Motorland Aragon 11th-13th September 2015

[Turbo]

Wow! Great pics. That lap is HEAPS quicker than your previous PB.
What changed??!!

[ironside]

What changed??!!

It was my first time there on the 1000cc, my old PB was set about 18 months ago on the CBR6 but when James was good enough to give me a shot for science purposes I was still 7 seconds quicker on that too.

I spent the first day under instruction by Mike Dickinson. He's an ex-South African champion turned professional coach. I was a little apprehensive about this as I've had instruction from celebs/ex-superstars before. While they're all very talented riders they're shite instructors. They don't know how they do it, why they're fast and certainly can't articulate it to someone like me. I don't respond well to the "just try going faster and braking less" instructors. I get the most from instructors who are specific about what to do and why, it's then much easier for me to trust them and push my boundaries a bit.

Saying that, a mate of mine that comes on just about every one of these trips too has had much the same experience with instructors as me. We did California Superbike School together and have also experienced some of the less gifted instructors I was talking about together too. He's already used Mike and been very happy with the results, in fact he's the only instructor (barring CSS) that he's been to more than once so I wasn't going in totally blind.

I don't think I've ever had such a knackering day riding but it was very worthwhile as it clearly shows in the laptimes and the neater riding. We got on well, he has exactly the kind of style I like. Specifics, no nonsense.