A sport-touring track day on my ST1100 - WOW! (long) [Archive]

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Clair

07-10-2006, 02:47 PM

Sorry, no pics, I was riding all day ... ;-)

So, this past Sunday I had a track day on the new Miller Motorsports track here in Utah. Now, mind you, I don't own a sport bike, I own a Sport Tourer. NOT the kind of thing you expect to see at a race track nor would you think the tracks would have a class for. But the guys from UtahRiderEd.Com (our MSF folks), the guys from CanyonChasers.Net wanted to put a class together for the Sport Touring riders out there. A class that would give us the benefits of a track day for improving our riding. Let's see, from the web site ...

Why take the Sport Touring Advanced Rider Training? (ST-ART)

Do you sometimes enter corners too fast?
Do you find yourself making mid-corner corrections?
Do you find yourself dragging parts of your bike?
Do you sometimes feel like you are riding on the edge of your abilities?
Do you wish you had more confidence in the canyons?

Then this course will be perfect for you!

Rather than spend time teaching riders how to navigate a specific track, this course has been designed to help teach riders how to read any road, how to set your entry speed, how to find safer lines through corners you've never seen before and how to more safely navigate your favorite canyon road. By teaching in a controlled environment at faster speeds than an Experienced Rider Course, the training will offer a more intense, real-world experience. Even if you've never been on a track before, this program is designed to be un-intimidating, safe and fun! Speeds limits are set for each session and objectives are clearly defined. Learning how to be smooth is given more attention than learning how to be fast.

The best part is, it's a course for Sport Touring bikes, any bike really, ST, AT, cruiser, even sport bikes. Just NOT a race day. I don't care to learn how to race, don't care to learn how to go warp speeds, don't really wanna touch my knee down. I wanted to learn how to improve my skills, and this course would be it. I would know some of the instructors which would be good. Dale does the MSF and has taught the ERC classes I've taken. Dave runs the Canyonchasers thing and we've emailed a lot. Never met tho.

Anyway ... the track is about an hour west of where I live, so I'm up at 6:30 and out the door at 7:00 for the slab ride to Tooele Utah (pronounced for some reason as Two-Ella). The ride there is basically boring flats interstate, so 80mph all the way (SL is 75mph). I find the track with no problem but then ... really have no idea what to do. There was no info sent as to how to get in, where to go, and so on. But, I manage to find my way in, get my wrist band, and find the ST-ART group. We get settled in, meet everyone, and I finally get to meet Dave. Great guy, he helped me decide to get my ST1100. Ultimately we would have 9 students and 7 instructors. Now is that great odds or what? Damn near one on one with an instructor all day! Kewl collection of bikes too. Let's see if I can remember them ... ST1100 (mine), ST1300, two K1200LT's, K1200GT, FJR, two FZ1's, and one more I can't remember. Everyone had years of riding experience, I was probably the most novice with 4 years. Some guys had lots of dirt time, some had time in their youth and had within the last year or two returned.

Here's the track ... We rode on the East track (in red), while racing was going on on the West track.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/clairh/miller_track01.jpg

Here's a better view of the track, right side up, as we looked at it. We rode counter clockwise.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v497/clairh/miller_track02.jpg
We enter on the right side of the red straight away and exit on the left side of the straightaway.

The format for the day would be 30 minute class/discussion and 30 minutes on the track. So we basically rode at 9:30, 10:30. 11:30 ... up to 4:30 in the afternoon. We were alternating times with other sport bike riders, so when we were off the track they would be on racing each other informally. The looks we got from the sport bike riders was hilarious ... first off, we had LIGHTS and BRAKES! Second ... we had some LARGE bikes! Like, you mean, you folks are gonna ride them on the track??? Damn right we are. Now, you might not think that 30 minute sessions is a lot but let me tell you, it's a workout! We were glad for the breaks and a chance to refresh and drink up. Temps low 90's with humidity around 10%. We had to be very careful on the track tho since many of our bikes were liquid cooled ... they had promised the track none of us would go down or lean antifreeze on the track. We had no mishaps.

