Honestly, I didn't know where to post this, so hey, why not way, way down here. Yep right at the bottom! Cause after today, that is where some people that think they know how to ride are actually at! Now, I'm not talking about racers at the track, I'm talking about the local snot nose, just got his license, bought the bike of his childhood dreams, and has no clue how to ride it! He thinks he does, he got his license, but in all reality, we all know, he is doomed! Another one bites the dust as per say. These kids are what will change laws, the freedom we used to have on a sunday morning tearing up a twisty road will soon be gone if we as racers don't get people to the track and help them learn the skills they will need to survive on those nice twisty roads. Now, I by no means am an expert rider, well I would be, if being slow didn't count...lol My experience is mostly from hard knocks, enduro racing in my early teens, rode dirt bikes and standard cruisers in my years after that. Till one day, I bought an old ZX6 and I was hooked! Did I know how to ride at that point? Well yes and no, I didn't feel comfortable like when I was on the cruisers, and tilting my body off the bike and not the other way around, took a bit to get used to. I have read just about every book, seen every video, watched closeup video of racing action, but none of it really came together till I got on a track. That is when it started making sense, and then I was hooked on track riding, well it didn't take long, and track bike turned into race bike, and then another (faster) race bike. Anyhow, when you go for a street group ride, and you see someone biff it on a straight stretch for no reason cause he thought for some reason he should grab a mit full of front brake, and then you see another rider run way too wide in a corner just about hitting the ditch. Your realize that there is a problem here, speed wasn't a factor, lack of skill was! For that matter, what skill? Now I did the best I could do, I took the rider (that ran wide in the corner) a side and had a talk with him, and we rode at the back of the pack and he followed my riding instructions, it took a couple times pulling over before he caught on with what to do. Needless to say, we actually rode below the speed limit, he learned something that day. And he was very thankful that I took the time to teach him something that he obviously had never been instructed on. One of my biggest beefs with Class 6 riding schools, it is a course so you can get a license. That is it! What should be next, is if you buy a sportbike, you should have to take an advanced rider course on a race track, before you are allowed out of the driveway! And you should also have complete at least 5 track days with no crashes! Hopefully then, that little snot nose racer boy that wants to have a group ride up the canyon, might not want to drag knee on every corner. Maybe then we can say good by to little racer boy, and save some lives in the process. Rant? I don't know, but there is a perfectly good track in Mission, with absolutely Awesome people that put the time in for the club. How do we get these other people to see the light?
mobile Starbucks. Thats the only way to get some of these riders off the streets and onto a controled area to play. nicely put. maybe someone ( i'll even do it) go to the local starbucks and ask if we can put posters up for track days and races. lord knows on a sunny Sunday there are TONS of sport bikes hanging out on Robson.
Maybe get some more advertising out there than just posters in bike shops and online. Radio ad's maybe, and if its doable tv ad's?
Well, what has worked out pretty well back in Edmonton is generating the excitment at the local hangout. Taking the time to go out on group rides with local riders and sort of let your skill shine through, now I'm not talking about being racer boy on the ride, some street riders are really good riders, but if your in the back part of the pack, you can see what someone is doing wrong. One of the things I have learned on the track, is no matter how hard you want to ride, you still have to leave room for error. Even more so on the street. And I think that is where the local snot nose is going in the wrong direction, being new to riding in most cases, they don't actually know themselves, how much is too much? With them, its all or nothing, most have no faith in their tires, scared when they see gravel, water..etc.., have mostly no clue about Braking zones, turn in points, apex's, exit points, increasing corners, decreasing corners, banked corners and off camber corners and for some reason haven't learned how to use their eyes. There is so much a rider can learn about corners from a track, not to mention what they can learn about their bike and the all important, themselves as riders! Now take a group of racers down to the local hangout, grab a couple coffee's and start talking racing, or track day riding, and about what you have learned from the track, do it amongst yourselfs with excitment and some discriptive action events thrown in, and it won't take long, an there will be a whole group quitely listening in! If someone asks a question, be nice enough to answer. (yes I know my spelling sucks) Posting calanders is a good idea, but if we want to get people out to the track, we have to sell them the idea. Selling an idea isn't the easyest to do, but you already have your foot in the door if they ride a sport bike! Cause we all know, the street edition, is just a race bike with lights and a horn. And if you only ride it on the street, you will never know what that bike was ment to do.
Great post!....I hope it doesn't get lost way down here on the bottom!....lol Unfortunately, a lot of new street riders are caught up in the "idea" of riding, and trying to sell any 'new' idea, imo, is a hard sell to some!....It's hard to graft a new idea onto a closed mind!.....I've hung out at Sbux and tried to encourage alot of newer riders to come out to the track and even given out free schedules/passes to quite a few!....I think the image of 'sport riding' is what appeals to too many that attach their egos to the sport and once they get the ackowledgement they're seeking, either lose interest and move on to something else, crash and/or become statistics, or remain out there as accidents waiting to happen!.....That's why I decided to post a thread on the BCSB site in search of those w/ a true desire to improve their riding skills and, hopefully, build enough confidence to want to do a track day or TOR, and eventually become a part of the racing community as a WMRC member!....I realize we don't have much of a future w/o new racers and people who want to come out even just to volunteer!....I'm happy to say that we've received a decent response from some BCSB riders who want to elevate their skills in the parking lot, and then come out to the track to practice their developements!....MickM, AndrewS, and htdub were enthusiastic enough to get out to the track on Monday for round 4 as marshalls and TOR participants!....These guys are our future and I hope they continue to come out and inspire others to get involved as well!.....Our last Thursday nite parking lot session even graced us w/ a couple of women riders who seem eager to learn and become more involved in our track and community of new/future racers!......It's one of the few ways I have found to support my race club and hopefully help it to continue growing!.....I have limited time as I have a growing and demanding 7 y.o. boy to be there for, but I feel committed to doing what I can to help the WMRC, the club that has allowed me to enjoy the greatest sporting experience out there!.....
I totally agree with what your doing, and with the little time that I have right now with building a new home for myself, the only way I can get out what idea's I have on how to improve and get more support for the WMRC is basically this thread. Getting my house in order is first and foremost right now, and this year pretty much only allowed me that one first weekend to play out on the track, which is new to me and will take sometime to get used to the different lines and the one that works for me. Since I'm living in Hope, there are litterly hundreds of bikes through this town in the summer months, group rides travel through here all the time, and being close some of the better roads should allow me more time to get out there in the future. In my book, every little bit helps from everyone involved, wearing a WMRC T-shirt and striking up conversations everywhere, word of mouth travels fast. Like the other day, I was in a bank and the elderly guy behind me starts talking bike racing, turned out he seen the Moto-GP race down under (Aus), he didn't know they had motorcycle road racing here, so I told him about mission raceway, turns out, even in his 70's, bike racing is his thing to go watch! Age has nothing to do with who is out there and who likes to watch and who will even volunteer. And thanks for looking way down here...lol
Solo Soldier, For the past 3 years (we're in our fourth now) we've sponsored Pitt Meadows Track Days and have attracted many street riders to this event. We're mainly about getting street riders the venue to practice cornering, braking, throttle control and now have Spero Benias out coaching riders as well. Our focus is on providing a safe and non-judgemental environment for riders to practice those skills that they learned in their "learn to ride" courses but didn't get a chance to practice very much. We've got an event happening on July 9th - Saturday, and then again on August 6th. It's a small piece of helping out riders but at least it's something. Thanks for your comments - great ones and timely.
