Well, it happened. I was in hopes I'd make it through the season without a student crash but my hopes were trampled yesterday at Sully's race school.
We had our annual July "Women Only" track event yesterday and one of my girls fell. I take it personally when I allow someone to crash. I usually have one student get off annually. No matter how much effort I put into keeping everyone upright there always seems to be one that finds a way to run off the track, over extend the brakes or manage to use one of the many other common denominators to create a chain of events that overwhelm them.
This gal showed up with a Honda 600 F4I. Great Track Bike that performs very well unless it's lowered. Hers was. She was riding very well, I was impressed.
Most women, and most men for that matter, are not in very good physical condition when they show up and end up running out of steam by mid-afternoon with many giving up calling it a day early. Rightfully so, because you make mistakes when you are exhausted that you would not make when you are fresh. Your chances of crashing are increased by fatigue. However, the gal was in very good physical condition and had the physical appearence of an athelete.
She began the first session by dragging her pegs on both sides. Impressive indeed. I coached her on body position to help her stay off the pegs explaining that dragging anything increases her chance of loosing traction. He had decent body position and it didn't take long to have her hanging off a bit farther (Not perfect but good). Now she was only touching a peg on occasion now and then. Around noon she burried the peg on the pavement on a 40 mph corner and down she went.
She was unscathed and the only damage it did to the honda other than scratching the plastics was breaking the rearset mounting bracket. Simple fix but made the bike unrideable. She was a bit shakey when I got her up but ten minutes later she was pissd that she couldn't ride the rest of the day.
So goes the saga of riding motorcycles. Sometimes we fall down, it's a part of life that us junkies accept every time we ride. I did manage a gift card for a free ride on the next school event. I explained how her riding skills would be drastically limited by her lowered bike. She promise me she would show up next time with her bike at stock height even though she would be forced to tippy toe at stops.
This gal is going to make an exceptional rider. She was/is a wonderful student. Paid close attention to instruction, never interupted with excuses why she didn't or couldn't follow a given guideline to accomplish then did her very best to follow instruction. IDEAL STUDENT of two wheels.
I look forward to watching her progress!
We had our annual July "Women Only" track event yesterday and one of my girls fell. I take it personally when I allow someone to crash. I usually have one student get off annually. No matter how much effort I put into keeping everyone upright there always seems to be one that finds a way to run off the track, over extend the brakes or manage to use one of the many other common denominators to create a chain of events that overwhelm them.
This gal showed up with a Honda 600 F4I. Great Track Bike that performs very well unless it's lowered. Hers was. She was riding very well, I was impressed.
Most women, and most men for that matter, are not in very good physical condition when they show up and end up running out of steam by mid-afternoon with many giving up calling it a day early. Rightfully so, because you make mistakes when you are exhausted that you would not make when you are fresh. Your chances of crashing are increased by fatigue. However, the gal was in very good physical condition and had the physical appearence of an athelete.
She began the first session by dragging her pegs on both sides. Impressive indeed. I coached her on body position to help her stay off the pegs explaining that dragging anything increases her chance of loosing traction. He had decent body position and it didn't take long to have her hanging off a bit farther (Not perfect but good). Now she was only touching a peg on occasion now and then. Around noon she burried the peg on the pavement on a 40 mph corner and down she went.
She was unscathed and the only damage it did to the honda other than scratching the plastics was breaking the rearset mounting bracket. Simple fix but made the bike unrideable. She was a bit shakey when I got her up but ten minutes later she was pissd that she couldn't ride the rest of the day.
So goes the saga of riding motorcycles. Sometimes we fall down, it's a part of life that us junkies accept every time we ride. I did manage a gift card for a free ride on the next school event. I explained how her riding skills would be drastically limited by her lowered bike. She promise me she would show up next time with her bike at stock height even though she would be forced to tippy toe at stops.
This gal is going to make an exceptional rider. She was/is a wonderful student. Paid close attention to instruction, never interupted with excuses why she didn't or couldn't follow a given guideline to accomplish then did her very best to follow instruction. IDEAL STUDENT of two wheels.
I look forward to watching her progress!
