During this lesson,
I had the biggest fall I’ve ever had during a lesson.
For a while, I’ll probably be in excruciating pain in my side every time I sneeze.
This time, I wasn’t prepared enough.
Usually, the day before the lesson, I look back on my past lessons and think about my goals for the next lesson and how to ride.
I’m not particularly good at riding bikes, and I’m not very athletic, so if I don’t decide what I’m going to do in advance, I’ll just sweat on the bike.
I think that was probably the fifth lesson.
This time, I completely forgot to reflect, and when I was filling out my chart, I was shocked.
(I wonder why I’m keeping this on my blog…)
I just wrote “become better at turning” on a whim.
This may have been the beginning of my bad luck that day.
Orientation
Orientation started at 9:30 as usual.
On this day, only the “2nd Sporty Ride Challenge Course” was held.
The instructors were already familiar to me.
The support instructor from the last time was the main instructor this time.
I’ve seen the support instructor this time before, but I think this was my first time taking a lesson.
The support instructor was replaced in the afternoon, so the main instructor from the last time took over.
He was also a familiar face.
The orientation usually ends with a simple administrative explanation, but this time there was a mini lecture on brakes, with a simple graph drawn.
In simple terms, it’s not good to squeeze too early, and not good to release too early.
I can’t explain it well, so I’ll skip it here (lol).
Also, the order of the lessons was different from usual, and the last course slalom was changed to the first thing in the afternoon.
Finally, we’ll run the pylon slalom.
The number of students this time is the full capacity of 22!
It’s the perfect time to ride a bike.
I saw some good riders here and there that I hadn’t seen in a while.
There are so many of us, so I don’t think we’ll be able to ride very much today.
So I’m going to make sure I take care of each and every ride…
Warming up
First, we started with the obligatory warm-up.
We used the same vehicle as in the last lesson.
Warming up is to warm up the tires and loosen up the body.
I understand what that means, but
I was able to hear a little more in-depth.
If you try to warm up the tires all at once, they will repeatedly heat up and cool down,
and the temperature of the tires will not be uniform, making it difficult to ride.
Well, it’s a world I don’t understand at my level…
So the theory is that you should warm up the tires gradually.
I think they said it was like shaping the tires.
Also, I’ve heard this before, but
when the brakes warm up, they work differently than when they’re cold,
and the movement of the brake lever also changes,
so after they warm up, you should also readjust the position of the brake lever.
That’s what they said.
First time…
As always, after a thorough warm-up,
I took a slow ride on the city course.
I didn’t open the throttle, but used the clutch and rear brake to make small turns at a slow pace.
I made a left turn, got too close to the pylon and stalled.
I fell, crushing the pylon.
The shift pedal got stuck deep inside,
so I couldn’t shift gears.
I was told to continue as I was only using first gear,
so I pulled myself together and resumed driving!
Second time today!
I was riding smoothly for a while, but then the bike tilted during a right turn, and when I engaged the clutch to straighten it up, the momentum was too strong and my body was left behind…
Then my right arm stretched out and the throttle opened!
I was thrown off by the accelerating bike, and did a beautiful head slide!
(That’s what I thought (T_T). According to the instructor)
I hit the shield cover of my helmet, my right side, and my right hip! …
I have some pain in my side, but it won’t affect the lesson!
Continuing with the lesson.
I started using this protector last time, and it had padding on my sides, so it helped me.
Brakes
After repairing the bent pedals,
I pulled myself together and headed to the next lesson.
Repeat braking from full throttle in first gear!
After that, we moved on to target braking.
The designated speed was a maximum of 70km/h.
I completed the braking practice with no difficulty.
I’m starting to feel more confident!
Turns
I continued practicing turns, and was advised that I was “releasing the brakes too early.”
By “too early,” I understood that it wasn’t the timing to release the brakes, but rather that I should gradually release them.
Ah, I remember being told that before^^;.
Leaving the brakes all the way in was difficult and scary.
However, until now I’ve started turning right too early and couldn’t get behind the pylon, but now I can get around to the back of it (^o^).
Lunchtime Stroll
After lunch, I took my usual stroll around Suzuka Circuit.
There were still vestiges of the F1 era.
Course Slalom
The afternoon started with a loud greeting from the replacement support instructor!
He was greeted with applause from all the students.
Course slalom started right away.
There were many fast runners, so we decided to start from the middle.
The course itself wasn’t a difficult layout, but I couldn’t run the way I wanted to.
