California Superbike School (Silverstone): 20 Apr 08 - Page 14

**sweetpea** · 20 Apr 08, 07:48 PM

Do you think I could get my knee down next time?

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And a group shot we are all in it (somewhere)!
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**ducbird** · 20 Apr 08, 07:48 PM

wow looking good girls

great pics...

**Ghost** · 20 Apr 08, 07:51 PM

Thats a good shot SP you must be pleased with that, after hearing your concerns before the course.

**David.Hicks** · 20 Apr 08, 07:55 PM

Yaaaay ... Mrs H and I are soooo glad you had a great time.

**Jolley** · 20 Apr 08, 08:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sweetpea

A big thank you to Jolley who was kind enough to pick Singletrack, Paivi and I up and take us to a great Chinese restaurant.

Who wouldn't want to offer to take 3 attractive, charming, intelligent biker chicks out for dinner?!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by singletrack

Special thanks to Jolley who is a real gentleman.
Just off to buy some more bling for the next time I meet you

Flattery will get you everywhere... but don't think I then didn't notice the note to get more bling... sounds like have some competition!!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ghost

I had a terrific blast back up the A5 putting lots of the days lessons into practice. I think I saw just over 50mph (just) Wink.

Only met Jolley at the time to depart.

Passing was difficult as the rider in front had priority, some were extra cautious on the bends then squirted it on the straights so it was always difficult to pass without causing problems. But they were there to learn the cornering technique so I'm not knocking anyone being cautious.

Yes, bit of a hectic day without much chance to catch up until the end.

Also had a nice little rideout afterwards just for the hell of it.

My picture:

**Cali SS** · 20 Apr 08, 08:22 PM

Guys and Gals,

It was a pleasure to meet you all over the last two days, it makes our jobs easier and so much more enjoyable to have willing students. As you can probably gather, we really enjoy teaching ;-)

Kind regards

Donna
Superbike School :: Discover the art of cornering

P.S. - Ghost, that is the best acronym!
P.P.S. - Jolley, I still have your bacon roll from yesterday.... bit cold now!

**sweetpea** · 20 Apr 08, 08:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by David.Hicks

Yaaaay ... Mrs H and I are soooo glad you had a great time.

Sorry that you guys could not make it, maybe we could co-ordinate your level 1 with our level 2.......

**Steve GD** · 20 Apr 08, 08:48 PM

OK...looks like it was worthwhile, despite the weather..... but where is the instigator? How was it for you, Paivi??

**Paivi** · 20 Apr 08, 09:44 PM

Well, the day was nothing if not mixed for me...

It got off to a really bad start on the two intro laps, as the damp mist clung to my visor so badly that I couldn't see through it. Then, when I lifted my visor, the same thing happened to my glasses, so in the end, I entered the pit lane completely blind.

The guys in the control room tried their magic but to no avail, so I decided I'd had enough and would give up and go back to London. Donna and Paul were not quite ready to give up on me yet, and Donna cleaned and raincoated my glasses and visor, while Paul spent the next session giving one-on-one tuition to me, as I'd missed the first session. He enjoyed it so much, he spent the remaining three sessions with me, too, so I had one-to-one tuition throughout the day, how cool is that.

So, huge thanks to Donna for sorting my visor and glasses out, and to Paul for not losing his cool, even though I did...

We did five (average) 22-minute sessions, followed by a quick feedback session with the instructor (3 students to 1 instructor) with classroom sessions between.

Like Jerry, we had some poor passing and, shall we say, assertive riding, sometimes by the instructors themselves, as well as very slow cornering but fast straighting riders, which frustrated me quite a lot, as I was actually quite fast in corners, less so on straights. As the track was only about a mile long, with just two straights on it, it was not that easy to pass, so perhaps the slow riders should not have been quite that enthusiastic on the straights, giving the rest of us a chance to go past...

I now need to decide whether to do Level 2 in the summer or a two-day camp in Spain later on in the year...

In my five years on PTWs, I've covered about 32,000 miles, but I can honestly say that I learnt more in my four sessions than I've learnt in my five years.

I did two sessions without brakes, and learnt that I can actually go round a corner after all, without thinking I'm going to die and slamming on the brakes. I duly put this into practice on our ride back home in a couple of roundabouts; one was identical to one I've encountered before: a quiet, shallow bend, excellent visibility and going straight kind of roundabout. Previously, I slammed the brakes as I was 'turning' off the roundabout to go straight, now I just sailed right through it, leaning the bike much more than I ever had - and I had panniers on!

All in all, an absolutely fantastic day, and if you haven't already done one, what are you waiting for? Don't wait for long, though, as the places are booking up fast!

**Douglas** · 20 Apr 08, 09:45 PM

Glad you all had a good day.Seeing the photos and reading the comments it seems like it was useful and fun for you all. And good on yer Ghost and and Jolley for putting it into practice with and rideouts on the way home!

We were thinking of you on the West Mids rideout, but it seems as if you did slightly better for weather at Silverstone. It would have been a shame if it had been spoilt for you by the wet.

**Steve GD** · 20 Apr 08, 10:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paivi

In my five years on PTWs, I've covered about 32,000 miles, but I can honestly say that I learnt more in my four sessions than I've learnt in my five years.

I did two sessions without brakes, and learnt that I can actually go round a corner after all, without thinking I'm going to die and slamming on the brakes. I duly put this into practice on our ride back home in a couple of roundabouts; one was identical to one I've encountered before: a quiet, shallow bend, excellent visibility and going straight kind of roundabout. Previously, I slammed the brakes as I was 'turning' off the roundabout to go straight, now I just sailed right through it, leaning the bike much more than I ever had - and I had panniers on!

All in all, an absolutely fantastic day, and if you haven't already done one, what are you waiting for? Don't wait for long, though, as the places are booking up fast!

Sounds very much as if you got out of the day exctly what you went there for.
Am I right?

**Paivi** · 20 Apr 08, 10:15 PM

Absolutely. There's no way this time yesterday I would have said I love chicanes!

**ducbird** · 20 Apr 08, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paivi

Absolutely. There's no way this time yesterday I would have said I love chicanes!

great write up Paivi....

**singletrack** · 21 Apr 08, 07:19 AM

Paivi is right - i learnt so much yesterday and hope I can come a better rider for it - now I have to start putting it into practise!

Here's my piccie

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**Steve GD** · 21 Apr 08, 07:57 AM

Great pic, Singletrack.... Given his closeness to your rear wheell, I'd say your instructor had a great deal of confidence in your abilities by the time this pic was taken.