StreetMasters Cornering Workshop

[James Burleigh]

Got home at 2 PM today after three days and 837 miles down to Lancaster and back. But most important, I and my travel companions are certified streetmasters. Yep. We are masters of the street. More importantly, we are masters of the twisty street. And in case you doubt us, we got the t-shirts, caps, and certificates to prove it. All lesser riders may bow before us. All hail the Streetmaster!

NightShine met me at my house at 08:00 Friday morning, and we rode out to Ripon in the Central Valley, where at 10:00 we hooked up with about seven Feejers from the greater Sacramento area, led by incomparable, inscrutable, and always indecent MadMike2.

With MM2 in the lead, we headed south on Hwy 99 in loose staggered formation (loose from independent thinking versus alcohol). A couple hours later, at about noon we stopped in Fresno, where we met ToeCutter for lunch.

After lunch we said good-bye to ToeCutter and continued to Lancaster, arriving at 5:30 or 6. We checked into the motel, stowed our gear, then after freshening up, had some drinks and dinner before hitting the fart sack early in anticipation of a long day Saturday becoming masters of the street, or as we like to now call ourselves, Streetmasters.

We took the class (more about the StreetMasters class later, but for now... :clapping: ), and then came back to the motel, where we spied a black '08 sitting in the parking lot. "Who's '08 is tha?" we asked among ourselves but nobody knew.

The mystery was solved when we went in for dinner and ran into Kim, owner of California Sport Touring, and invited him to join us for dinner, which he did (Kim on the left behind his '08 in this photo, taken by Old Michael during an earlier ride). Kim had ridden down Saturday to take the StreetMasters class Sunday (today).

This morning some local Forum members led most of the Sacramento group on some local rides (which we will hopefully hear all about below, with pics), while Old Michael and I headed home separately up Hwy 5 (where the average speed is 90 MPH, BTW :blink: ). We left the motel at 7 AM, and as I said I pulled in at 2 PM. Old Michael?

I did not bring a camera, but others did, so.... Post up!

MadMike2, thanks for organizing this riding clinic and leading us down there! And Old Michael, I enjoyed cruising with you up Hwy 5 today, as always.

Jb

 

[Silent]

Sounds like you had fun! Looking forward to the rest of the story

 

[Old Michael]

Helluva weekend, huh Hans?

Thanks again brother.

 

[drew231506]

Might wanna change the thread title to "Forum guys I rode with for a little while" as some may be looking for a thread on "Street Masters Cornering Workshop."

B)

 

[madmike2]

Might wanna change the thread title to "Forum guys I rode with for a little while" as some may be looking for a thread on "Street Masters Cornering Workshop."
B)

Under "Ride Reports"? There was this thread about our plan to ride there which contained this link to Streetmasters.info. And then, there was this link organizing the ride from Streetmasters through Tehachapi and the Walker Basin via Caliente-Bodfish Rd. to Lake Isabella and on to Porterville.
IMO, this thread will expand to include pictures of the Streetmasters course we took and the ride there and back....once everyone recovers and loads/edits then posts their pictures.

Then agin, Eye bin rongue afore.

You might want to try this thread by Old Michael, with pictures AND text.

 

[SacramentoMike]

I'm wondering what that 90 mph average on I-5 would have been without you two characters' speed figured in, but anyway. . . I was with the bunch that left the Sacramento area along with MM2, Old Michael, Flying Junior, Gfran, and mhc (who came down from Shasta). Highway 99, recently recognized as the Crappiest Motorcycle Road Anywhere, at least let us make good time as we made it to Ripon, Fresno, and Bakersfield. It was good to meet Toecutter, though briefly, and Hans (JB) and Sam (NightShine). And I finally learned where the names "Toecutter" and "James Burleigh" came from!

The ride got a lot better after Bakersfield, less traffic and more hills and curves, and we passed by the 8 million windmills in the Tehachapi Pass, an amazing sight. We got to the motel in plenty of time to relax before the evening meet-and-greet, with all the participants and the instructors together, dinner (and drinks!) provided. The workshop began early, with a 7 a.m. bike and gear inspection, registration, and about an hour of classroom time with Bob Reichenberg, the director, telling us the goals of the course and their basic riding philosophy. Then it was out to the track. The Horse Thief Mile is one of three tracks at Willow Springs Raceway, about a 15 miles from the motel. Half of us began on the course while the others went to the practice pad. In groups of four, each with its own instructor, we began riding the course at a 25 mph maximum, without shifting or brakes! The "Mile" is shaped like a handprint (cartoon-style, with three fingers) on the side of a hill, with about a dozen curves or turns ranging from 40 degrees or so to about 200, going both uphill and down! After following our instructor for a couple of laps, we all took turns leading the pack for two more laps each, which was followed by a brief one-to-one critique and specific suggestions. The leader then dropped to the fifth position and the next student led, so everyone rode the whole time (I estimated at least 50 laps of the track for the day). Later we increased the speed by fives, eventually doing the course with a 45 mph maximum (by this time we were incorporating shifting and braking, thank God). I recorded my last run and it's not bad, but it's over 300 MB and Photo Bucket will take no more than 100 MB, so I can't upload it. If anyone has an easy solution to this, I'd appreciate hearing about it.

