Mike Edwards Distance Coaching

I'd been curious about coaching for a while but often had this idea that as a novice it would be a bit wasted on me. So far I've tried to learn as much as I can about riding techniques. Read the Keith Code books and the Nick Ienatsch one. Read little snippets around forums and taken in anything I could find on Youtube from Motovudu, life at lean, Ken Hill etc. Also a bunch of videos on Mike's Patreon which actually seem to be the main things I've actioned. Starting off with making sure I was 100% throttle down the straights (my first day I wasn't). Establishing braking markers and driving right up to them before rolling straight from full throttle to full brake. Setting line to get good exit drive. I've made some good progress but was starting to plateau. As a novice I'm sure times would still continue to naturally drop, but I felt like I wasn't really making the most of it. Just practice makes perfect. 

Anyway, onto Mike. I sent him this video (https://youtu.be/X3ctcB5Gxr0) of a few laps of Catalunya from different angles. A few days later he sent me this back:

Must admit I was expecting a 10 minute video quickly addressing 1 or 2 points. What I got was a good length session based on what must have been watching my laps quite a few times while taking notes. I was really impressed with how perceptive Mike was just based on what he could see on the video. Several times he says "you may disagree but it looks to me like you are .." and he was bang on each time. Good use of engine note to understand what I was doing with throttle and brakes at any time too. Like old fashioned data.

Some of the points seem obvious in hindsight, like I should have known, but I have to say they weren't obvious to me until Mike pointed them out. Things like space left unused on entry to corners. Having the screen paused and Mike annotating it with where I am vs where I should be (and all the space I wasn't using) was really helpful. Sounds stupid because you can watch a track guide and think you're doing it but I think it helps have someone point out where you're not doing what you think you're doing. 

The annotations in general I think are helpful. Being able to have the screen paused and things described makes it a lot easier to clearly know what I need to be doing. My biggest weakness Mike found was corner entry and braking. Losing all my speed before tip in and then wasting time to the apex. On a few corners Mike drew on top of the footage where I want to be trailing to and where to leave the rest to engine braking. That's one of the things I'd never been clear on. I'd been working on trail braking at Catalunya but I think really what I'd been doing was just lightly feathering the brakes after tip in. Crucially missing the fact I needed to be faster at tip in so that trailing the brakes and then engine braking brought me to the right speed by the apex, but not sooner. Anyway, having the spot on the track pointed out where I should be finally releasing was really helpful. Think I understand that enough finally that I can try to apply it to many corners, not just those at Catalunya.

Think I've talked too much now about stuff specific to my riding but the point I was trying to make was that I was really impressed how personalised the coaching was. I hadn't spent the day with Mike, he hadn't followed me or anything like that. Just sent him a video and he was able to learn a lot about how I ride just from my wobbly footage. Also, I'm aware I'm still slow and inexperienced. Mike himself is really quick as you'll know, and I've spoken to a few of his past clients who were also quick themselves. I had a slight concern going in that at my pace it would be a waste of time as there's still so much to improve on. I'm not just getting a hand on the final difficult tenths to go from regular top 10s to podiums. I'm literally a novice group wobbler. Yet Mike did a great job adapting to my level. 

I'd recommend the distance coaching with Mike to anyone. As a Patreon it was £65 but even as a non member I think it's only £75. Or $100 if you go through racers360.com. I've got very little budget for riding and a pretty much stock 2003 Aprilia RSV but to me that coaching was a bargain. My next days will have far more purpose and I expect will lead to much faster improvements than if I'd just stuck to whatever information I could find in books and the internet. Once I've put his advice into action I'll definitely be going back to Mike to ask him what I need to be working on next. It's a no brainer to me and I'm a tight Yorkshireman.

To be fair on that point I think in my case I'm well off the pace of my bike moving about like that. My mille is wide open from Charlies 2 to at least the first braking board at the top of the hill before Park with no movement at all. Be a different story on a modern 1000 though I bet. Actually just checked and I have a clip riding my mates 750 that has more top end than my RSV. Perfectly stable on that too, no movement whatsoever.

On some faster corners though I have felt the rear slide and at that speed it just smears a bit. Feels like the rear tyre is a bit flat but on reverse cameras can see rubber going down. Be gyroscopic forces keeping it in line as Mike says because my bike doesn't have any electronics beyond FI. 

Think Mike is bang on about my weakness being more around entry and braking than exit. So that's my main priority next time out. But I've also got in mind that I can start feeding in some throttle much closer to the apex than I currently am. Also the track positioning. Really, with the limited chances I have to get out and ride that video alone will probably keep me going a fair while. Good being a video too I think for being able to go back to it.