Subscribe
Share
Share
Embed
Motorcycle Safety and Awareness
Welcome to think bike, the podcast about all things motorcycle and the voice of motorcycle safety and awareness in Alberta. Your host is Liane Langlois.
Liane:Hey, everybody. Welcome back to another episode of think bike. I am super excited to have Rob Darlington back from Hard Knocks Track Days. It's been a bit since season three since we've seen him, but they got some new tech and new things going on at Hard Knocks and excited to see the progress from RMM. Welcome back to the show, Rob.
Liane:How are you today?
Rob:I am excellent. Thanks Leanne for the invite back. It's been a while, but yeah, I'm sure we can make up time here.
Liane:Oh fuss. It's like catching up with old friends. Just a reminder for everybody who is Rob and what got you into riding?
Rob:Well, just kinda, I started riding the day I turned 16. I bought a motorcycle and proceeded to lose my license thirty days later. Very typical story. Yeah. I've just I've always been a motorcycle enthusiast and I don't know where where it originally started from, but I've been riding since 16 on the track since I was oh, I mean, I don't I don't wanna admit this, but I started track riding in when I was 32 and really haven't looked back since.
Rob:So
Liane:We're not glossing over that you lost your license in thirty days. What happened?
Rob:Well, was really a 16 year old brand new to riding, shouldn't have a high powered motorcycle. And I just speeding tickets, the short short story, speeding tickets accumulation of and was just not the smartest about it. So
Liane:K. So there's lessons we've learnt already, and can we leave that on the track.
Rob:Yes, exactly.
Liane:So yeah, remind us a little bit about like Hard Knocks and what is offered.
Rob:Okay. So kind of stemming from that last story, Hardwoods is a track day provider and performance school provider where we offer motorcycle riders the ability to improve their skills, have some fun on their motorcycles first and foremost, but give them an opportunity to improve their skills, improve their riding techniques outside of the confines of the typical public streets and highways. We do this, all of this on closed circuit venues.
Liane:Why is that important?
Rob:Is really what comes down to is you don't have all of the other external distractions from the street. There are no speed traps. There's no kids bouncing balls across the street. No other parked cars that jut out in front of you, you know, trying to get into traffic. There's just not the day to day struggles that we all see on motorcycles on the streets and highways.
Rob:So you're void of all of those influences. So you can concentrate on developing your skill and at the very least developing your fun factor with motorcycle.
Liane:I mean, and at the end of the day, the only real true, what I would call legal street racing that should be happening is the Isle Of Man. And even that, they remove everything from the roads that they can. So no people, no cars, no animals, no kids, no nothing. This the the city or the island shuts down for a legal street road race.
Rob:Yes. Yeah. And, you know, just to to that point, I would like to, you know, kinda interject and say that this is not racing. There is at the same facilities, you can take your skill set to that racing level. This is the instead of doing a 100 and whatever we're doing on the sporting trail, not saying actual numbers, instead of ripping up on your motorcycle on the streets and highways, you can do it safely somewhere else.
Rob:And so when you get to the street, you'd and I say this all the time because I'm point in case. I've said it numerous times. I this is condescending maybe. I drive extreme. Yeah.
Rob:I'm I'm gonna backtrack what I was going to say. I drive extremely conservative
Liane:Right.
Rob:On the street because I have absolutely no need to go fast on the street anymore because I get that all out on the the the racetrack. And whether that is what would be perceived as 10 kilometers an hour over the limit or higher up than that. I have no no need to go fast on the street anymore because there's another venue to do it safely.
Liane:And I've heard a lot of people that I I could probably guess what you're gonna say, but we'll we'll leave that. I have too much respect for you to call you out for that one. I've heard a lot of people say that once they get on the track, they either A, don't go back to street riding or they just don't feel the need to be excessive. And when I bring in the Isle Of Man example, that's just it's because that's legal street racing. Track days are track days, but we're talking about that's illegal street race.
Liane:It's not like the illegal street racing that we're seeing in Alberta that is unfortunately taking lives of our young people or middle aged people. I mean, I guess really it doesn't discriminate on age when things go wrong at excessive speeds. But yeah, I hear that a lot from people. They just go out and they go for a ride like it's nothing. And they, that all that adrenaline is at the track.
Rob:Yes. Yeah. And I wish I am case in point, as we do the math from what I was talking about earlier, it took me sixteen years to get from the street to the track. It took sixteen years of convincing that you need to go to the track. And there was a whole bunch of hindrances for me not to go.
Rob:And but once I went, it was a game changer. It was not that I wanted to go super fast or anything like that because there there was that potential there. There was that nugget sitting in the back of my mind. I wanna go fast. But the learning that happened on that day that I that first day that I went was absolutely incredible.