First class started out with the intros and goals, then discussion of the class and track and the format. The first ride session was basically just to familiarize ourselves with the track, get a feel for the turns, climbs, descents and so on. A track is a wide road, probably more than two highway lanes wide. So, they had gone out earlier and with chalk marked a "lane" for us on the right side. This would be our "lane" that we had to try to stay in. Crossing the chalk was akin to crossing the double yellow. I was paired up with Dave as my Instructor and the FJR rider. We were also the first onto the track, with everyone following us.

Continuing ...

Clair

07-10-2006, 02:48 PM

Oh goodie .. I'm expecting myself to be the most junior rider in the group, the slowest too. I'm not there for speed, I'm there for better lines, smoother cornering and transitions ... and I'm the #2 rider on the track. Oh goodie. LOL Oh well, I'm riding my own ride so ... off we go, following Dave. First lap is around 40-ish mph getting a feel. Note the map, we're doing the red course. LOTS of left turns which is great because I'm SUCKING at left's these days. The course isn't flat either, slight downs and up. Note the top right side of the red track, that little squiggle .. the entrance to that is uphill with a left turn you can't see, followed by an immediate right downhill turn into another left. They said this is the section most of the racers go off the track. Anyway, around we go, getting familiar, Dave watching me and the FJR, getting a feel for us, how we ride, our lines (which for me SUCKED going left, fine going right). Then we're done and back to our staging area. Thankfully the classroom was AC'd.

Good debriefing with Dave giving me good pointers, what he's noticing ... like my line in left turns basically sucks. LOL We joke as Dale's group seems to shy away from the inside yellow line where my group seems attacked to it. Me and the FJR were hugging the left yellow line for both right and left turns. LOL Anyway, now we start getting various pointers in the class. The new lines we want to aim to talk, the late apexing. Speed gets bumped up ... now we'll be doing 50 or so around the track, faster in the straightaway to work on good smooth braking prior to entering the turns. We down a gatorade and it's back to the track.

For this session, we'll alternate who leads each group. So, first lap is Dave showing us proper lines through everything. Then, on the bottom straightaway I'll flipflop and take the lead with Dave following watching me. Next lap, I slide to the rear and the FJR takes the front. We do this for the next half our, working the turns, breaking, trying to flow. Dave pulls us over at one point, the pit area basically, and tells to stop being so scared of the outside edge on left turns, to really try to stick like glue to the edge, more head turn. Then we're back out. It's pretty obvious I'm the slower rider here. I maintain my pace when I'm leading, but when the FJR is leading he and Dave pull away from me pretty easily. No biggie, I'm doing my ride. These turns are fun, but difficult too. They have all the turns we see ... continuous, increasing, decreasing, blind. You need to work them, keep the eyes way out there, turn that damn head.

Back off track ... laughing at the Sport bikes wondering why the hell touring bikes are on the track ... and another debriefing and class. More pointers from Dave, where I'm proving, where I've got more to do. Use that outside knee ... if making a left turn, use the right knee to push into the tank. Shift the weight, move to the outside ... new body postures for riding the turns. Not racing postures, no leaning way off, no dragging body parts, but those subtle changes we can do as tourers to help us more properly and more easily do the curves. The K1200LT guys are amazed, it's like new bikes to them. If you dont know what a K1200LT is, it's basically BMW's version of the Goldwing. Big, heavy bikes, stereo, espresso maker, microwave, sattalite dish, you name it, they've got it. BIG gikes and these guys had HUGE grins on. They were learning things about their bike they never knew, how it would lean, how much it could lean, and so on. Just these little hints, weight shift, pressing with the knee, and these guys were now upping their speeds greatly in the turns.

