and these folks draw people from all over the US and Canada. We had one ride from Louisiana, another from Maine, and a third had just completed a 4 corners ride.
In six days, we racked up just about 3K miles on the trip down and back as well as the track riding time. Took some nice diversions to Highway 1 on the way back, but that's grist for another thread.
John