Rob:And it always has been, I think for all track day providers is helping people make that first step, that realization that you're going to learn so much in that one day. It's a huge first step. Getting that first step is huge. Whether you stay track riding or not, whether it's this game changer or not, it is you're going to learn the anecdote or whatever you wanna call it is you're gonna learn more in one day than you will years riding on the street. And that was me case in point.
Liane:Yeah. And we had, well, stage name Leroy Baggins on few weeks ago. And he graces your track days quite often. And it all stemmed from having too big of a bike that didn't have the right skills on and obsessed with track riding now because he's learning so much. And on his episode, I had told him, and I still haven't found this and I need to find it again.
Liane:There was a guy in The States that had like a million miles under his belt. And then finally went and did a track day and said he learnt more in that one track day than he did in the million miles that he had ridden prior to that. Wow. Wow. That's speaks volumes.
Rob:It really does. It really does. And it's you know, we're in that state of trying to promote that, trying to get that first step, just come out and try it. Yep. You're on a race circuit.
Rob:But as I say in our novice orientation with all of our new riders, this is just a ride to the seven Eleven. It is you would have absolutely no problem hopping on your bike, going to seven Eleven for a Slurpee. Going to the track is exactly the same. There is no other pressures other than that. Just go and do some riding.
Liane:And how has your '20 well, I guess 2024 into 2025 seasons going like RMM is like expanding with their paddock and Area 27 is still like an amazing spot. Like how are things going this year?
Rob:Things are going exceptional. We've had just an incredible year. Are, as you kind of mentioned, we're partnered with the two biggest facilities in Western Canada, Area 27, RMM. RMM, of course, being our home base. And as a new track develops, a new facility develops, they've got their own kind of stumbling, not stumbling blocks hurdles and in getting their kind of stride.
Rob:And so we're working with them and it is now really starting to flourish. The track days are becoming well populated, people are having fun, and this is something that the Calgary region has not had in twelve years. Twelve, whatever the math, yeah, twelve, thirteen years anyway, since Ray City closed. So it's really been a redevelopment of this type of riding. And so it's really becoming exciting because the numbers are really starting to come in and we've had an incredible, incredible year.
Liane:And it's just so much more convenient to have Rocky mountain motorsports be developed in the Calgary region. There's two tracks here in Edmonton. You finally get a track back in Calgary and that allows growth in track riding and track days. So people don't have to travel so far to just come for like a weekend of track days. And although a lot of people are going down there because it's a cool new track and it's the things they wanna see.
Liane:Yeah. You've seen like, do your track days generally sell out down there, hey?
Rob:We weren't for the previous couple of years, just like I said, we're trying to get rec not recognition. People have been for twelve, thirteen years without a track, so they don't even know there's a track. Race City was there for, I think the math is twenty six years, and we still fought the premise that we have a track here. And that was after twenty six years of being in the city limits. So the awareness is something that we're still building, but we are now, this year, we're into the yeah, the events are selling out.
Rob:And that is absolutely amazing because that means people are taking us in and saying, I'm not riding fast on the streets or the highways anymore. I'm going to come and do it. Where there are, there's an ambulance, where there are instructors available to help me ride. And there is a facility close by.
Liane:Yeah, no, it's awesome. I saw, and this was one of the reasons why I wanted to catch up with you that you guys are using some new technology. What is that about?
Rob:Okay. Well, it's actually, it's not new technology. I use this same technology twelve years ago, thirteen years ago when I was full into racing. And it is a GPS based technology where you put a GPS unit on your motorcycle and it tracks you at very accurate rates where you are on the track itself. So it plots your position on the track in real time.
Rob:And then that measures some key indicators as well for you, your acceleration, your deceleration, the not so good coasting, whether you're on the gas or on the brakes, if you're not, you're coasting, where those sections are, your lean angles, some really important telemetry to give you information on how you're riding. And all of this is overlaid on a Google maps, real time, or not real time, but a Google maps of the facility of the track. It's something that we brought in for our new school track dynamics and now is we are making that available for our track day riders as well.
Liane:So I don't ever remember, like I know probably a lot of the road racers I know use the gadgets to, like you said, you were using that twelve years ago. And so yeah, not new technology, but new to kind of track days. Cause I don't ever remember ever hearing anybody using that technology and crossing it over into track days. What's the benefit for the riders who opt in to use that system? Like how much more instruction and benefit do they get out of that?
