Ride Diary

CLASS @ VIR

Tom Noffsinger (shown at left with his new BMW after a long day at the track) and I attended Reg Pridmore's CLASS Motorcycle School at Virginia International Raceway near Danville, VA on July 16 and recommend it very highly. Tom liked it so much he stuck around for another day.

For the most part the classroom sessions were good, although the quality did wane toward the end of the day while Reg was doing his two-up rides. I didn't partake in the two-up rides, but I was passed, as if I were standing still, by Reg riding two-up on his VFR800. Reg himself is very personable and he is clearly an enthusiast in the best sense of the word. He personally greeted everyone in line to register. "First time, Paul?" he asked in his lilting accent. How'd he know that? I guess the brand new leathers and nervous demeanor were the tip-off. :)

He stressed throughout the day how what he teaches applies to street riding. He does place great emphasis on "body steering" as opposed to countersteering via inputs to the grips. While this technique obviously works for him, he's not dogmatic about it. He says "give it a try and see if it works for you." That is his approach to the entire day: expose you to techniques of throttle control, braking, lines through corners and steering that may be new to you and give you a chance to practice and get comfortable.

As a newbie to track riding (for that reason I elected to ride with the "B" Group) I found following behind the instructors to be most beneficial at first, in particular observing their lines and their smoothness and control. One instructor gave me the "follow me" sign to improve my lines. After a while I was able to get my speeds up in some of the corners that were giving me problems earlier. Having a "plan" in advance and sticking to it works wonders with respect to entry speed, line, lean angle and where to get on the gas. If you're thinking about it mid-corner it's way too late. Things happen really fast at speed. It's a good mental habit to use on the street too. In general the coaching is pretty minimal unless an instructor pulls you off the track to work on a specific problem. I was never pulled out. Otherwise, if you need feedback, you really need to ask for it.

I'll have to say that I never rode more than 8/10ths out on the track and didn't wick up the speed too much on the straights. I preferred to concentrate my mental energy on the corners and used the straights as recovery time. I did rev the snot out of the bike just about the entire time and the VFR handled all that without complaint. I also used all my tire surfaces and figured out just how far the VFR can lean before the peg feelers hit pavement. One of Reg's mantras is "trust your tires" and it's absolutely true. And, wow, do those D205s get gooey and feathered on the track. Other than a "chirp" due to a hamfisted downshift, the Dunlops stuck like glue all day.

Being on the track allowed me to address some bad habits I've gotten into on the VFR. One of them is my tendency to lean the bike more than my body. Compared to my old Nighthawk the VFR is much more flickable and I've gotten lazy and I've been using a lot less body lean and shifting of body weight on the seat. You can't get away with that on the track since you run out of ground clearance in a hurry at speed on many of those turns unless you shift your body weight well to the inside. The second is to trust the bike and the tires to perform for you when asked. At first I found myself puckering on the sharp right hander that drops off downhill where you can't see the exit. After convincing myself to get on gas, instead of slowing down, and leaning the bike I was able to conquer my fear of that turn. The third is that smoothness is paramount. Clumsy handling of the controls upsets the bike and presents a major distraction. One thing the class really helped me with was in the seamless brake, downshift, accelerate transition just before a turn.

Overall, a great day and some valuable lessons learned. Highly recommended. There were a couple of run offs during the day and I gather that one rider went down on the very last "A Group" track session. VIR is a superb track (we were on the North course) with immaculate pavement and lots of elevation change. Other than a couple of "moments of concern," as one instructor put it, I never really came close to a mishap. I also had two very enjoyable days of riding to and from the track. Southside and Central Virginia has loads of smooth, twisty and traffic-free roads.