California Superbike School - India - Jan 2011

A Prologue 

My trysts with bikes have been always on long winding road trips. You may call me an iron butt but riding the bike has never made me tired and satisfies my spiritual plane of existence as maslow describes. 50000 km in just over a couple of years shows how mad a tourer am.But I have envied those motogp guys who drive their bikes like laser guided missiles and their cornering abilities always have amazed me since I was a kid. Getting a knee down was a distant dream for me and then the bullet was not designed for the same. So I bought the Ninja, a lil rocket but nothing intimidating like those motogp missiles. Getting a knee down still remained a dream inspite of the Ninja especially due to the want of the technique though I came really close on a couple of occasions. That’s when I heard of the CSS stuff and decided to enrol for it. My vacation in India was planned based on solely the CSS stuff!! 

Got all my riding gear from UK and landed in India ready to roll. Drove all the way from Pune to Kerala (my home town) and from Kerala to Chennai to attend the CSS.

Day1: Level:1

The first day was quite some fun. Was delighted to meet the Tenhut on his blade (God!! That thing looked drool maal) and made some friends with Atul_chang (of intruder fame), Marwan ( a Busa guy) and a ZMR guy. The whole thing was done very professionally and we were divided into three groups-white, yellow and green. The superbikes were all in the white category and they did have some exceptional riders especially one chap in a modified RTR which sounded like a jet plane ready to take off.

Also met a couple of press guys, Schumi from overdrive and Kartik from BS motoring.

All those supersports, ha!

We had 15 minutes of classroom session and then 5 laps on the circuit to practise the same. This continued for five sessions for the day.

The first session involved all the three groups and it was the longest one too. The different trainers were introduced (Andy Ibbot, Dylan code, Apanna, Gary Bailey, Steve Brouggy, Darren Sweetman and Glenn) who bowed to the master a.k.a Keith code.
Then the big man Gary came on and showed us all the flags. The yellow, chequered, black et al. He was no-nonsensical as he needed to be and warned us all that if we were not upto our best behaviour he himself could put you on the next flight home. That meant no rash riding, no overtaking (within 2 metres of any bike) and most importantly no racing. This was meant to be fun. My coach for the day  was Dylan code, son of Keith code.

Ready to roll in the SPADA suit

 1) Drill: Throttle control and no brakes

Format: 4th gear, no brakes

One had to drive the bike in only fourth gear without brakes! Now this was scary.

The idea was to keep the bike stable, no brakes. Riding without brakes is a scary thing but it is probably the best way to teach throttle control. After the classroom session every one venture out to the pits to get on their bikes. All the faces were nervous. Pretty much summed up that the idea of riding without brakes wasn’t funny . We had a sighting lap to see how the track was and if there were any obstacles, fluid leaks on the track.

After the sighting lap (which was real slow) we were asked to implement what we learnt in the classroom. Run 5 laps without brakes.

The track:

MMST Track layout

The first ride into the track was an orgasmic feeling. The first corner from the pit (C2) looked mean and there was ash put on the corner to cover some fluid leak. It was a 90 degree turn and it was menacing to say the least. C3 was gentle and one could power the bike all the way up to C4 and then started the long fast right handers of C5, C6 and C7. C7 to C8 was another breeze. Once out of C8, one could power up through C9 and till C10 which was another menacing corner. Since the C10 speed was slow, C11 was gradual throttle and then one could ride till C12 and then accelerate away on to the straight till C1.

The intial laps were pretty slow as everyone was getting a hang of the track and by the final one the speed had increased remarkably.

2) Drill: Turn points- Take the corners at the marked points

Format: 3rd and 4th gear, no brakes

    

Turn point where the place where you took the turn for the corner. Getting the right turn point was important to getting the right entry speed. Missing a turn point by one bike length would cause you to miss your exit by three bike lengths. No wonder I was running wide on some corners. The sight of the turn points at corners was a confusing experience too. I could tell from my previous laps that the turn points where all pretty far into the corner than what I had been doing on the previous laps. The C2 was a prime example. The turn point was way into the corner, almost nearly touching the outer edge of the 90 degree turn. And what the heck, it was after the ash. It drove me nuts. I thought my bike would skid but it didn’t. C3 turn point was earlier, C4 was late, C5 and C6 were bang in the middle of the road . C8 and C9 was pretty much fathomable. C10 was the scariest. It was a turn with an off camber and the turn point was freaking close to the outer edge of the corner. I didn’t have the balls to go that wide and take the corner and I was taking it pretty much at least two bike lengths early . C11 was slow and C12 was late. C1 wasn’t much of a turn anyways.

