You have to go slow to go fast
There’s little chance you’ll ever hear a motorcyclist say, “I think doing that racetrack training made me a worse road rider.” Instead, you’ll almost always get the exact opposite opinion. Spending time with a knowledgeable instructor in an environment conducive to experimentation – and by extension, failure – is the most efficient way to learn anything. Training on the track allows motorcyclists to overcome fear and intimidation, to explore the limits of adhesion and their own abilities.
Last summer, I had an opportunity to relive the feeling of starting fresh during a Honda Canada press launch with a bit of an instructional twist. While normally we’re on site to just test a product, which we were – the entire line of CBRs, in fact – this time Honda had invited a special guest along to join us journos on the track.
Excuses, Excuses
At that time, I hadn’t been on a track in a couple of years (the result of selling my supermoto and having become a family man). Combine that with my being in my mid-30s – which happens to be in the “target age group” for purchasers of the CBR line – and I was the perfect match for Honda’s plan to marry the press launch with an instructional component.
So, basically he has a resumé and reputation that precede his presence. But the first thing people will tell you about Haney is not that he can thrash a motorcycle – because he’s already pretty famous for doing that – but just how approachable and enthusiastic he is about teaching others. And I’d like to pass some of that on to you.
His initial message on day one of our two-day event at Roebling Road Raceway in Savannah, Georgia, was simple: start slow. The bikes are cold, the tires need to warm up and the track is cold and damp. All standard stuff to consider for anyone who rides a motorcycle on Canadian roads, and it all applied here, too.
Follow the Leader
We all soon realized that he was watching us like a hawk and not just casually leading us around. After pulling into the pits, he pointed out individual habits and gave correction, having spotted all of them through those little rearview mirrors, or sometimes at mid-corner with his left hand on the throttle while looking over his right shoulder – without going off line.
I spent the remainder of the day working on my technique while making notes on the various CBRs, each lap pulling a little more out of the memory bank and depositing a bit more confidence. The variety of bikes, from the CBR300R to Honda’s flagship powerhouse CBR1000RR, added an entirely new dimension to the training. Switching back and forth between models allowed us to really feel the difference that mass, tires, suspension, brakes, power output and so on make in real-world terms and not just on the stat page. This variety also highlighted that power doesn’t equal fun. Fun is being able to use the bike’s abilities and your own to the fullest, and the CBR300R and CBR500R made the perfect companions, keeping my stress levels low and the fun factor high. A couple of days on the track may well have you taking a different, and probably more educated, approach to a future bike purchase.
The next day dawned cool, wet and dreary, and all that confidence from day one was washed away with the water flowing across the track. It was back to class for some confidence building and need-to-know info. Once again, the message was “Start slow, begin at zero again.” Picking things up from where we’d left off the previous day would have been foolish, and yet, I almost made that very mistake, even after being warned not to.
Like a Duck
Once in the pits, few were in a hurry to get out in the wet, but I quickly made my way to a CBR500R, eager to test the bike and myself in the wet. No sooner had I reached for the key than Haney appeared from out of nowhere, offering a lead/follow around the track and some one-on-one time.
For the next 15 minutes, I followed him around in the wet, starting off at little more than a jogging pace and building speed each lap. I had two cameras recording for the entire session, and watching the footage illustrates perfectly why track training can do so much to improve all aspects of riding. Haney had warned us over and over that we’d have little to no warning before the bike lost traction in the wet. What seems like an agonizingly slow pace in person and on camera is actually right near the limit for the conditions, and on our last lap, my rear tire stepped out in a couple of corners. Had I just jumped on the track on my own and not taken the time to step the speed up from lap to lap, my ride may have ended very differently.
By day’s end, the sun had come out and the track had dried. Armed with Haney’s tutelage and the confidence of not having binned it while slip-sliding around in the wet, I found it much easier, and I was more comfortable to push the larger bikes. The incremental gains made with the help of an instructor and some time on the track to put it all together taught me a couple of important points that I’ve taken with me on every road ride since. First, when you are in a turn and you have the bike leaned way over, it’s rarely as far over as you think and there’s probably more grip available, so don’t stand it up and drive off the road if you think you’re running a bit wide. Second, confidence is key! Believing you can do it and having some practical experience to back it up can make all the difference when you have to react fast.
From my experience, the best way to build confidence is with a helping hand and some practice in a place that allows for the odd misstep, because we’re all going to make mistakes and we can all learn a thing or two from them. My opportunity to get back to the track highlighted just how much I needed a refresher and how much of what I learned translated directly to my road riding.
