It’s been a while, but
these are my lesson notes from the Suzuka Circuit Traffic Education Center on 7/30/2022.
It was hot again that day.
It seems that someone in another class suffered from heat stroke.
Everyone, let’s ride without overdoing it.
My first STEC with my new riding shoes
The contents of this blog are:
Heatstroke prevention measures at STEC.
Braking practice just before the front locks.
Finally managed to make a full-lock U-turn.
Random pylon slalom for the first time in a while.
Course slalom with toes rubbing.
orientation
This time I will be taking the “Sporty Ride Lesson” again.
There were only 11 participants.
There were only two instructors, so
it was effectively a small class size.
By the way, the “Touring Ride Challenge” also had 15 participants,
which seems smaller than usual.
The instructor this time was
someone who used to help out with lessons as an apprentice when I first started attending STEC.
Wow, it feels strange.
My assignment for this lesson,
like last time, was “Quick turns!”
Warming up
As always, we started with a warm-up run.
After a thorough warm-up,
we did lean-in, lean-out, and lean-with runs.
This seemed to loosen up everyone’s stiff bodies.
I’m thinking that I’ll try doing this on my own from the next lesson.
Braking practice
Repeated braking
After warming up, it’s time to practice braking.
First, we’ll practice accelerating and decelerating repeatedly.
In the last lesson, I was told that I was not opening the throttle properly, so
I started with full throttle in first gear and then suddenly braked!
After I got used to it, I tried it with one hand.
It’s a bit wobbly.
I need to relax my arms more.
Targeted braking
Next, we did targeted braking as usual.
No one pointed out anything, just praise.
Since there were only a few people, we were able to run as much as we wanted.
Targeted braking part 2
Because it is targeted braking, I and the other students brake with a margin of safety.
So, for the last two laps,
it’s okay if you can’t stop completely, so let’s go all out!
I went all out too.
I try braking with about 9 on the front brake and 1 on the rear brake.
From behind, the CB1100RS is using its ABS hard.
Not to be outdone, I keep squeezing it harder and harder.
After a few tries, I felt a “slippery” sensation.
The instructor was watching me and said that I was on the verge of locking up.
(You can tell from the outside)
So that’s what it feels like.
I wasn’t scared.
I found out later that my bike didn’t have ABS…^^;
Practice turns
Next, practice turns.
Make a U-turn around one pylon.
Try driving with a wide entrance and a narrow exit as usual.
I’ve done this many times, so when I get used to it, I’ll challenge myself to drive with a narrow entrance and exit!
I pressed the rear brake until it was almost stalled,
twisted my body hard, and yelled in my head,
“Turn that way!”,
and the handlebars locked up with a “jerk.”
Yes (^o^)/
I did it on both sides.
I spent the rest of the time doing this and I fell over! (lol)
I feel good today!
Straight pylon slalom & offset slalom
In the afternoon, it’s pyro slalom.
I hate that.
Straight pylon slalom
In the first half, we just repeat straight pylon slalom.
In second gear, we focus on practicing smooth throttle operation.
Halfway through, we cheated by running in third gear.
I’m getting used to this third-speed slalom.
Offset slalom, random slalom
After passing through the offset slalom, a randomly placed slalom.
It’s been a while since we’ve seen a random slalom.
These mean settings really motivate me.
They’re proof I have a bad personality (laughs).
With this offset and random setting,
if you drag the front brake for more than half the turn,
you can turn quickly.
With random slalom,
if you don’t look at the next pylon and decide your start of the turn and your speed,
you’ll fall victim to it.
But it’s possible to get around it.
If your speed is too slow, just open the throttle earlier,
and if your speed is too fast, release the brake later,
and you can slow down as you turn and it will work.
Course Slalom
The last lesson was the fun course slalom.
The difficulty of this course was one of the top three.
As usual, the first half was a high-speed section that I don’t like very much.
The second half was a tight-turning section.
Rhythm is important
As always,
if I don’t make the first right corner well after the start,
the first S-curve section becomes a mess.
It’s all about rhythm.
Today, I felt like I was being thrown off when I turned around at the high-speed S-curve at the back!
After a few runs,
I started to pick up the pace,
and the bike seemed to be leaning more than usual,
so my toes were rubbing against it.
My right foot was on the rear brake, so I couldn’t avoid it,
and it was rubbing against it every time.
But thanks to my new shoes,
I wasn’t afraid of getting caught.
Once I got used to the course, the instructor followed me and
he gave me the OK for the first half.
He said that in the second half, in the slow-speed section,
my eyes were too close and it was too crowded.
After the final break
I followed the instructor from earlier,
but he braked quite far back,
leaving me behind at the entrance to the corner!
I tried my best and braked late,
and the front of the car was “slippery.”
Wow, I can really go that far.
The advice after the ride was,
“Brake early. You should be able to go further back!”
That was the end of this lesson.
Heat stroke prevention measures at STEC
During this Touring Ride Challenge, some people suffered from heatstroke, so for reference, I will write down the countermeasures I took.
First of all, the environment at STEC is a vast, flat asphalt surface, so the heat reflected from the road is high, and you can expect the temperature to be much higher than the weather forecast.
Also, unlike touring, there is almost no high-speed driving, so the wind while riding will not cool you down.
For those who wear clothing, mesh clothing is a must.
In my case, I ride wearing a single long-sleeved cool-type inner layer and a protector.
Then, during breaks, I take off the protector and cool my body.
I sometimes wear shorts during my lunch break.
The most important thing is to stay cool.
Of course, staying hydrated is absolutely essential.
Maybe next time in September?
