I went to the "racer" version of Danny Walker's American Supercamp last weekend. "Racer" means students who have raced some form of motorcycle before, but not necessarily flat track ( I've only done roadracing before). Danny divided us into riding groups, one of mostly grade-school aged kids, one of "young guns" who had raced flat track and some of whom were pros, and a group of adults who were not pro flat trackers ( a good number of us were roadracers). The drills we did were much more varied than I expected, with only a small part of the time spent running in a small oval. We did a brake hard/turn in drill, some TT courses, one-hand-on-the-tank, feet up and sliding, cone weave, and others. All the while Danny and his crew, and special guest instructors Chris Carr and Johnny Murphree were critiquing our riding, partly by yelling and whacking us with sticks! It was great. Toward the end of Saturday, I was starting to get a lot of the technique figured out, but I was still making mistakes. Then Chris wet down one corner until it was snotty slick. I guess I went into survival mode, because I started thru there standing on the pegs, working the clutch like a trials rider. I didn't crash, but I certainly wasn't fast in that section, either. One of the instructors pulled me aside and told me I wasn't getting the point of the drill. He said go in there, hit the rear brake, let it come around until your pointed out, and drive out under control on the throttle. I accomplished that the next time around, and decided to try and get my speed up. Remember I said it was snotty slick? Well, the XR100 spun around like a top when I came in the next time, and after a complete 360 I tried to dab my left foot to keep from falling in the mud. It continued to spin down and WHACK, the bar caught my left knee and it popped loud enough to hear it over the bikes. I couldn't walk on it at first, but managed to remount and put back to the pits. Danny advised me to ice the knee and elevate it, and I might be able to ride the second day. I returned to the hotel and took his advice. It didn't hurt really bad, but I just had no strength in my knee. Any misstep felt like it would give way and put me on the ground. So, after the ice treatment I went out for steak with some classmates I had just met. After dinner, we decided a couple of beers in the hotel bar wouldn't be a bad idea. At this point, I was doubting my wobbly knee and painkillers sounded like the way to go. Almost no one was in the bar on a Sunday night, but who do we see on the next barstools? Mr. Murphree, Mr. Carr, and instructor Dred Bristol. Johnny says, "Hey, I thought Danny told you ice and elevation." "Well, we're on the 30th floor and there's plenty of ice here in the bar." Those guys are really cool, and it was a neat coincidence to end up having a few drinks with the #1 and #2 plate holders. They offered loads of encouragement, and advised me to ride with feet on the pegs the next day if I could. Unfortunately, it was not to be. I still had no knee strength; tried a few laps but couldn't apply any pressure on that leg, even though there wasn't much swelling or pain. I pulled off because I wasn't being able to perform the drills properly without full use of the leg, so I had to watch and take notes the rest of the day. I'll try to do those drills on my own once I heal. All in all, I highly recommend the camp to anyone who likes to ride motorcycles. They will instruct you in a way that fits with your goals and abilities. And it's so much fun that there are many people who are multiple time attendees. Carl Anderson