Rob:Well, what you get is as we talk, we kind of suggest that every time you go out onto the track, you should have one purpose. You should be thinking about one thing to improve, whether that's a corner, whether that's you're braking, whatever it is, what you can do is the benefit of using this technology is you get that real time, call it, sorry, it's not real time because there is a delay, but I'm going to say real time, feedback from it. You go out onto the track with purpose saying, I'm going to work on my braking and where my braking points are, my rate of deceleration, you can come back into the paddock and you can see whether your changes have made an improvement or not. So you get that feedback directly. You don't have to have an instructor following you the entire day giving you that feedback.
Rob:You have it there, right in the palm of your hand on your cell phone if you wish. Another benefit is that you can then take that software and you can review it at home on your leisure time. And you can study your roots, your lines around the track, how you're accelerating, decelerating and your lean angles so that you can form a plan for the next track day that you go to give you something to work on.
Liane:Is there a cost to that technology?
Rob:So there is So we charge a rental for it through the track dynamics, our performance school that is included with the school as well as some one on one instruction and and I'm struggling for the word there. Breakdown of the of the data. For the track day, we do rent the units at $50 a day. So there is a minor cost, but that that is a onetime cost, but that data you keep and you can review that data however many times you want from here on in.
Liane:Let's say someone like our friendly Roy Bagans wanted to get his own unit. Like, what is what is the cost on that do you think?
Rob:The so and this is the difference between what we're doing, the technology we're using and what racers use. This unit is around the $260 range. Racers have kind of the same technology, but much more refined. And those units, they also tie into your actual throttle position, your brake pressures, the stroke of your forks, the compression of your rear suspension, all that kind stuff. It ties it all.
Rob:It's a data Mecca. It is absolutely amazing. But those units are in the 2 to $3,000 range. So these race box units that we use are much more palatable as far as the pocketbook is concerned. The data is not elevated like a racers, but you do get some extremely key information on your riding abilities and where you are as far as on the track and where you can improve.
Rob:It's very visual, very visual.
Liane:And I mean, a lot of people need that visual to really understand versus, you know, like how I can just see, I can see you and I out there and you following me around and you trying to tell me what is the problem or what I need to improve on and then just having that little bit of extra data to go see this is where this is, let's try and get this number here. Probably would sit in my brain even a little bit better. Do you find that with the students that are using that?
Rob:A 100% it's because when we're instructing, we're giving that one on one feedback and it's words. Listen, you turned in too early. Well, was ten minutes ago and we don't remember what corner we turned in early, but when we come into the paddock and you look at the data, you can see it. We can show you the fit. Look, here's where you're turning in.
Rob:The beauty about this technology is you can overlay your trajectories on the track through the Google maps outlay, whatever you wanna call it. You can overlay multiple laps on top of each other.
Liane:So Oh.
Rob:So you can you can see lap one. Oh, look. You were way over. You're not in the right spot. But then lap five, we overlay that on top of lap one and you can see the difference between the trajectories.
Rob:And it's an extremely versatile tool and because it's a lot of us, I am included, very visual, show me what I need, where I need to improve on, show me where I need to be and I can be there. But if you tell me, I'm like, okay. I I don't know what this means. Go wider into the corner. Well, what does that mean?
Rob:With the the RaceBox and the similar technologies is it shows you where you are and then you can pinpoint where you need to be. And did you make that change?
Liane:Yeah. I remember being on the Nature Trail Road Course in Missoula once, and we were working with the guy who owns the track wrecks. He was out, I had no idea he was out following me. And he's like, I saw the Alberta plates, I gotta follow this guy who comes from Straight Lands World. And just having him and I mean, God bless him, he is like a much older gentleman and just a 100% knowledge on everything.
Liane:And him trying to explain to me entering the apex and my brain not being able to get that concept. And I think something like this would be able to show me where the line should be and allow me to go, okay, I can see that here. Now I can see that in that corner and I get it.
Rob:Yeah. And so one of the and that's exactly the same thing that we're seeing too. All of the years that I've been instructing, we all know on the instructor side, video is amazing. If you can video a student, they get the you can make points to that. They see what they're doing.
Rob:The downfall with video and a lot of some technologies and same with twelve years ago with when I was using this technology was you had to download, you got to take the camera, you got to go to a laptop, you got to put the memory card in the laptop, you have to have a TV there, it's a whole process. Plus then you now have to show the video in time. So it takes you time to get around. See, you were here. You're not in the right spot in this position.
Rob:Then you got to fast forward to the next corner. This technology is all in your phone. So as soon as we come off the track, you open up your phone and it is right there. We can talk about it just as fast as you take off your helmet. Yeah.
Rob:Now, and it's now it's on your cell phone. So your cell phone's small and, you know, it's not perfect, but then afterwards you can have it on your laptop and you can analyze it, put on a big screen if you wish. And it is just right there information.