Next session more working with Dave as we flip flow. Really working the lines, really pressuring myself to not be afraid of that outside edge on the lefts. Working on smooth throttle control, good ehad movement, smooth flow from one corner into the next. About half way through it, Dave and the FJR lose me (told you i was slow) but that's ok. I now have plenty to work on, plenty to keep me occupied this session. I'm feeling better with the entrances now, feeling better looking far away in the curve, not at the road. It's SO nice to not have to worry about oncoming traffic, deer, debris on the road, and so on! I'm leaning the bike too, really feeling how it goes over, how far it CAN go over. The prior session Dave told me I came close to touching a peg ... so that gave me an idea, I knew how I was leaning that session. Man, my ST can go WAY over before the peg nears anything. Good, that's nice to know and now I'm learning to be more confident being over at that angle for a length of time. If you leek at the map again, on the left side the long straightaway coming from the top, that enters a tight left down hill into a banked long right followed immediately by a banked long left turn. Really a good chance to learn all the things we need for left and right turns. Man this is FRIGGIN FUN!

Lunchtime ... get to eat, relax, and they give us a tour of the Miller Sports Motorsport Park. We got to go places most of us normal (ie not rich) folk cant get too. Food good, gatorade good, bathrooms REALLY good. LOL

Afternoon session ... we'll have four riding sessions this time. The track is now open to us, no longer having to stay in our "lane". We work now on learing to choose good lines through the turns, smooth lines. In particular, if you look at the upper right red track, there are two left turns, kinda a U shape ... we're now gonna make that be just one nice smooth left arc. Speeds are up now too and passing can occur in the two long straightaways. It's also more free form now, we all ride with the instructors bebopping about. So, suddently an instructor may pass you and tap is butt/tail to tell you to "follow my line" to get a better idea. Sometimes they'd come by and move their chin ... "move your head more" ... this is where the groups really seperated. I basically fell into the Slow group, me and the two FZ1's. I was actualy faster than them and eventually passed them. Alone on the course helps ... I had to pick my own lines not just follow the leader, ya know?

By this time the two K1200LT's are FLYING! Don't let anyone tell you big bikes can't fly! I tried staying with them for a whiel but bagged that! LOL Anyway, for me, it was continueing to work on what I needed ... smooth transitions, smooth lines, good head turns, trusting the lean. Dave taught me what with my ST, I can slide my knees forward in a turn, a slight body adjustment that is great! SO, in an upcoming left turn, I move my left knee forward till it touches the fairing, shift my weight a little left, use some right knee pressure, and smooth my way through the turn. Doing this I'm able to keep the bike more upright and use more speed through the turn, Definately takes some getting used to, but once I got it I was loving it!

One really cool observation as the day progressed was seeing the other riders on the course. Now, don't forget that on the West track we had a race going on. Lots of bikes screaming around the corners. Very fun to see and watch. And then, on our track, with us "slow" touring bikes ... I'd be doing a right hand turn and see a group of 4 or 5 of us making a left sweep ... they looked like RACERS! it was so cool to see them, in line, flying around. WAY COOL!! You don't have to be in a hot sport bike flying around the course to look damn good!

more to come, stay tuned ...

Clair

07-10-2006, 02:49 PM

The afternoon session is looser. We still do our 30 on and 30 off, but now it's more one on one. Each instructor coming up to me and telling me what theyre seeing. I'm progressing well I'm told. my lines are MUCH improved. In fact, I'm now doing left turns far better than my right ones! Great, I've flip flopped! LOL Each time on the track I just keep working on what I need to do ... smooth transitions, good throttle work, trying to let go of that fear of looking far away in the corner. The Natural tendency is to look at the road, where you're going, but you really need to look way over that shoulder and let the bike worry about the road. The track is well setup for that and I'm having a blast. Also once I'm on the track I am in 3rd gear through out. from 35 to 75 mph on the track, I'm in 3rd gear. A real good time to learn the feel of the ST through different RPM's.

By the day's end, both Dave and Dale (whose oppinions I value greatly) have expressed great pleasure in how much I've improved and how smooth I have become in the transitions and corners. Others are faster they say, but not as smooth as I've developed. THAT is what I wanted. Speed ... is speed, I'll always ride my speed. But that smoothness is what I wanted to learn. Having Dave tell me I made progress was wonderful to hear and made me quite stoked.

