The fourth drill for the day, though the easiest, had amazing results. ‘When you get on the bike this time, do nothing’ he said, and the idea was to let the bike do most of the work for you. How? Firstly, because you loosen up physically, you have no additional input once the motorcycle is bent over. Secondly, everytime the motorcycle hits a bump, the suspension is free to work on its own. All I can say is, though its hard not to tense up, it feels great once you get it right and it is amazingly comfortable. Besides, as Code says, ‘It takes only five pounds of pressure to steer a motorcycle, so why all the effort?’
Between the two drills though, I had a go at the off-track drill, which proved to be the biggest revelation of the day. You see, I have been riding for seven years now and always thought I had a God-given ability to get maximum lean from a motorcycle. So when Misti, the off-track instructor, asked me to do a slalom, I instantly kept pushing the motorcycle away from me as if I have been motocrossing since birth.
Now I know most of you out there know to corner with the motorcycle, rather than against it, but somehow I had gotten through seven years of riding doing just the opposite. More than one rider I spoke to had discovered and corrected something that they had been doing for a long time and this really is the magic of CSS. And if you are thinking that I learnt how to steer a motorcycle from a girl, let me tell you that she happens to be an AMA racer. So there.
The second day was all about training your eyes. ‘They are programmed to kill you,’ says Keith and he’s right. Ever realised how everytime you are on the road, you tend to scan for things (apart from looking for a mate) that will pull you down? The open manhole cover, diesel spill, sand on the tarmac... these are things that you tend to fixate on and the first four drills of Level Two focus on training your eyes. So when we went on track, we went looking for reference points. The Yellow X’s were absent this time around, so the whole exercise revolved around finding points on the track where you start turning in, get on the throttle and roll off.
Now, you are probably thinking how you can ever train your eyes against their survival instinct. You can, and the best explanation I have right now is, well, because Keith says you can.
By the end of the second day, my improvements were proving to be exponential and with two laps to go, everything that was taught over the last two days just fell into place and led to my defining moment.
So do I recommend the school? No, recommend isn’t strong enough a word. I think it’s an absolute necessity for anyone who is even half-serious about motorcycling. And it doesn’t matter what bike you have. The first machine I rode after I came back was an LML CRD100, and the learnings translated brilliantly even to this piddly motorcycle. If you do own a superbike, I think it’s the best add-on that you can buy for your motorcycle. The best part is, unlike any other add-on, this one will stay with you for life.
And even though you might think you do most of these things already, at CSS, you learn why you are doing it. And how to do it just right.
|