Liane:Is quite simple. Yeah. It sounds so awesome and, like, something that I I feel is extremely useful, especially for people who wanna build skills. With all of the stuff that you do with Hard Knocks, have you found any space in the season to actually do any racing yourself, or are you too busy with Hard Knocks and all over the place with that?
Rob:I would love to say yes. Now actually that I did this year get one race in at the CMRA at Rocky Mountain. It's been a real balance, hard balance to balance bike life and home life. And it's, my daughter's growing up, so I'm trying to make sure I'm being a good dad and being present for my kiddo. I have a passion for bikes and racing.
Rob:This year I got one physical race in and that was it. I don't know what the future holds for my racing. I'm enjoying the the the track stuff. I do get out onto the race bike every now and again to get some hot laps in, but it's seems to be a few and far between these days. It is what it is.
Rob:And like, I mean, I'm not complaining, but I do miss the it's weird. I miss the butterflies of racing, the just the gut turning, getting ready to go out on to race. I miss that for some reason. I I it's like it's like if you it's like I miss a hangover. Like, like, I don't I don't understand it quite, but yes.
Liane:I don't miss a hangover.
Rob:I'll tell you. Well,
Liane:I mean, it's nice to see you can still try and squeeze one in, but yeah, I definitely understand family first and good for you for acknowledging that your kids are important and if they love what you love, it'll be great if she gets into racing at some point herself, maybe who knows?
Rob:Unfortunately she's into horse jumping. Oh, horse Well, so I shouldn't say unfortunately. Her passion is horse jumping. So I have an expensive hobby. She has an even more expensive hobby.
Rob:So yeah, balancing life out there. That's
Liane:Nourish that, there's nothing wrong with it. You never know. Might flip a switch one day and want to do both.
Rob:Yeah. I am quite okay with it.
Liane:Yeah, exactly. We need to get me down to RMM at some point in time. Let's make that a goal for 2026. Like even just to come check out the facility, whether or not we find a smaller bike to throw me on, we will cross that bridge, but I do need to come see what's going on at It
Rob:is the most technologically advanced track in North America. It is absolutely amazing.
Liane:We need more CBSK events there then.
Rob:Yes we do. Yep, we do. And it'll come.
Liane:And those people out east, get your butts out here for CBSK at RMM. Seriously, we need all the heavy hitters here because I think that would be an amazing draw. Rob, thank you so much for taking some time to catch up with me. We won't wait so long next time. And I look forward to seeing you at the bike show in January.
Liane:Hopefully we'll be close enough to each other where we can bug each other all weekend again.
Rob:Yeah. I'm looking forward to it, Leanne. Thank you very much for having me on. Thank you.
Liane:You're you're very welcome. Everybody else just hang tight for the mixed bag. On today's mailbag, I'm getting ahead of the every fall question that comes in from every single person is winterization, what do we do? All right. The must do's find a secure storage location.
Liane:You want to make sure lockable you're secure, you're safe. Insurance usually runs all year. Don't worry about the theft. Just make sure your motorcycle is safe and secure where it is. Protect your battery.
Liane:The battery can slowly lose charge over time. So I use a trickle charger. Some people take their battery fully out either way, make sure it's protected. If you're in a unheated garage like I am, or even a heated garage, you're leaving it in trickle charger is important because the electronics, if you take it out, just store it somewhere where it's nice and room temperature is perfect. Attend to your fuel system.
Liane:So I use stabilizer, this can go either way, But at the end of the day, fill your tank to the top, it prevents rust, add some stabilizer, run it through. If you're a carbureted bike, drain your carbs. And then of course we live in Alberta, so there are little rodents and critters that can run around. A good thing to do is to block your air box and exhaust pipes to prevent them from getting in there and making a nest over the winter. Yes, it happens.
Liane:Should dos, wash your bike. I need to take a page out of that book. Change your oil is a good idea. So it's not sitting there with all the crusty stuff that it collects. Especially if you're due for an oil change, get that done before you put it away and elevate your bike, take the pressure off those tires.
Liane:Nice to haves, cover it up, keep that dust off, top up your coolant or other fluids that might not be sitting at the right line and lube up those key areas for maximum protection. Add a little spray lube to your spark plug holes or your throttle or clutch cables if you have them too. Just some tips on that. Always you can Google it or email us. I'll send you the full detailed list.
Liane:Thanks for listening today. And that's our show for today. To make sure that you don't miss out on any of our upcoming podcasts or listen to previous ones, make sure you click on subscribe or follow wherever you get yours. If there's a topic you'd like us to cover or a guest you think would be great on the show or even a question for the mailbag, let us know. You can connect with us on all the socials.
Liane:Email us at info@ab-amss.org or reach out through the website at a b dash amss dot org. Thanks for listening to Think Bike. From us, always remember to ride smart, ride safe, and think bike. See you out on the road.