| Author | Message | ||
     Jaimec |
http://www.stayinsafe.com/ My wife and I are doing this "Two-Up" in Danbury this weekend. We're heading up tonight to the hotel (praying the rain stays away). Full report upon return! | ||
| Jaimec |
End of Day 1. My brain is toast. Total overload. Quite different than a track day, that's for sure. Pretty cool though! Meeting to have dinner and debrief in half an hour. | ||
| Jaimec |
VERY cool to take a street-oriented course after years of taking track-based schools (like CLASS, STAR, and CSS). Right away you can toss out just about everything you learned about "cornering lines" from any track-based school you've taken. Race tracks aren't populated with brain-dead car drivers yakking on cell phones, looking for a radio station, drinking coffee, etc. There are also RARELY leaves, sand, gravel, or spilled slippery fluids on a race track and you're not likely to ever see the wiley white-tailed deer any time soon on the track either (not saying it's impossible, just not highly likely). If anyone here has ever taken the MSF BRC, or even the old MRC/RSS, you might remember a segment called "Street Strategies." Well, the "Stayin' Safe" course is essentially a two-day version of "Street Strategies" taught on the street in REAL TIME. There are two instructor/coaches, and a maximum class size of six bikes (three per coach). You can take (and are encouraged to do so) the course two-up, especially if you do most of your riding with a pillion. Everyone (riders and passengers) are given a one-way radio so the coach can comment on what you should be looking for, tips on road positioning, lane selection, riding technique, etc. On Day 1 you will hear so much "talking" you'll hear it in your sleep as well. Much less on Day 2. You do take frequent breaks on the ride for "Chalk Talks," where they will discuss with everyone what they've seen, feedback from the students, etc. After the end of course, you are so aware of the "risks" of riding on public roads, one student commented that he may reconsider riding at all! That really wasn't the purpose of the course, but if (after being made aware of all of the potential hazards of riding) that is his decision, then it just MIGHT be the right one (for him). Even after decades as an MSF Instructor/RiderCoach, and knowing "intellectually" of the hazards of riding on public roads, it was EYE-OPENING to see how many potential hazards I simply miss or overlook on a typical ride. What they attempt to do is to modify your mental processing and your riding style so as NOT to reduce the "fun factor" but to increase your margin of safety. We got two days of AWESOME roads in Connecticut, Massachusetts and New York. We also got some valuable feedback, and I MAY'VE created a "back seat driving monster" in my wife... but then if I can't have the instructors reminding me of the hazards, I guess she can keep me honest as well. Her life depends on it as much as mine, after all! | ||
| Jaimec |
OH! And by the way, on Day 2, I forget the road, but I was coming around the bend on a nice sweeper and coming from the other direction was someone on a Black/Red XB12s HALF IN MY LANE. Don't know if that rider is a Bad Webber or not, but definitely someone who would benefit from taking this course!! | ||
| Chauly |
Mr. Cruz, Thanks for the write-up. Karin and I will definitely look into it. I even now recommend it to my students as a good example of an On-Road Instruction beyond the BRC. I met Larry Grodsky years ago on one of his "Alpine" classes down here in VA. Nice guy, sorely missed. I'm glad his legacy lives on... |