Maybe I’m still struggling from the fall in the morning?
If you liken it to a game controller, it’s like the D-pad.
When the support instructor followed him,
he said,
Your movements are worse than usual.
There should be no difference between the left and right movements.
Gradually, your body is moving inward.
But,
If you liken it to a game controller, it’s like the D-pad.
The forward and backward movements and the left and right movements are separate,
and in the first place, your forward movement is completely delayed, and you can’t make it in time for the acceleration.
You’re not taking the initiative.
No, no, you’re barely moving,
and there’s no change from your position of pressing down on the rear tire with the brakes.
You need to move in all directions, like a control stick, not like a D-pad.
He pointed that out bluntly.
I think he’s right.
Too far ahead
After a while, the main instructor started following me (without even noticing).
He advised me that I needed to be aware that my weight was still in front of me, so I had to return my body to the starting position.
Actually, he had given me almost the same advice in the previous lesson, saying that instead of turning while keeping the weight on the front tire when braking, I should release the weight from the front tire and let it roll.
I made him say the same thing again…
I really haven’t grown much.
Move forward.Take the weight off the front.
The former instructor said, “Move forward.”
The latter instructor said, “Remove the weight from the front.”
That’s what they said.
If you just read the words,
it seems like they’re saying the exact opposite.
However, there was one thing they had in common when they were receiving this advice:
they both used the example of a turn that turns more than 90 degrees.
In my own words,
I interpreted “take the weight off the front” as a reference for the first half of the turn,
and “move forward” as a reference for the second half of the turn.
Well,
even when you brake and start to turn,
your body is still leaning forward,
and even when you start to accelerate, your body can’t keep up…
You’re just standing there like a stick (T_T).
To summarize,
if we imagine a hairpin curve,
the turn begins with braking,
but instead of just sitting there and waiting for the turn to start,
actively release the weight from the front and shift it to the rear,
and let the front tires roll.
Then, before the turn ends, start moving back and forth in preparation for acceleration.
Is that something like that?
To put it more simply,
it seems fine to think of it as the weight remaining on the front because the advance movement wasn’t made.
In the next lesson, let’s use this as a hint to think about our goal.
Straight pylon slalom & offset slalom
Straight pylon slalom is my worst,
and offset slalom is fun.
I can tell that I’m not moving well in straight pylon slalom.
Even in my favorite offset, the bike won’t lie and I can’t turn.
The main instructor gave some advice (I couldn’t hear it) over the loudspeaker, and at the same time, he said,
get advice from the support instructor behind me!
What!?
It seems he’d been watching from behind for the whole lap.
He said,
Even here,
it’s different from usual. Your throttle operation is awkward, and you’re not moving.
He even followed up, saying, “There are days like that.”
Today’s lesson is full to capacity and it’s difficult, so I’m sorry for getting so much advice so many times.
After the final break, I thought,
I can’t continue feeling unsatisfied like this!
I decided to concentrate on the offset slalom run.
During the break, I did some mental training,
and if I could get the rhythm right, I would try dragging the front brake all the way.
However, if I couldn’t get the rhythm, I wouldn’t push myself!
Twist your body firmly, turn it inward,
and bring the bike to the back of the pylon while placing your little finger on the top of the pylon.
Let your body lead so that the bike passes under your body and switches sides.
With about 20 minutes left, I concentrated all my energy on the offset slalom!
I gradually started to pick up speed!
A few minutes left
Somehow, I got back to my normal feeling,
and tried to hold the front brake firmly.
The turning radius got smaller,
and at the end the front tire cut in with a jerk.
Ah, depending on how you use the front brake,
it can turn so much.
Until now, I’d been too scared,
and even though I thought I was holding it in, I wasn’t holding it in.
But in the end, I had a good harvest!
I kept riding until the time was up, trying not to forget this feeling,
and the day came to an end.
Summary
My next challenge is to improve my forward and backward movements and timing.
I don’t want to separate my forward, backward, left and right movements.
Also, I want to improve my braking, which I can do in braking practice, but I can’t do in course slalom.
The next lesson is two weeks after this one!
I think I still have the feeling from this lesson, so I hope I can make use of it.
I’m grateful to the instructor who gave me advice many times this time, even though he was very busy with full capacity!
I guess he was considerate of my morning dive!
I wanted to thank him after the lesson, but I couldn’t.
Bonus
On the way home, I stopped by the shop to pick up the jersey that had been reserved for me, and there was a 8-hour endurance race machine there.
