Dougs Polen's 1 on 1 School!

[08hyper]

These are my thoughts of the school when Todd (hyprduc) Scott (antigrav) & myself signed up for Doug's 1 on 1 school.

Doug Polen's school turned to be great, but I wasn't too sure at first, because it was like follow the leader, and I thought it would be more on technic, braking, and body position, bit it was not, it was all about being smoooooth, the right lines, and going FREAKING FAST!!

We all had (3) 1 on 1 sessions with Doug, and because of the time tables, we had the 1 on 1 sessions in the A,B,& C, groups, my first session was in the "B" group and my radio took a dump halfway thru & so I could not hear him, so it ended up as a "trying to follow the leader" session. My next session was in the "C" group, what a fu*king cluster fu*k! it was my worst session, I'm trying to follow Doug, and he's kinda yelling at me, "come on! come on! gas it! pass! stay left, stay right," well it wasn't that easy, Doug would pass 5 bikes at at a time, so that meant I had to get thru the riders, but some the "C" group riders were unpredictable, and would "park" in the corners, so I lost a lot of momentum, and had to pick off 1 rider at a time, trying to catch up to Doug, and to top it off, I was trying to pass the "C" riders only on the outside, not realizing that when your with Doug you can pass anywhere

My last session was in the "A" expert group, and for me this is where it started to come together for me, with less & faster riders I was able to focus on what Doug was saying to me, and we were cooking! Doug & I came up on a group of about 12 to 15 riders, and I just stayed on his coattails, and we ended up passing ALL of them! and this is in the "A" class! I was stoked! the funny thing is that it for me was easier to pass the "A" group riders then it was to pass the "C" group riders, as they are predicable. This last session made the class worth it for me, and I think that Todd, Scott, & myself will be riding in the "A" class for now on.

The most important thing I learned other than being smooth is, how important your suspension & tires are, without the right set-up your just holding yourself back!

PS: Toddrick & Scottie, I'm not sure what you guys were telling Doug when I was out on the track, but I guess he thought the "Bull in the China shop" comment he made to me was funny, and when he signed my track picture of him & I, he wrote "your are an animal" Thanks a lot guys, LOL Alex
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[lelenb]

Did you guys use your Hypers?

Was there a portion of the school spent on setting up your bike, or was it just a conclusion reached during the school?

[08hyper]

Originally Posted by lelenb

Did you guys use your Hypers?

Was there a portion of the school spent on setting up your bike, or was it just a conclusion reached during the school?

You use your own bike, and after the first warm-up "get to know the track session" you take the bike to Race-Tec suspension service, at the track, (which is included) with Doug's school, Race-Tec will then set up your bike, and work with you all day to set your suspension to your riding style. Doug is the instructor, Race-Tec does the setting up of the bike. I will be needing to go heavier springs front & rear on my bike, to be set up correctly, Aloha Alex

[hyprduc]

Alex is right, it was great!! Suspension set up was incuded through Racetech. Alex is just a bit heavy for the bike even with the springs cranked down all the way. They were able to get mine close though and the bike felt pretty good. The first thing they did was set sag and adjusted rebound. My rebound was all jacked up and they evened it out well. The fact that we all ended up with 2:21 as fast lap times tells me that the bike is probably the limiting factor. I'm going to try either the Michelin Power One or the Bridgestone BT-003 tires and see what that does for me. Other than that I'm just going to enjoy running in the A group wherever I go

Originally Posted by lelenb

Did you guys use your Hypers?

Was there a portion of the school spent on setting up your bike, or was it just a conclusion reached during the school?

[Antigrav]

Doug's school worked great for me, but it depends on what you want/need... The way I saw it was Doug assumes you ride and isn't going after teaching you riding posture/technique in a one day class. I got the hint that he doesn't all care that much about your riding style as much as making you see the lines on the track and how to ride those correctly,riding with the least amount of input, .... And what happens is you start riding significantly faster because you understanding the technique of riding the track,using all of the track...This may seem a bit counter-intuitive since we all think if we ride/focus on great technique, turn in breaking point ect we will ride faster...But Doug teaching for me was "teach by example" Do as he says... and damn it worked for me.
I needed to be pulled up to a higher level by someone I could trust actually knows their shit, and it worked. I worked on my technique before alot, but this "towing" me around really let me forget and just ride faster and smoother.

To see the difference in perspective Alex didn't like the follow the leader and I loved it... For me being able to see how a Multi time Champ goes around a track (obviously at a slower speed) allowed me to mimic/copy him as best I could in real time while actually on my bike and that is how I learn best. Plus you are getting pushed a bit with his constant encouragement to do this and that. And by being pushed you are in a way forced into riding better and since you are riding his lines and he is expaining why and what. I was impressed that it did help me so much. I didn't think it would honestly becuase I thought it was about me doing more track days... its not about just doing more track days...

[Col]

good stuff guys
guess its true when they say its better to be the slowest in a faster group rather than the fastest in the slow group.

we all love a good chase.

[bromike666]

This sounds like something I need to do. My skills have been improving incrementally and I'm always focused on turn in point, braking... blah, blah,blah. Maybe I just need a pro to push me a little harder and drag me along.

I know I ride way slower than my skill level. My brain just keeps saying slow down and I just keep listening

[08hyper]

This is PROOF that I was ahead of World Champ Doug Polen! (even though he let me..) man, Doug is one SUPER FAAAAST dude!! LOL Alex

[Antigrav]

Originally Posted by 08hyper

This is PROOF that I was ahead of World Champ Doug Polen! (even though he let me..) man, Doug is one SUPER FAAAAST dude!! LOL Alex

You can't even realize how fast Doug is...he was just towing us like bags of cement...when I rode in the A group I had Neil Hodgson -who was at the track... pass us on Riverside and it was literally 40-60 MPH faster than I was going and my superduper GPS timer has me at riverside at 85-89 in the area he passed us... it was like a just a snap of screaming motorcycle engine passing by... Doug could still go close to that fast...and yes he doesn't have toes on one of his feet....

[Antigrav]

Originally Posted by bromike666

This sounds like something I need to do. My skills have been improving incrementally and I'm always focused on turn in point, braking... blah, blah,blah. Maybe I just need a pro to push me a little harder and drag me along.

I know I ride way slower than my skill level. My brain just keeps saying slow down and I just keep listening

Mike from my personal experience being relatively new to the streetbikes, I think its track days that actually make you better immediately because you don't have to think about on coming traffic, blind corners, cliffs and stuff. This was my fourth track day and I've learned more in those 4 days on the track than my 30 or so times riding up in the canyons. The other thing is I have done 3 track days in the last 5 months which is a lot of track time and my ability and confidence level feel like they have doubled.