This article was originally posted by Douglas Miller on the VFR List, and he has graciously allowed me to post it here as a reference for others. It is an excellent post that may be useful to other riders.
My '97 VFR750 and I went to CLASS at Road Atlanta. A marvelous experience that I highly recommend. I've been so bold as to summarize my thoughts on this two-day lesson and compare it to last year's one (1) day with Keith Code's Superbike School. I ask you to remember that I am a rank amateur, stayed in the *slow* group both days and was certainly not even fast in the slow group. And what I think they said may not really be what they said, just how I understood it. With that disclaimer, read on if you care.Reg and Jason Pridmore and their guest instructors make ALL of the students feel important. One has the impression that they enjoy this as much as you do. I took two days, got about 100 miles each day. Stopped short of all day the 2nd day just because I was tired and worried that I might not be attentive.
The CLASS emphasis is SMOOTH: shifting up and down, braking, and a TIGHT line through curves. This is best illustrated by riding two up with Jason or Reg. I did not feel any shifting at all and braking was not initiated with any sudden fork dive, just dramatic de-acceleration. I rode with Reg while the slow group was on the track. He was not passed by anyone and he passed everyone in sight. This was two up with my perfectly balanced 200 pounds on the rear wheel. He said that he and son were only riding at about 25% of race speeds with us passengers. There is an order of magnitude difference between us Sunday riders and the Pro's. We are not in the same game.
- There is a stated difference between K. Code's and Pridmore's styles in three major areas that I picked up. Code wants a late apex, keeps the bike upright, turns it quickly, gets upright again, and drives away. Pridmore wants a tight line around the radius: for a right hander, start on right 1/2 of the road, clip apex, and let acceleration carry one back to the right 1/2 of the road. But, one must recall that Code is directing his lessons to a racing line, Pridmore to street riding. Code's line will expose the rider to greater risk because there is less room to err and run wide. Pridmore's line will leave more escape room for the unexpected. I imagine that at race speeds, the line difference between a Code disciple (Chandler) and Jason Pridmore is not very great.
- Code suggest that the rear brake need not be used so long as the front brake is capable of doing all of the stopping. Pridmore relies on rear breaking and states that rear braking will stabilize the bike. I think Pridmore is right on this one.
- Code suggest that downshifting sequentially is overly complicated. Concentrate on braking, put it in the correct gear for the drive out, and leave clutch disengaged until ready to accelerate. The engine braking is not as efficient as rear brake, which one doesn't need anyway. Why complicate? Pridmore uses the engine brake through each gear. One can see many Superbike Pro's downshifting and throttle matching while braking. I'm going to be looking to see what Chandler does next televised race. In my personal case, I've got all I can do just braking (using both front and back), so I subscribe to Code on this one.
- Pridmore emphasizes the effect of lower body on steering and minimizes counter steering of the bars. Pridmore says move the weight to the inside peg, pushing with ones inside ankle against the peg support which pulls one to the inside, point ones inside shoulder at the apex, look over the inside hand grip. He admits that this causes counter steering, but, that it secondary to the body steering. This is how Pridmore steers.
- Code says push the inside bar and use the high peg as leverage to get ones body on the inside of the bike. What works best for me is a combination of ideas. The pointing shoulder insures that my elbows are soft. I end up with weight on the inside peg, but get there with a push on the outside peg rather than a pull, and I surely think that my first motion is the aimed shoulder and the push against the bar. Sounds like to me that they may be saying opposite things but achieving the same thing. Which is better, Coke or Pepsi?
Road Atlanta is a neat track. It is very interesting with hills, curves, two straights (one very long one), and two blind curves that humbled me completely. It is wide enough that the fast riders did not have to wait on me and I had all the track I needed to go at my pace.
I think that I'll be back ... Douglas