The next laps were pretty much better as one could take add up the risk of carrying a lil more speed on the corner on each lap.

3)Drill: Quick turns- Counter steering fast at the corners

Format: 3rd and 4th gear, light brakes

Its mandatory to cover glass with tape on the race track.

This was all about counter steering. That’s steering to the right to make bike go left and vice versa. This was an alien concept though I knew that every one does it unknowingly. And the two things to do was to be loose on the handle bars and do a quick push and just lean and take the corner. That’s it. Sounded real simple but execution wasn’t so easy

Back to the track and it was turning out to be one of the good things. But I wasn’t really comfortable doing it on the tighter corners. Dylan was quick to spot this and he asked me to follow him and do exactly what he was doing. I did exactly what he did and was taking those corners at a much better speed. The confidence of taking the corner was increasing by leaps and bounds and Dylan disappeared to meet up with his other trainees. Without Dylan around I was doing pretty fine till I ran into the dastardly C10 and promptly knew I couldn’t take it , straightened the bike and ran into the grass and then got back again. The best thing was that I didn’t have any fear when I ran into the grass and I knew I was doing good as well without the bike skidding. Having no fear and running into the on the grass wasn’t as easy as I was to learn much later .But by now things were pretty much falling into place and we were all growing confident.

4) Drill: Rider Input

Format: Three gears, light brakes

It was important to have a relaxed body position on the bike. So the idea was to keep light pressure on the handle bars, relaxed arms and shoulders and back and have a symmetric position on the bike.

Dylan was pretty much giving me good feed back saying that I was doing good and my speed was good as well.

Ripping on the straights

5) Two step- Deciding the apex and turning into the corner

Format: All gears, medium brakes

This was the last session of the day and we were all raring to go. The two step was to get

you ready for level two of the California Superbike School and to put all of the things that you have learnt in the previous four sections all together and into practice. This involved keeping your eyes looking mid-way through a corner and to look where you want to go. The idea was to not do target fixation on the turn point marker and as soon as you are about to hit the turn point look further into the corner and decide the apex. And then drive to hit the apex.

I was doing pretty okai but the speeds were very high. By the third lap Dylan had pulled me in to the pits to give a debrief. He said I was taking the left handed turns good but the body positioning on the right handers were incorrect. So he told me to get it corrected. I was back on track and was back to my old ways plus keeping in mind the right handed turns. Little did I know what was in store for me. 

Not my bike but for representative purpose

Everything was hunky dory till the second last lap of the day. By that time the confidence had sky rocketed and so was the speed. On the long turn at C7, i was just distracted to watch the outside of the turn and the bike ran wide on the corner and i ended up in the grass at a good speed. The bike had a tank slapper on grass! And i still held good till i saw the ditch in the grass and the bike hit the ditch and i went flying 2-3 meters upwards and took a tumble and was back on my toes. I couldn’t believe myself, everything looked alright except for a pain in my right hand which i thought had a fracture. The bike was a lil better. Its gear shifter had taken a 180 degree turn, there was a small dent on the tank and one indicator was missing. The marshals soon came out waving flags and i presumed my CSS to be over in the first day itself. They took the bike in a pick up and myself ina car straight to the ambulance. The ppl in the ambulance was of no help and they were asking me to make a payment for the freaking bandage when i was in pain. I wondered why i paid an extra 1K for the insurance. The hand was feeling bad and i could barely move it.

Day1 evening.

The bike was done a full inspection in the evening on the track by different CSS attendees and it was found to be alright. The front left indicator was missing, there was dent on the tank and the gear lever had a 180 degree turn. The gear shifter was promptly corrected by the TVS track mechanics. They have been extremely helpful all through out. Anyways the indicator wasn’t needed on the track, I could live with the dent on the tank and there was absolutely nothing wrong with the suspension. There was not even a single crack in the fairing. I couldn’t believe my luck. It was a bloody miracle on how the accident wasn’t a financially bankrupting one! The grass had saved me and the bike.