Anyway, we are the last group out, getting off the track a little after 5:00. You might not think we did much riding, just these 30 minute sessions 7 times, but believe me it is a work out. Those straightaways aren't long boring things, they're just preperation for the next series of hard turns. We worked ourselves that day ... oh yeah, mental note ... BREATHE THROUGH THE TURNS! LOL The last session most folks went all out, really enjoying the track. Speeds up, smiles larger, I swear I could hear the giggles and yelps of glee every now and then. At teh staging area we had one last gatorade, got soem stickers for MSF/UtahRiderEd and CanyonChasers and just talked about our day. All of us had stuff to talk about. The two large K1200LT's were just amazing to see, and those two riders were lovin it. Then ... ooh, this is good ... the guy riding the '00 KLT shows us where he was scraping in the turns! His left foot peg got ground to a point at the end! He scraped plastic and burned THROUGH it! It was like a badge of honor really, not stupid touching of stuff, but how much he got that beast to lean. The Instructors LOVED it and had to get pics. He learned a great deal more about what his bike can do, and what he can do, from this day.

For me ... what did I expect, what did I learn and get out of the class? Honestly, I had no idea what to expect. This was just a very rare chance for me to see a race track and be on it. I'm not a sport biker, so no chance to ever really get on a track. Also, don't wanna race so ... you get the gist. I hoped I'd get good pointers for my riding. Good correction. The ERC is good, but it's a parking lot, not on the road. Here, perhaps I could get someone following me in turns and sweepers, helping me improve. Hopefully I'd gain more knowledge and experience and confidence too. Oh, and I wanted to meet Dave. LOL

Did I get this? Yes, and more. I may have been in the slow group, but since speed wasn't my thing that was never a real issue for me. I got so much more comfortable with my ST, now it can lean, how FAR it can lean and still not touch. I got better at my head turns, got better at being smooth into and through the turn. I improved on my late epexing which I really needed. My speed was good for me and I bumped taht up in a lot of the track sections. The blind left/right/left up/down was actually really fun and flickable for me. Ultimately this was VERY worth every cent to me and I'm so glad I did it. Now, I need to help them get enough riders so we can do it next year! They kinda took a major $$ bloodbath on this one ... got 9 riders, needed close to 30 to break even ...

The ride home ... back to that flat straight interstate slab ... ugh, so very boring after a fun day on the track! LOL Oh, and I was SO dead tired once I got home! A fun but grueling day.

So, there ya have it, my first track day on my ST! Wa Hoo!!!

STill Fiddlin

07-10-2006, 04:01 PM

Great post, thanks. I'm envious.

BigTom

07-10-2006, 04:06 PM

Nice report. Sounds like the perfect mix of fun and learning. A really good thing.

Clair

07-10-2006, 04:32 PM

Here's a pic of the guy in the ST1300 ... no pics of me yet on my ST1100 ...
http://img92.imageshack.us/img92/4305/img38039fa.jpg

Mark

07-10-2006, 06:24 PM

I'm all for smooth...
You keep working on it and all of a sudden someone says:
Hey, I couldn't hang with you in that set of turns... you're fast and really smooth...

Mark

Byron

07-10-2006, 06:56 PM

I loved it!

Did I read right that this is only going to be a once a year thing?

Lager

07-10-2006, 07:14 PM

Excellent Post, I really enjoyed the read.. Sounds like you really had fun.:D

CarSalesman

07-10-2006, 10:17 PM

Clair: What did the sesion cost?

I considered a similar one a couple years ago that was being held at Pocono raceway, in northeast PA. Besides the cost of the event, they made it clear that if you didn't show up with brand new tires, you would not be allowed on the track. Was that also a prerequisite on your class? What did the day do to your tires and brakes?

