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Feel free to hang out and lurk as long as you like. However, we would like to encourage you to 
Tuesday May 10th I attended Reg Pridmore's "CLASS".
To simply say that it did not live up to my expectations....
would be polite, but not the whole story:
I got virtually no instruction, and certainly no one-on-one attention. Reg stood in front of 'B Group' rambling and repeating himself, obviously his heart wasn't into it. When I was moved to 'A Group', Reg didn't hold ANY kind of class when we came in from off the track, and there were maybe 5 of us who wanted and anxiously waited for instruction.... The rest of 'A Group' were CLASS groupies who had no need nor desire for any kind of instruction. In short, the classroom experience was essentially non-existent.
I had difficulty telling who the instructors were. Later deciding that all but two had absolutely no interest nor investment in their assigned function and didn't even bother going to the track to offer their help. Three of the instructors introduced at the beginning of the day had recent get-offs and had no plans of even getting on a bike.
Reg was shameless in his attempt to solicit students who might be interested in giving him $25 to ride on the back of his Honda VFR1200. His wife seemed desperate to get money for some old & dusty CLASS baseball caps, dingy & dirty ill-folded t-shirts, a single pair of HELD gloves, a fleece jacket, and odd looking jean jackets with "CLASS" embroidered on them.
I had a heck of a good time, and I got a chance to ride balls-out with no fear of traffic, oil spills, or gravel.
But NOBODY told me that my riding form sucked.....
I wasn't told that I was stiff-arming it (despite my attempt to keep my arms bent & loose), I had no idea how or where to place my outside knee, where to put my inside heel, the balls of my feet, placement of my head, my inside arm..... etc. I learned these things AFTER THE FACT when an acquaintance (who USED TO teach with CLASS) saw the picture below.
In summation:
CLASS sucks and ripped me off of an additional $100 for a day promising more track time, one-on-one instruction, and personal attention. Where normally he charges $250 on this track for a day, I paid $350 because they limited it to 'A Group' & 'B Group'.... no 'C Group' to take up additional time, space, and track time.
And I suck,
as can be seen by the beautifully produced photograph below, with my poorly executed body form & riding style fronting me off as a wannabe, a CLASS attendee who was taught nothing, and as an old man who's decided that it might be too late (and too expensive).....
to teach THIS old dog, new tricks.
Ian Donald, photographer. Infineon Raceway, CA at turn 2.
Anybody wanna buy an SV set up for 250 pounds?
To simply say that it did not live up to my expectations....
would be polite, but not the whole story:
I got virtually no instruction, and certainly no one-on-one attention. Reg stood in front of 'B Group' rambling and repeating himself, obviously his heart wasn't into it. When I was moved to 'A Group', Reg didn't hold ANY kind of class when we came in from off the track, and there were maybe 5 of us who wanted and anxiously waited for instruction.... The rest of 'A Group' were CLASS groupies who had no need nor desire for any kind of instruction. In short, the classroom experience was essentially non-existent.
I had difficulty telling who the instructors were. Later deciding that all but two had absolutely no interest nor investment in their assigned function and didn't even bother going to the track to offer their help. Three of the instructors introduced at the beginning of the day had recent get-offs and had no plans of even getting on a bike.
Reg was shameless in his attempt to solicit students who might be interested in giving him $25 to ride on the back of his Honda VFR1200. His wife seemed desperate to get money for some old & dusty CLASS baseball caps, dingy & dirty ill-folded t-shirts, a single pair of HELD gloves, a fleece jacket, and odd looking jean jackets with "CLASS" embroidered on them.
I had a heck of a good time, and I got a chance to ride balls-out with no fear of traffic, oil spills, or gravel.
But NOBODY told me that my riding form sucked.....
I wasn't told that I was stiff-arming it (despite my attempt to keep my arms bent & loose), I had no idea how or where to place my outside knee, where to put my inside heel, the balls of my feet, placement of my head, my inside arm..... etc. I learned these things AFTER THE FACT when an acquaintance (who USED TO teach with CLASS) saw the picture below.
In summation:
CLASS sucks and ripped me off of an additional $100 for a day promising more track time, one-on-one instruction, and personal attention. Where normally he charges $250 on this track for a day, I paid $350 because they limited it to 'A Group' & 'B Group'.... no 'C Group' to take up additional time, space, and track time.
And I suck,
as can be seen by the beautifully produced photograph below, with my poorly executed body form & riding style fronting me off as a wannabe, a CLASS attendee who was taught nothing, and as an old man who's decided that it might be too late (and too expensive).....
to teach THIS old dog, new tricks.
Ian Donald, photographer. Infineon Raceway, CA at turn 2.
Anybody wanna buy an SV set up for 250 pounds?
) down and experience some southern hospitality. Fly out to Atlanta and sign up for X-Act "B" group for Barber July 9th and/or 12th for that day/weekend. I can pick you up in Atlanta and then we can head to the track. I guarantee you'll have more instruction than you can absorb in one day/weekend. I usually sleep at the track or at a hotel close by.
one of my more humbling track day experiences was at TWS. I was riding B group on my SV650s, just passed a few supersports and feeling good [maybe a little cocky]. Then, mid turn an instructor on a ninja 250 passed me on the inside like I was parked. I never caught up with him either 
. I have family in Oakdale and Concord near you. I go in and out of SFO with roundtrip costs of $430 nonstop. Call Pete and chat with him. Don't feel bad, I gotta eat PB&J sammies and oatmeal to pay for these too.
I think you're off to a great start and it's just going to keep getting better!