My idea for the evening was to visit my friend in Annanagar and stay with him for the night. That had gone down the drain. There was no way I was going to drive with my hand before I went and got it checked up. Marwan (the Busa chap) offered his services to ride the bike till “Pleasant days” (the hotel) and I thought I will get an accommodation at the same place and then go to a doctor. But pleasant days did not have a single accommodation free for that night and now I was hanging in a limbo. One of my good friends even offered to send his wife at home in his car to take me to the hospital. With the traffic it was a good 2 hours away and practically it was unviable. Thanked my good friend. It was times like these that differentiated the good guys.

Tenhut and Atul were pretty accommodating and we got an extra bed for me in their room. Atul took me to a hospital (Saveetha Medical College) 3-4 kms off on my own very bike. The hospital visit was quite interesting with the services being offered at a very dismal pace. But that did give enough time to have a good look at the nurses. Finding the doctor there was more difficult than finding a needle in the haystack and all the doctors were on their rounds . I wondered if it was their rounds with the nurses .

Finally a doctor arrived and he asked me to take the x-ray and get back. The x-ray was done in quick time and I did take a look at my own x-ray. There was big gap between two carpals. I feared the worst . It looked like a broken bone. The doctor was nowhere to be seen (damn his rounds with those nurses ) and my wait began again. After an eternal wait battling eyelids with those gorgeous nurses, the doctor was back. He took a good look at the x-ray and his face didn’t betray any emotions. He said there is no fracture. My face had lightened up like the kid being offered a chocolate . But I resisted. I pointed out the place where I thought there was a fracture. The doctor took a good look at me and said that they are carpals (bones) and there is meant to be spaces between them. Its normal.
Now I felt like jumping up and down. My joy knew no bounds . The doctor insisted that I take a pain killer injection and a voverone ointment and a couple of tablets to eat. My face had begun to look like the projector lamps on the Ninja .

After another eternal wait at the pharmacy and getting the stuff, a nurse asked me to follow her into a room.Then she asked me to pull my pants down . I couldn’t believe my luck again. This was turning out to be a good day . But she wanted me to turn back and pull my pants down. I lay on the bed waiting in anticipation. Then she thrust that needle into my bum. A slight pain and it was over. I was a free man. We drove the way back to pleasant days. The crash was still very much on my mind. It was very much like that beautiful girl whom you couldn’t forget and you were miffed. Atul offered beer and had a nice long chat with him while Tenhut took a much required sleep break. Things were looking positive. The hand wasn’t paining at all. Took the decision to attend the classroom sessions next day and if my hand permitted I would take the practicals as well.

Day2: Level 2:

One thing about life is that there would be various ups and downs. What a crash can do is make your confidence hit the lowest ebb in life. It would make you think twice before getting on a motorcycle again. That’s when men have to go into their caves and do some soul searching. So its always wise to do a root cause analysis of the crash and come up trumps for the reason you went wrong at the corner. Soul searching , I did and did when i hit the bed. The one and only reason I knew was SPEED. SPEED without the technique is a recipe for disaster and that’s were the problem lied. So made up my mind to ride slower and get the technique corrected.Woke up in the morning and the first thing to check was ofcourse the hand. I could lift stuff but there was that slight niggle when applying torque. Decided to ride to 4 kms to the track and check out how I fared. Atul got in as pillion and was able to drive without pain. So I decided to take the risk and do the practicals as well. People were quite surprised to see me back in full suit ready to ride. My trainer for Day1, Dylan code was surprised too. He was quite happy to see me back on track. Keith did give me a huge “Thumbs up”. Day-2 was the same as Day-1 in terms of format. Classroom lecture followed by track time followed by a brief from the coach on the pros and cons of your riding and then a small break before going to the classroom for the next session. My coach for Day-2 was Andy Ibbott. (yes that man..who trained Rossi himself) 

Back in the grove of things

The lessons from the day were

1) Drill: Reference points

Format: 4th gear, no brakes

Identify points on the tracks which you can use for as your turn points, apex and exits. It could be a bump on the track, where the edge begins etal. The idea was to go slow and find a lot of information on the track and identify things which you normally wont be able to find at higher speeds. You would amazed at the info available there when you go slow. .