There are excellent descriptions of the course itself on line, like this one (for you, drew), so I'll leave the rest of it to the pros, but I do want to mention that the instructor for my group was Walt Fulton, kind of a motorcycle legend. His bio includes a couple of big Daytona wins, a role in "On Any Sunday," and membership in the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in Columbus, OH. Not hard to learn from a guy like that.

Did I mention that this day was FUN? That was one of the course goals, and they met it in spades. We all really had a ball, supported by the fact it was a great group of guys (and the few gals as well), both our large FJR contingent and the others, on Harleys, GoldWings, a Moto Guzzi, and one or two BMWs. I didn't mention that the FJR group was augmented that night by LastChance, who rode up from Ojai his brand-new Bill Mayer saddle, and by 03SilverBullet and his lady, Eva (thanks for bringing Eva!) We socialized some more and had a fine dinner at the motel--in fact, that motel was the only place I saw in Lancaster, except for one Chevron station.

MohaveFJR (Dave) and Kelly (thank you for bringing Kelly) joined us for dinner, and the next morning after checking out, what remained of our NorCal group met up with them and with HitTheRoadJack (Wendell), and with Eeksnake (Chris) and WorldBound4Now (Peter), who were up from the Las Vegas area. Wendell and Doug showed off some of the local riding, and it was impressive. We descended a stretch of road called the "Tehachapi Loop" that had 755 curves and a 22,000 foot altitude loss, absolutely the finest stretch of motorcycle road I've ridden, and what a chance to practice our newfound cornering skills! There were plenty more chances for curves, climbs, descents, and gorgeous views before we parted company somewhere in Kern County, where the hills run out and the roads get straight. Really straight. So three of us headed back over to 99 and north, making only the one right turn the rest of a helluva riding day.

Leaving Elk Grove-Old Michael's back, Flying Junior (Walt), MadMike, Gfran (Gary), mhc (Mark)

Lunch in Fresno--JB (Hans), MM2, Toecutter (Bob), Gary, Mark, NightShine (Sam), Walt, and. . . the Back of Old Michael's Head

Then it was back onto Hwy 99

Hans Just Couldn't Wait to Get There

Here's Bob Reichenberg at the Orientation

Walt Fulton Explaining a New Trick to LastChance (Loren)

Instructor Mike Douglas on the Practice Pad

SOMETIMES Those Assless Chaps are OK (Funny How OMike and I Both Got This Shot)

When It Was All Over, We All Lined Up to Shake JB's Hand

Then We Met Up With The "Locals" For a Tour -- Peter, Chris, Kelly (WHY the Helmet???), Doug, Lauren, MadMike, Wendell, SacMike, and Gary

We Rode Uphill

And Downhill (that's Lake Isabella)

And in Keeping With the Forum Tradition, Here are the Cattle (But THESE are Longhorns)

 

[gfran]

What a great workshop. What great company.

Somehow I managed to lose all my pictures but I installed my Streetmasters decal today and here is a shot of that.

I put it in a place to remind myself to use the techniques that I learned.

 

[Old Michael]

Sacramento Mike! Great job on the report AND the pics! I look forward to seeing the "movie."

(And I was expecting a least one shot of dodo birds! :lol: )

Oh my, it's gonna be a nice summer.

......And gfran, that's an excellent decal.

 

[Old Michael]

Edit -

I was fortunate enough to be one of the lucky few to have Walt Fulton as my personal coach for the day, and he's an impressive individual, and a very good teacher. He's very patient.

I DO recommend Streetmasters.

Thanks.

 

[eeksnake]

Awesome writeup guys! Love the pics (so THAT's where the longhorn was.)

Thanks for demonstrating your newly honed cornering skills. I'm sold, StreetMasters will be in my very near future.

 

[James Burleigh]

Bear with me here for this diatribe.

Why do I always have to be the forum grammar cop? ["Because you love it so much."]

Old, diatribes usually mean you're gonna flame somebody or something. So I was anticipating that you didn't like the course. Please correct your error or you're going to have to stay after school.

That free riding at the end WAS a blast! I kept turning out to come around again in order to get out from behind slower riders, which weren't by any means all Harley's. One of the guys who was SUPER slow was on a blue bike and he had a bright yellow helmet. That same SOB followed me all the way home next day too! [One was on the ride down too... ]