1-30 Update: I’m reposting this as it’s coming up this weekend and I hear there’s still a couple of spots left. Hope to see you there!
I wouldn’t call myself an expert at any discipline of motorcycling, but I have been fortunate enough to take classes from several experts to boost my skills in facets ranging from serious stuff like track riding (serious props to California Superbike School, one of the best programs I’ve gone through) to less serious stuff like wheelies. Well, one skill I’ve always wanted to get better at is getting the back loose and holding it in a slide. I’ve been tempted to try out a program like Johnny Lewis’s Slide School under the name of Moto Anatomy, but that’s usually based in Florida. I say usually because in early February, they’re running a weekend of sessions in Southern California! I’m going to check it out – will you join me?
Hopefully we’ll be like this guy!
The dates are February 4th and 5th at Chuckwalla Valley Raceway, and Moto Anatomy calls it the “West Coast Slide School Launch.”
Photo from Moto Anatomy
The class is 3.5 hours and they’re running morning and evening sessions on both Saturday and Sunday. I’ll be doing the Saturday evening session (should be interesting under the lights) as I’ll be doing a trackday on both Saturday and Sunday with SoCal Track Days.
That’s a separate thing: SoCal Track Days is owned by the same person who owns Chuckwalla, so they organize track days with a twist – there are no sessions. So once the track goes live, anyone can start or stop riding at their discretion, getting as much track time as they wish. Chuckwalla’s a bit far for me so whenever I go out there I try to ride two days in a row to justify the travel time. One nice thing about the track is that they have cabins on site to make the logistics much easier. Both days will be CCW, and it’s $230 per day. Hope to see you out there – you can sign up here! Don’t hesitate to let me know if you have any questions, but sign up quick as they typically limit attendance to ~40 riders/day to make sure you can ride to your heart’s content! Hopefully I’ll be on my Kramer by then!
Back to Slide School: I’ve goofed around with SkidBike in the past to get some practice with kicking the rear out, but the hope here is that I’ll be able to get a primer of flat tracking. My main hope by the end of this is that I’ll be able to consistently break the rear end loose and then hold it for a few seconds, as that’s something I’ve wanted to be able to do on my dirt bikes. I can occasionally make it happen for a brief instant, but now I want to be able to hold it for more glory:
Photo by Nathan May
Royal Enfield has gotten involved as a sponsor, so your $300 fee includes use of the “FT411“, a customized version of the Himalayan that I reviewed a couple of years ago.
You can sign up here (remember that I’ll be doing the February 4th evening session) – will I see you there?