S1E03: Are you "too slow" for track riding?
Champ School's Nick Ienatsch joins us with some words of wisdom for riders who either feel, or have been told, they're "too slow" for track riding.
Is there such a thing as "too slow" for track days? As a rider coach, and a rider who's struggled with increasing speed myself, even I have to answer that question: Yes, sometimes. But the rider you are today isn't the rider you'll always be: with work, most riders can bring up their pace without sacrificing safety. It may mean you've got work to do on your braking confidence; and it may mean you've got work to do on the grey matter between your ears. With the help of head instructor at Champ School, Nick Ienatsch, I'll share some of my own experience with working to overcome my "imposter syndrome" on the track -- and Nick shares some thoughts for riders who either FEEL, or have been told, they're "too slow" on the track.
Featured photo credit: At the Apex Photos.
For more information about Champ School, visit ridelikeachampion.com.
To order a copy of The Passion Paradox, visit Bookshop,org.
And for motorcycle rentals in South Florida, hit up Seth Starnes at trackbikerentals.com.
I’ve been in pandemic-induced paralysis on this episode since February … like for all of you listening, this year has not exactly gone according to plan.
If it had, tomorrow would be our 15th day on the track this year -- but instead, the count is 2.
We got a jump on the season by flying down to Palm Beach, Florida, for two days of Champ School at PBIR at the very end of January.
And at that time we had no idea what was headed our way, in the form of a global pandemic.
By late March when we’d planned a Thunder Hill trip, we were under a Stay Home order here on the West Coast of the US. We hunkered down at home and have taken things day by day since. We’d planned for me to start my new job (which I did -- I love it) and to get Chris’s shop off the ground this spring (which we are, but it looks a little different than we planned since we’re limiting service to pick-up and drop off for the time being).
And this was to be Chris’s novice race season, but with the changes to our personal schedule, that’s looking not so certain. Track days are starting back up here in the Pacific Northwest, with distancing and hygiene precautions in place -- so far the reports from the Ridge have been reassuring and even with my high risk status, I’m looking forward to getting back out there for at least part of the season. But racing may have to wait until next season.
It’s been nice in the last few weeks to reconnect with track friends … we’ll miss our Canadians while the border’s closed, but if everyone does their part to help the curve, fingers crossed we can all keep each other healthy, and see each other before too long. It’s not the season we planned, but we’re trying to make the best of it.
The end of January feels like a past life when we flew down to Florida, hopped in a rental car, and walked up to our rental bikes at Palm Beach International Raceway for a Champ School getaway. It was our second time through Champ School and I’m SO glad we chose it for our season opener -- getting the repetition of the Champion Habits they teach to help everything sink in was awesome … and, I rented an R3 this time around and found it really valuable to practice on a smaller bike. I’ve been on literbikes on the track for the last two seasons, and I specifically wanted more experience building my confidence at full throttle, and had a blast on that R3 finding wide open throttle at speeds that were giggle-inducing, not intimidating, for me.
Speaking of -- I want to give a huge thank you to Seth Starnes of TrackBikeRentals.com, who hooked us up with a race-prepped FZ07 for Chris, and the R3 I fell in love with. I keep telling myself I don’t need to own one ... but man, I love riding them on the track -- and I’m so glad I chose that platform to dust the cobwebs off after a few months of off season.
The Champ School tagline is “Faster, Safer” and I’m definitely a “Safer, Faster” type -- but my confidence and the amount of fun I’m having is increasing every time I ride and practice the Champ habits. And sharing a track and classroom with Roger Hayden -- every time he lapped me I found myself momentarily starstruck and then as soon as we were back in the classroom he was just a kind, rad, dude to spend a couple days at the track with like all of the Champ School instructors. I feel so lucky to get to ride with these guys: yes, it’s expensive -- we’re customers, not staff or sponsored. But for both Chris and I, it’s well worth the ticket price to practice with Nick and Chris and Kyle and Mark and their guest instructors. Chris is a “faster, safer” guy -- he’s getting ready to race, and wanting to spend more time on his tires than his frame sliders. For me, as a “safer, faster” gal, I wrestle with track riding: I love it because it’s hard, but I also struggle with the mental game of track riding, and with feelings of “not belonging” on the track. From Nick’s welcome during our first time through Champ School last year, to Chip and Mark and the rest of the guys literally cheering me down the track in Florida -- I feel welcome and a rad sense of belonging with Champ School that has changed how I ride AND how I feel about riding.
These guys have remarkable patience with head cases, which works out great for me.
I’ve spent a lot of time and put in a lot of work to try to get competent, and that was recognized last year by my track day org who moved me into a new rider instructor role. Which was awesome … that’s been my goal, all along, to be able to instruct other new riders and welcome them to the sport in a way that helps them feel welcome and confident. But I have no illusions about my qualifications or talent -- all season I battled my own confidence demons as a rider, even as I had some wonderful successes as a rider coach. I’m a confident, competent, happy street rider -- and don’t have these doubts on the street (ironically -- given all the other uncontrolled risks on the street).
But on the track when I’m not teaching, I struggle hard with voices of:
I’m not good enough
I don’t belong here
I should get out of the way
I’m in someone else’s way
I’ll never be good enough, why do I even try
And this is a proof-is-in-the-puddling sport -- with the risks and consequences involved, if your head’s not on right, you’re doing it wrong. Those voices don’t help me, and they definitely don’t help me have more fun on the track -- so I decided to spend this season working in a focused way on helping those voices find the door.
Because this is what we do -- I love riding, I love rider coaching (even if I’m taking a break from it this season to work on my own skills) … and I love track riding because it’s hard for me. So here we are. I keep at it, and set the goal for this year of overcoming these unhelpful thoughts at the track.
On the flight down to Champ School I read a great book -- The Passion Paradox by Brad Stulberg and Steve Magness -- it gave me some shortcuts to a more productive mindset on the track, which I got to practice for two days straight.
I wrote myself a little mantra for the two days out:
I’m here to learn to be better;
I am here, so I belong here as much as anyone else does;
And if they’re faster than me -- they’ll get around me.
And you know what?
It worked.
I had a blast, I spent pretty much the whole two days with a huge smile on my face. Instead of getting frustrated with my inability to apply certain drills or skills I tried my best -- then started over at the next turn.
The pandemic has been a setback, for sure -- I feel super bambi legs on my bikes even just puttering around the neighborhood -- but I’m super grateful to finally figure out that I need to work on my vision, my braking and throttle technique, and my body position, sure -- but most importantly, I need to work on the stuff between my ears.
Now here’s the few minutes with Nick I promised. For listeners who are unfamiliar, my first introduction to Nick was through his book: Sport Riding Techniques. He’s one of the founders and head instructors at Champ School, and I’m super grateful to count him among my riding coaches and teachers. I snagged a few minutes with Nick during our trip to Florida to ask him about something I hear a lot at the track -- and that newer riders sometimes worry about: being or feeling “slow” on the track.
[for the interview, you'll have to listen to the podcast episode!]
I hope this gives you a little bit of encouragement to get out there, even when it's a little challenging to overcome the voices from outside or inside your own head. I'd love to hear from you if this is something that you wrestle with and for writers who've made progress on beating back those unhelpful voices, in between their ears.
So thanks for tuning in today. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a rider friend, and you can always find us at http://themotocurious.com. Stay safe, stay fast. And right now stay home! We'll see out at the track sometime soon.
