My CSS day, a few thoughts.
Discussion
Well, I was at a CSS day on the 29th of May. I had thought to give a review quite soon after but the weather has been so good and well I just could not get off the bike. 
Over 1000 miles later I have finally put the helmet back on the shelf 
.
As I am sure most of you know that there are 4 levels to the CSS programme, I was in Level one. There were about 22 people in our green, level one group, another 60 in the other groups. I was very impressed with the level of organisation on the day. We were met on arrival and very quickly identified and stickered up. I was with a mate and were both directed quickly to the correct parking places and herded to registration. The strange thing was I was not getting as nervous as I would normally. I think as we were handled quickly I had no time to get too worked up. Our bikes were scrutinised whilst we got our kit checked over and then we were into the safety briefing bit; flags and rules etc. We were then split into our different groups and the day began.
The setting was Stowe circuit, inside Silverstone, a mile long circuit with a couple of longish straights and 7 or so turns, is a chicane 1 or 2 turns? The sun was shining bright and there was not a cloud in the sky, it was perfect The day started at 7 am and ended at about 5.30pm There was a track day on the main circuit for cars and the day would be punctuated by the sound of some tasty metal being hurried down the huge GP circuit. It is all about the atmosphere 
Ok about the day. The day is split into 5 class room sessions followed by a track session in order for you to practice what you have just been taught. The idea is to break up the process of riding into discreet techniques that you add to with each lesson. Sounds simple and in a way it is but the value of having someone explain what is happening to your bike with each input you make and then you trying it out is huge. I went in knowing about a lot of the concepts they teach, throttle input in bends, counter steering and vision, but it was very quickly clear that knowing about it does not mean you know how to do it. I was making so many mistakes in my application of throttle and steering inputs that it is a wonder I have not crashed..
Anyway I am getting ahead of myself, the five lessons were; Throttle control, Turn points, Quick Turning, Rider Input and Two Step Turning (vision). Each lesson was taught by Andy Ibott in a class room environment where the techniques were discussed. You were given a drill to do in the following track session to put what you had learnt into practice. I will not go into what they were otherwise we will be here for hours. The track sessions were of about 20 - 25 mins in length and there was a riding instructor for 3-4 students. You would get out on track and try to get the techniques right. The instructors would follow you for a bit and then overtake you, scary the first time they blast past, and if needed would give a running demonstration as you followed them. If that did not work you went into the pits to have a chat to see what the issues were. This worked well with there being plenty of time to get a few laps in to practice. Once the session ended you got feedback from the riding instructor before the next class room session.
Meanwhile there was an additional steering practical that every one had to complete in a separate area, done in breaks between class room and track sessions. This was simply to give you some instruction to get you to counter steer effectively, getting you to position yourself to get better leverage and control on the bars.
My impressions; what a FANTASTIC day, I learnt a load of control techniques and my riding is in one day smoother and quicker than the entire 20 000 miles of riding I have done before. Like I said the concepts are simple and easy to understand meaning it is possible to put them into practice straight away. I do not mean you get on track and are immediately quicker but with practice, in my case I have to unlearn some bad habits, it will click and you have a eureka moment where it works and feels AMAZING. I am still not consistently at that level but it is getting there. There were a couple of drills that were of particular use to me, the steering practice, I was holding on FAR too tight, and the Quick Turn, I did not know a bike could turn that Quick! I am sure for some there will be other things that have more impact but I believe anyone would learn a lot from this course and I can not recommend it highly enough.
This was also my first experience on track and I am hooked, I have to do it again as soon as possible Here are a couple of pics:
And yes the bike is too small and I look like a copper
Just added this for perspective :
Over 1000 miles later I have finally put the helmet back on the shelf .As I am sure most of you know that there are 4 levels to the CSS programme, I was in Level one. There were about 22 people in our green, level one group, another 60 in the other groups. I was very impressed with the level of organisation on the day. We were met on arrival and very quickly identified and stickered up. I was with a mate and were both directed quickly to the correct parking places and herded to registration. The strange thing was I was not getting as nervous as I would normally. I think as we were handled quickly I had no time to get too worked up. Our bikes were scrutinised whilst we got our kit checked over and then we were into the safety briefing bit; flags and rules etc. We were then split into our different groups and the day began.
The setting was Stowe circuit, inside Silverstone, a mile long circuit with a couple of longish straights and 7 or so turns, is a chicane 1 or 2 turns? The sun was shining bright and there was not a cloud in the sky, it was perfect
The day started at 7 am and ended at about 5.30pm There was a track day on the main circuit for cars and the day would be punctuated by the sound of some tasty metal being hurried down the huge GP circuit. It is all about the atmosphere Ok about the day. The day is split into 5 class room sessions followed by a track session in order for you to practice what you have just been taught. The idea is to break up the process of riding into discreet techniques that you add to with each lesson. Sounds simple and in a way it is but the value of having someone explain what is happening to your bike with each input you make and then you trying it out is huge. I went in knowing about a lot of the concepts they teach, throttle input in bends, counter steering and vision, but it was very quickly clear that knowing about it does not mean you know how to do it. I was making so many mistakes in my application of throttle and steering inputs that it is a wonder I have not crashed.