2) Drill: Change lanes

Format:3rd and 4th gear, no brakes

The idea behind this was to find out new lines on the track in the corners. First lap was to ride on the far right side. Second lap was to drive on the far left side, third lap on the middle and the next two laps on basically anywhere you would want to. This is when the phenomenon happened . On the second lap, on the far left, when doing C3, I did a knee down for the first time in my life . Boy, was I happy . Felt like one of those orgasmic moments in life . The pain was forgotten and the strategy had paid off. Then it happened again on C4, on C9 and on the dreaded C10 as well. The confidence was back and then I was touching the knee on all left handers for the rest of the laps. Back to the pits, I was a man possessed. I was showing off my scraped knee sliders to all and sundry . I could take those bloody corners following any line. I had conquered my demons on the C10 corner. Andy was pretty impressed too. He remarked that the big wide grin on my face revealed how the session went. He had a tough time following me on C10 with all the sparks flying on his face.

3) Drill: Three step vision

Format: 3rd and 4th gear, light brakes

This was a continuation of the Two Step Vision lesson from Level 1. The first step is to find the turn point, then apex, then the exit reference (which could be your next turn point, furthest point you can see out of the turn, or your vanishing point) and develop a “moving picture” of information. The best place to practise this was on the c5, c6 and c7 fast corners where I had crashed the previous day. Was having big fun on the left handers and a lil circumspect on the right handers. The laps went on effortlessly. That’s when Andy barged in and asked me to follow him to the pits . The right hander turn technique was not correct and my right shoulder was pointing a lil towards left whereas it should be straight. Went back on the track and promptly ran wide on C3. The reason being loss of focus and focussing on things which I shouldn’t focus on when taking the corner. I was thinking of my body position when taking the corner and had forgotten about the line. Promptly ran wide into grass but by this time I had become a pro on running in grass! The bike was controlled and I was back on the track.

4) Drill: Wide view

Format: Three gears, light brakes

The idea was to see with your peripheral vision. Keith had asked in the classroom – “How many of you have crashed in life”? My hand promptly went up. How did it feel when you crashed? When I crashed, I had felt like time and space had come to a stand still and everything was moving slowly. That’s when you start seeing with the peripheral vision-he quipped So the idea was to use the same peripheral vision (which slows down time) to use to your advantage. One way of doing it was to have a wider view of the track. When you focus on things afar the bike appears to move slowly. This also helps avoid target fixation. Back to the pits and Andy was a disappointed man. I had failed to spot him following me closely for nearly 4-5 corners. So was duly given a lesson on peripheral vision and on how to do the same.

5) Drill: Pick up

Format: All gears, medium brakes

This drill was to help you get an idea on to level 3 stuff. The idea was to pick up the bike when coming out of a corner and then follow it with your body. So you stay leaned when you are about to get out of the corner and then straighten the bike which allows you to come out at greater exit speeds and then you hop back on to the bike.

By the last lap it was a really confident man riding the bike. The crash was forgotten, the pain was long gone.

Everything appeared to be a movie!
Time and space were on a stand still!
I forgave my dad, I forgave my boss, I forgave them all. I felt like god!! 

Andy remarked that I was really enjoying myself and my right hander body position has improved a lot.

With Andy in Hot pursuit

Couldnot tell you in words how happy I was .

Never felt better in life!
Never felt better on a bike!
Never felt more confident on a bike!

The money was well spend and I would take this again. The crash was a blessing in disguise . It helped come back with a different perspective and a different strategy (very fortunate at that, thou!). The strategy had paid off. Was able to focus on technique. I knew I could go much faster but the whole thing is not about speed, its about enjoying yourself on the bike, getting the right line at the corners with the right technique and the right vision. Once you get them right, the speed will naturally follow and you wouldnot probably even notice it.

Said goodbye to all. Took my stuff and took the poonamalle road and got lost at saidapet. Thanks to Arith ( i guess thats his name, another Black Ninja 250R on CSS who took the pains to show me how to get to Adyar. Dropped my bike at my friends place in chennai and boarded the Chennai-Trivandrum mail to Kerala with that Big wide grin still intact!!