One of the best experiences of my life, and I was amazed at how much sim-racing helped!

On monday I did the California Superbike school at VIR on the north course. I started off the day rocky; on the first lap turn 4 I ran off the track and into the grass. After a black flag and stern talking to by the track director I got to go back out and I did not fal off the track again for the rest of the day.

I was probably one of the slowest guys out there at the beginning of the day, but by the end of the day I was flying and I even passed a few people. I started the day a little more than just terrified of the rollercoaster section (In real-life that is a HUGE drop!) and by the end of the day after tipping the bike into the turn at the top of the hill I was open throttle all the way to left-hander half way down the hill!

The best part of the track was coming out of turn 5, you gotta pull the bike side to side (described as wrestling with alligators) through 5a and 6, just scraping the aprons, and you almost go full throttle out onto the back straight. And turn one was a blast once I figured out the proper apex and got my reference points figured out.

Outside of my screw-up early in the day along with 2 other folks, no one else in my group crashed, I was very happy about that.

I was very surprised how comfortable I felt out on the track. I had sooooo much to remember that I really think all this sim racing that I have done over the past few years have really helped. Just as a few examples, when I was following someone I knew better than to stare at their bike, I looked "through" them and tried to track them with my peripheral vision and focused on my marks. I knew how to start learning the track... i.e. "Ok the last time I started breaking at marker 6, this time I'll try 5" or, "Ok, count to 1 after you pass the little black mark on the right hand side of the track and then start breaking". Also, when I was being passed by people (sometimes 3 or 4 at the same time into T1) I was calm and relaxed and knew how to handle it. Or when I heard someone real close to me, I knew not to focus too much on them and not to do anything unpredicatable like change my line. Also, just the general feel of being on the track, felt comfortable. I am sure I looked and acted like a total newbie/squid out on the track, but because of all the sim racing it felt extremely familiar.

I learned so much about how to ride a motorcycle that I am going to take the next classes again this august at mid-ohio. This class has totally changed the way I ride a motorcycle.