My Trip to the California Superbike School
Level One, Sept 1997 at PPIR in Colorado
Every year I take a two week vacation from my home here in Oklahoma City to Colorado Springs, Colo. I went to High School there, and my parents and buddy Trip still live there. I used to ride the cycle when I went (650 miles one way), but in the last couple years my wife has gone with me, so now we haul it up there with my Dakota.
A few years ago a new race track was built just south of Colorado Springs, the
Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR). It has a 1 mile high speed oval with a 1.3 mile road race course in the infield. It is a very well made facility, so pretty quickly it started attracting some big events. The Indy Racing League runs there, as well as AMA Superbike. So naturally I adjusted my vacation timing last year to coincide with the bike races.
Since one of my best friends lives there (he's OK even though he rides a VFR), I had him pick us up some tickets for the race in 97. AMA Superbike usually runs in Aug or Sept at PPIR. Several months before the race I noticed an ad in one of the bike magazines for Kieth Code's California Superbike School. Around the same time one of the bike magazines also ran an article about several of the main bike schools. Kieth Code's received some good reviews, so my buddy (Tim) and I signed up.
Preparation for the school is limited to draining anti-freeze from the bike and ensuring that tires and brakes are in good condition. I replaced the anti-freeze with distilled water and with a small amount of Water Wetter made by
Redline. It can be found in lots of speed shops. All it does is enhance the heat carrying ability of water or other fluids, to include anti-freeze. The Water Wetter works so well that I use it all the time now in all of my vehicles. I noticed that the bike ran 10 degrees cooler with distilled water in it.
One of the decisions you have to make is whether to use your own bike, or one of their race prepped ZX6 Kaw's. I've had several people ask me why I take the chance of wadding my own bike. The simple answer is that it doesn't do me any good at all learning to ride someone elses bike better. And after all, this is a school not a race. If you dump your bike you're going too fast and/or not paying attention.
When you get to the track on school day, the first thing you do is get all the paperwork finished. Then they break you up into groups depending on how many people are enrolled and what level of class you're in. The entire day is broken up into multiple sessions. You sit through 30-40 minutes of class time followed by around 30 minutes of track time.
A quick disclaimer about the following paragraphs. I'm a motorcyclist. I like all bikes, all styles, all manufacturer's. I am a Suzuki guy because of fate. If it sounds like I'm dogging some of these bikes, I'm not. And if it sounds like I'm dogging some of the rider's, I'm not. I'm just relaying the facts. I realize that a professional rider on one of the ZX-6R's would have gone by me and my RF900 lap after lap. But over the years I have been a student of riding. I've bought video's and book's and I've read them. I take the MSF Experienced Rider's Course every two years because because the Air Force pays for it. I practice my riding skills in empty parking lots, and I think the rider that say's he doesn't have anything else to learn doesn't have a clue. Apparently it has helped as you'll see.
The first session was a real eye opener. The object was to go around the track without using your brakes. The purpose of this was to learn how to set your cornering speed before you get into the corner. It was even more interesting because it rained all morning. As it was it quit before we started and didn't rain again all day.
After the first session you can start getting on the gas. They tell you early in the day that you can go as fast or as slow as you want. Though you are warned to give everyone lots of room. Those that don't get to pull over and get reminded of that, as one of our guys did. One of the lessons was about picking and hitting corner entry points. They tape big X's on the track and you are supposed to use the X as your turn point. I was almost on top of one of them when a guy on a Ducati 900SS suddenly dove inside of me and cut me off. The next time I went by the pit he was pulled over with an instructor explaining to him the error of his ways. He was pretty mellow the rest of the day.
Like I said before, it's a class not a race. But we are human. You end up getting near bikes that are close to yours in performance. It's only natural you try to keep up or go by them. In my class were a CBR900RR, a ZX-9, a YZF1000, two GSXR750's (one was race prepped), a race only FZR750, the Ducati I already mentioned, several other street bikes, and 6 or 8 of the school's ZX-6R's. During the whole day, the only bikes that went by me were the two race bikes and the guy on the Ducati. And later I found out that the Ducati had several thousand dollars of engine work done on it. I know it's a better cornering bike than mine, but he was pulling away from me on the straight which no stock 900SS can do. At the end of each session the guys on the CBR and ZX9 would wander over and check out my bike. I think they were wondering why I was sucking their headlights out as I went by them each lap. After all, both are supposed to be better on the track then mine.
Towards the end of the day, Coby (the head instructor) pulled me over and talked to me. He told me that the only way I was going to go faster was if I started hanging off. He said that was about as fast as he'd seen a stock RF get around the track and suggested I get involved in club racing. I thought I'd have trouble getting my helmet back on my swelled head, but humility is never more than a corner away. Coby was on a ZX-7 all day, and he occasionally went by me like I was parked on the side of the track.
That's all I have to say about the Superbike School. It was the best one day riding experience of my life. I am already enrolled in the 2nd level school on 7 Sept 1998 at PPIR. I hope to get some pictures and .avi from this one for my pages here. See you later.
Oh yah, cost. The prices are all on their website. But it runs about $365 using your bike and their leathers. A bargain to get to let your bike go and not have to worry about cops and people pulling out in front of you.
Level Two, Sept 1998 at PPIR in Colorado
I was very excited this year going into the class because I thought I was going to just tear the track up. I had a lot of confidence after last year, and had been tweaking the bike a little with the help of my friend Ray from Sooner Suzuki.
The first thing I found out was that the no brakes routine is a standard exercise. Kieth starts out every class, regardless of level, with it to give you a chance to get into the mood.
I'm not going to be nearly as verbose in this account as I was in the last one because the class is run pretty much the same. You have class time followed by track time. The only difference is that the things you are working on are a little more advanced. Stuff like body position, steering dynamics, etc. We get to take a ride on the slide bike too. Check their website to see what that is all about.
I had some excellent riders and bikes in my class this year just like last year. There was a new ZX-9 which is a seriously fast bike. As soon as we hit the straight he'd pull 3 or 4 bike lengths on me. But as soon as we hit the corners I was right back on him. Just like last year there was a Duck (curses on them) in my class with some major horsepower. This year it was a 900 Monster. Normally a Monster would get eaten alive by my RF,
but this one was pulling away from me on the straights. I sure wish I made more money.
Maybe after I get out of the Air Force.
In summation, my riding was a lot smoother this year than last. Last year I ground off a quarter inch of my
foot pegs. This year I ran the same lap times and only touched down the pegs twice all day. I guess that means I was a little faster everywhere else. I can't wait till
my next class. There are some photos taken during this school on my pictures page.