Rich Oliver's Mystery School and IMS race
My birthday present from my lovely husband was a trip to Rich Oliver's two-day Fun Camp. We have been intending to go for years, but could never justify the money - until he decided, you only live once, and gave me this awesome gift. So we packed up my gear and headed out on Friday evening to Auberrry, CA (a hop, skip, and a few jumps from Fresno).
It's actually quite a pretty drive.
It started to pour as we approached Auberry, but it tapered off and gave us a lovely rainbow on the way in.
We had a room at Java Time, just down the street from the Fun Camp. We set our gear out and made an early night of it.
On the first day, after a mini-lecture and some stretching, they popped us on the TTR125s. It was odd to be back on one! After the KX and CRF, they felt so tiny.
(All of the pictures from the Fun Camp are courtesy of Rich Oliver and his family.) We worked on body position and getting a little bit of sliding on. And getting stuffed by Neal.
We did some sliding drills and some entry speed drills, working on sliding the rear into the corner. After a break for a nice home-cooked lunch, we went back out to practice more. We ended the day with a woods race, trying to apply what we had learned.
We had a good dinner, and went right to bed. That night, it dumped rain all night long, and tapered off just as we were heading to the Olivers' for an awesome home-cooked breakfast. This made for perfect conditions for the Mud Drills. We stretched and got on the bikes again, learning how to slide on both the brakes and the throttle in the mud. After more of those drills, we got to try on the steel shoes - and gawd, those are like cheating. So lovely for nice, controlled sliding.
We then did races. Lots of races. Lots of short, aggressive races.
I even managed to eke out a win in one of them, by keeping
...this bunch behind me.
A video from Rich Oliver's helmet cam, to give an idea of the races.
It was massively fun, some of the most fun I've ever had on the bike. All that sliding around at low speeds on little bikes did amazing things to make me more comfortable and confident on my bike. I believe this is a great experience for anyone who... well, who rides. The skills you learn, and the comfort you pick up with loss-of-traction-situations, could save your life on the street. And when it comes to the track...
...well, two weeks after the school, I signed up for the SMUSA race at the IMS. It rained; I was on slicks.
The Mystery School experience was invaluable. I felt comfortable in the slippery conditions, and despite quite a few slides, I didn't crash. I didn't get any wins but I took home a couple of trophies (second and third), and I'm quite happy with how I rode. I'm looking forward to applying the lessons learned to races next year!
Pictures courtesy of Mike Doran.
Neal found out, rather quickly, that a old, shagged rain tire on the rear doesn't let you get right on the gas on the first lap.
Once they warm up, they work much better.
Mike included a few pics of myself and Neal from a dry track day, which is quite cool of him. :)
It's actually quite a pretty drive.
It started to pour as we approached Auberry, but it tapered off and gave us a lovely rainbow on the way in.
We had a room at Java Time, just down the street from the Fun Camp. We set our gear out and made an early night of it.
On the first day, after a mini-lecture and some stretching, they popped us on the TTR125s. It was odd to be back on one! After the KX and CRF, they felt so tiny.
(All of the pictures from the Fun Camp are courtesy of Rich Oliver and his family.) We worked on body position and getting a little bit of sliding on. And getting stuffed by Neal.
We did some sliding drills and some entry speed drills, working on sliding the rear into the corner. After a break for a nice home-cooked lunch, we went back out to practice more. We ended the day with a woods race, trying to apply what we had learned.
We had a good dinner, and went right to bed. That night, it dumped rain all night long, and tapered off just as we were heading to the Olivers' for an awesome home-cooked breakfast. This made for perfect conditions for the Mud Drills. We stretched and got on the bikes again, learning how to slide on both the brakes and the throttle in the mud. After more of those drills, we got to try on the steel shoes - and gawd, those are like cheating. So lovely for nice, controlled sliding.
We then did races. Lots of races. Lots of short, aggressive races.
I even managed to eke out a win in one of them, by keeping
...this bunch behind me.
A video from Rich Oliver's helmet cam, to give an idea of the races.
It was massively fun, some of the most fun I've ever had on the bike. All that sliding around at low speeds on little bikes did amazing things to make me more comfortable and confident on my bike. I believe this is a great experience for anyone who... well, who rides. The skills you learn, and the comfort you pick up with loss-of-traction-situations, could save your life on the street. And when it comes to the track...
...well, two weeks after the school, I signed up for the SMUSA race at the IMS. It rained; I was on slicks.
The Mystery School experience was invaluable. I felt comfortable in the slippery conditions, and despite quite a few slides, I didn't crash. I didn't get any wins but I took home a couple of trophies (second and third), and I'm quite happy with how I rode. I'm looking forward to applying the lessons learned to races next year!
Pictures courtesy of Mike Doran.
Neal found out, rather quickly, that a old, shagged rain tire on the rear doesn't let you get right on the gas on the first lap.
Once they warm up, they work much better.
Mike included a few pics of myself and Neal from a dry track day, which is quite cool of him. :)