. Anyway I am getting ahead of myself, the five lessons were; Throttle control, Turn points, Quick Turning, Rider Input and Two Step Turning (vision). Each lesson was taught by Andy Ibott in a class room environment where the techniques were discussed. You were given a drill to do in the following track session to put what you had learnt into practice. I will not go into what they were otherwise we will be here for hours. The track sessions were of about 20 - 25 mins in length and there was a riding instructor for 3-4 students. You would get out on track and try to get the techniques right. The instructors would follow you for a bit and then overtake you, scary the first time they blast past, and if needed would give a running demonstration as you followed them. If that did not work you went into the pits to have a chat to see what the issues were. This worked well with there being plenty of time to get a few laps in to practice. Once the session ended you got feedback from the riding instructor before the next class room session.
Meanwhile there was an additional steering practical that every one had to complete in a separate area, done in breaks between class room and track sessions. This was simply to give you some instruction to get you to counter steer effectively, getting you to position yourself to get better leverage and control on the bars.
My impressions; what a FANTASTIC day, I learnt a load of control techniques and my riding is in one day smoother and quicker than the entire 20 000 miles of riding I have done before. Like I said the concepts are simple and easy to understand meaning it is possible to put them into practice straight away. I do not mean you get on track and are immediately quicker but with practice, in my case I have to unlearn some bad habits, it will click and you have a eureka moment where it works and feels AMAZING. I am still not consistently at that level but it is getting there. There were a couple of drills that were of particular use to me, the steering practice, I was holding on FAR too tight, and the Quick Turn, I did not know a bike could turn that Quick! I am sure for some there will be other things that have more impact but I believe anyone would learn a lot from this course and I can not recommend it highly enough.
This was also my first experience on track and I am hooked, I have to do it again as soon as possible
Here are a couple of pics:And yes the bike is too small and I look like a copper
Just added this for perspective :
Edited by IsMad on Wednesday 3rd June 16:43
dibblecorse said:
Nice write up, I'm a huge CSS fan, who was your coach ???
My riding coach was hippy, or Ben in the real world, he was great, really helpful and patient I take it you have been, have you done any of the other levels? I am thinking of doing Level two in August is it the same sort of thing?i was there the day before, also doing level 1. again, i found it very useful, there were a wide range of experiences there. one of the lads i went with is a good rider, and i think he felt frustrated with the track sessions, as there was too much traffic for him. i am not so good, so for me the pace was fine.
bullet was my instructor, he was fab. organisation was amazing, day flew past and the picman pics that came out were also great.
if you get the chance, have a go!
bullet was my instructor, he was fab. organisation was amazing, day flew past and the picman pics that came out were also great.
if you get the chance, have a go!
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?cropsuccess&am...
A few photos of when I did mine in March. However, the write up above is better than I could have done. Is a really good day, my coach was Johnny "the b
d" as he doesn't mince his words (apparently, he seemed like a top chap to me)
A few photos of when I did mine in March. However, the write up above is better than I could have done. Is a really good day, my coach was Johnny "the b
d" as he doesn't mince his words (apparently, he seemed like a top chap to me)mrh3113 said:
Is it worth a new rider doing this, from a point of view of picking up all the right habits early on before you develop bad ones? Or is it best to just get some general riding experience under your belt before going?
That is a good question, I think you gain more if you have some level of confidence on the bike, if you are still riding like you had just passed your CBT and this is your first time on a big bike then you may find it a bit daunting. I do not mean you have to be an expert rider but just are comfortable and able to ride on the road at traffic speed i.e still a learner . On our day the whole group increased their pace roughly equally, corner speed mainly. There were one or two who did not seem to have increased as much as the rest but did show some improvements. I do wish I had done it sooner though . OP - Good write-up, thanks. Did you at any point feel as though too much was being asked of you, or as though you were under pressure in any way to do something with which you were uncomfortable?
I am very interested in doing a CSS course but being totally honest I would be somewhat daunted if the others in Group 1 were leagues ahead of me in terms of ability. Not to mention it being unfair on the other participants who effectively were being "held back" by yours truly.
I am very interested in doing a CSS course but being totally honest I would be somewhat daunted if the others in Group 1 were leagues ahead of me in terms of ability. Not to mention it being unfair on the other participants who effectively were being "held back" by yours truly.
mrh3113 said:
Is it worth a new rider doing this, from a point of view of picking up all the right habits early on before you develop bad ones? Or is it best to just get some general riding experience under your belt before going?
have a look at the steering drill which is shown in the first programme about the school on motorstv - find it on youtube. its a slalom type drill. if you can do this at least as well as the girl in the video, you will be absolutely fine.dont worry about holding people up, its a learning day, not a track day. i am taking my frustrated mate to a track day this month so he can get it out of his system!
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