Clair

07-11-2006, 11:18 AM

Right now, yeah, once a year and it may or may not happen next year due to the $$ loss they took this year. Cost about $8500 to rent the track (with insurance) for the day. Cost for each of us was $300 ... which implies they needed 29 riders to break even. They got 9. OUCH. They want to do it again next year but will need to really get a bunch of guarantee'd riders signed up before it can happen. It's worth it tho. The KLT riders just couldn't believe what they were learning, and man did their speed go UP compared to the beginning of the day. It is kinda pricy but ... for me it was worth it.

Here, at Miller, it had to go through the Utah Sports Bike Association. That may have turned some people off. The USBA is the only group that can teach this kind of class there, and they had to beg and plead to get that ( as in they weren't going to be able to teach classes, Miller had someone else lined up). But, since it was a SPORT bike, thus racers, zoomies, potential squids, association you had to join ... I think some riders opted not to do it. Others may have avoided even reading any of the fliers because of it. Frankly .. I'm not a sport bike rider, I'm an ST rider. I have no desire to touch my knee down, not into warp speeds, all the typical "sport" rider stuff. Track days also imply RACE, which I'm not into. So, it's easy to ahve it overlooked.

We're hope to have it again next summer, to get enough riders signed up. I think it's worth it.

Horst

07-11-2006, 11:50 AM

great post, Clair ! ... thanks :)

re: "The two large K1200LT's were just amazing to see..."

he he ... what Gold Wingers don't know can't hurt them .... or ????

:D

sherob

07-11-2006, 12:56 PM

That is an awesome write up! I'd like to do that type of class one day... maybe next year :)

Trekker

07-11-2006, 03:20 PM

Great write up Clair. Inspiring. I too place myself in the slower group. I want smooth and confident, not fast and scary. This looks like the kind of track day I could use....... guess that means a road trip next year!

I saw something recently on TV about someone going to a track for training on his street bike and had to strip off the turn signals & reflectors & anything else that could be unbolted. I guess that wasn't something you had to do, eh?

Clair

07-11-2006, 03:55 PM

No, we did not. They got special dispensation for us ... because basically they promised we'd go SLOW, we'd BEHAVE, we'd go SLOW, and nobody would go down. Uh .. we did behave, nobody went down and it just depends on your definition of "slow" ... :-) We were slower than the racers so ... LOL

The sport bikes that want to race tehre have to be air cooled (I believe) and have all lights taped up. Headlights, turn signals off or at least taped, brake lights, everythijg taped. You want no glass/plastic on the track. Nor do they want Antifreeze/coolant. That was their big concern with us ... that we'd be leaking it on the track. The bikes were inspected before heading out, and inspected after each session. Of course, Tourers take care of their bikes, we TOUR after all, so we're not likely to have any kinds of leaks. Sport bike people don't get that. LOL

For us, we came in set up for touring. Bikes as they normally are. Headlights ablazing, brake lights visible.

I highly recommend something like this for everyone, new or experienced. many of the riders in the class had years of experience. Some had BRC/ERC classes, others self taught. I was the novice with only 4 years of riding time. Yet everyone took a ton away from the class, everyone loved it and was having a ball. It's too hard for us to practice this kind of thing on real roads ... we have to worry about traffic, debris on the road, bambi (or moose, cows, sheep, etc), potholes, and so on. This gives you a chance to really learn your bike and good technique in a safe environment. I think it's worth it.

Clair

07-13-2006, 01:09 PM

Okay, got some more pics to load.

First is me, on the left, working on my left curves ..

Second is coming down the straightaway ... me letting the other faster bikes get by me. Preparing for the turn that I think is in pic #1

Third is the group preparing to go out on the track .. I'm at the back

Fourth is the group working on that late apex in the turn, good line

Fifth is a nice shot of one of the K1200LT's

6 and 7 are of the ST1300 that was there. Nice guy, good rider. Beautiful bike.

Yawdamper

07-16-2006, 03:22 PM

Excellent post. Like other's here, I would also love to do an event like that. Way to go on getting so much out of it based on your own personal riding style/level. Too many people get caught up in the "faster is better" game (it is really fun, though:) and forget about fundamental technique and smoothness. I admire your passion for this and thank you for your post.

EagleSix

07-16-2006, 10:39 PM