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The May 2005
issue of
Rider Magazine had a
terrific article on CLASS by Arden Kysely.
In case you missed it, here are some
highlights:
"Let's back up a moment
and look at why I enrolled. After 35 years
of street and dual sport riding without
serious incident, I must be reasonably
skilled or darned lucky - maybe both. What's
left to learn if I've made it this far?
Plenty as it turns out, but the main reason
I came was to gain confidence in my street
riding. If you haven't noticed, the mean
streets are just getting meaner. My plan was
to freshen my skills, learn new ones, and
sharpen my senses for surviving on the
modern roadway. Track time lured me in, too
- who wouldn't want to rev it up on the
racetrack? ..."
 "Pridmore teaches
that smooth riding is better riding, as it
upsets the
bike less than a gorilla style
approach and gives you better control of the
machine. And the better your control, the
better prepared you are for any situation on
the street or track. the discussion reminded
me of horse racing, where a jockey's job is
to let the horse run its fastest by not
interfering with its movements. Like
jockeys, we motorcyclists can hobble our
mounts by being too tense or wrestling them
around."
"Pridmore is a
natural in front of the class. Glib and
affable, he draws his material from a
lifetime of experience, including three AMA
Superbike championships and 30 years of
rider education. Each classroom session
netted me another technique or two."
"On my third track
session I had a few moments of brilliance -
a fluid corner entrance with an exit that
set me up for the next bend - then lost
concentration and crumbled into a chaos of
bad downshifts and erratic braking. If the
bike/rider interplay is a dance, mine was
more of a body slam in the mosh pit than a
waltz. Instructor Gigi Scherrey passed me as
I was slam-dancing my VFR, tapped her
CBR600RR's tail for "follow me" and showed
me how to put it all together. Three laps
later, after watching her lines and
analyzing each control input, I was riding
much better. There's no substitute for
concentration on the track, or the street,
and following Gigi made me focus every
synapse on riding. That whole "control"
thing was starting to make a dent."
"Back on the track,
I was getting in the groove. My downshifts
from second to first for turn 2 were much
quieter, my weight shift was improving, and
my Diablos were sticking tight to the sun
warmed track.... I never did get off the
perfect lap, though I was much more
confident in the saddle and my boots
frequently grazed the tarmac as long as I
kept my attention on riding. But lose focus,
and those old habits come back faster than a
bad check."
 "At days end, with
my clutch hand cramping and my head chock
full of riding wisdom, my goals had all been
met, yet I'd only scratched the surface of
what there is to learn about riding, and
certainly needed more practice. It's no
wonder so many people repeat this school."
"Does 52 students
sound like a lot? It did to me, but it's a
credit to Pridmore's organization that you
never feel crowded on the track and there's
always someone to help you. Bikes may bunch
up occasionally, but the straightaways
untangle any knots and the instructors
are always monitoring the track. The session
ran extremely well (smoothly, you might
say), with men and women aged 21 to 72 on
everything from a Harley to a Super Motard
KTM sharpening their skills in a safe
environment."
© Rider Magazine.
Quotes used with permission.
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