(I am posting this review here because most people frequenting this forum will know who Colin Edwards is!)
I spent the past weekend (May 26th and 27th) at the Colin Edwards Texas Tornado Boot Camp (TTBC), a dirtbike experience particularly suited to track day enthusiasts and road racers, located in Montgomery Texas, about 1 hour from Houston.
There are several formats for the TTBC, which include:
- 1-Day Camp: US$350 per person, lunch/dinner/snacks
- 2-Day Camp: US$650 or US$750 with overnight stay per person, all meals
- 4-Day "Edwards Experience" Camp in which Colin himself is the instructor: US$2250.00/person, including accommodations and all meals
All gear and motorcycles are provided. Riding begins around 8:30AM and ends as late as 11PM each day, so there is lots of seat time, consisting of drills and free rides. Return flights from YYZ to IAH (Houston) can be had for around $500. One option is to make a winter getaway out of it, since the camp runs essentially year-round.
I didn't have much dirt biking experience prior to the camp, so I liked the 2-Day Camp (versus a 1-Day format) since I spent the first day just reacquainting myself with dirt riding basics. I made much progress on the second day and managed to avoid crashing the entire day (the first day I dropped the bike twice).
Although Colin did not instruct during my "econo" 2-Day Camp, his staff of instructors are quite capable, and themselves accomplished racers. On the first day with just three other students, I had plenty of one-on-one time with instructor Shea Fouchek, a promising young AMA road racer raised on motocross. Shea is an excellent instructor who covers fundamentals clearly and pinpoints problem areas. Other instructors pitching in included Mike Myers, a former WERA national champion, who was also fantastic at debugging my riding.
Although Colin did not teach, he was in and out of the camp, running errands (!). On the second day during one drill I ran out of gas. As I walked my bike back to the Saloon area (where we'd go for refreshments and air conditioning!) a man and child in an ATV pulled up alongside me. It was Colin Edwards and his two year-old! He said, "Is there something wrong with it?"
"Just outta gas," I said.
"Follow me."
He led me to a drum containing only the finest Texas tea, and filled my tank for me! We chatted for a bit, and he's basically just a nice guy, who was total overkill as a gas-station attendant (if you have seen Wayne's World 2, you know what I mean).
The facility is excellent with four tracks and a trail, with one track completely covered by a massive metal structure for protection against sun and rain (and the odd Texas hail storm). Unlike a dedicated motocross facility emphasizing jumps, berms and whoops, the tracks here consisted primarily of oval sections, hairpins and chicanes, mimicking what an asphalt rider would experience at the track.
Although body positioning differs greatly between dirtbikes and sportbikes, a lot carries over: the usefulness of throttle control, trail braking, and weighting the outside peg coming off a corner, were experienced over and over. The instructors are good at pointing out exactly what carries over from the dirt, and they do emphasize the stuff a road racer would find useful.
The bikes are all set up with a knobby front tire and (smooth) street rear tire as well as soft suspension settings in order to exaggerate the effects of non-smooth inputs and the low traction environment. This is another key difference between dirt riding at the TTBC and elsewhere.
A great insight for me was the importance of trail braking for initiating turns and smooth throttle control for accelerating out of turns. I was able to experience this over and again for hours on the second day (once my skill level caught up!). Despite the seemingly unpredictable traction conditions, as long as I did things as the instructors suggested, the bike always hooked up and was well-behaved.
Overall, I have to say the experience was fantastic, probably the best I've had in terms of direct learning on a motorcycle. My basis of comparison consists of a number of track days (featuring "built-in" instruction), and a number of MSF-style rider training classes. The only experience which came close for me in terms of quality was a Lee Parks Total Control Riding Clinic.
Highly recommended!
Link: http://www.texastornadobootcamp.com/
I spent the past weekend (May 26th and 27th) at the Colin Edwards Texas Tornado Boot Camp (TTBC), a dirtbike experience particularly suited to track day enthusiasts and road racers, located in Montgomery Texas, about 1 hour from Houston.
There are several formats for the TTBC, which include:
- 1-Day Camp: US$350 per person, lunch/dinner/snacks
- 2-Day Camp: US$650 or US$750 with overnight stay per person, all meals
- 4-Day "Edwards Experience" Camp in which Colin himself is the instructor: US$2250.00/person, including accommodations and all meals
All gear and motorcycles are provided. Riding begins around 8:30AM and ends as late as 11PM each day, so there is lots of seat time, consisting of drills and free rides. Return flights from YYZ to IAH (Houston) can be had for around $500. One option is to make a winter getaway out of it, since the camp runs essentially year-round.
I didn't have much dirt biking experience prior to the camp, so I liked the 2-Day Camp (versus a 1-Day format) since I spent the first day just reacquainting myself with dirt riding basics. I made much progress on the second day and managed to avoid crashing the entire day (the first day I dropped the bike twice).
Although Colin did not instruct during my "econo" 2-Day Camp, his staff of instructors are quite capable, and themselves accomplished racers. On the first day with just three other students, I had plenty of one-on-one time with instructor Shea Fouchek, a promising young AMA road racer raised on motocross. Shea is an excellent instructor who covers fundamentals clearly and pinpoints problem areas. Other instructors pitching in included Mike Myers, a former WERA national champion, who was also fantastic at debugging my riding.
Although Colin did not teach, he was in and out of the camp, running errands (!). On the second day during one drill I ran out of gas. As I walked my bike back to the Saloon area (where we'd go for refreshments and air conditioning!) a man and child in an ATV pulled up alongside me. It was Colin Edwards and his two year-old! He said, "Is there something wrong with it?"
"Just outta gas," I said.
"Follow me."
He led me to a drum containing only the finest Texas tea, and filled my tank for me! We chatted for a bit, and he's basically just a nice guy, who was total overkill as a gas-station attendant (if you have seen Wayne's World 2, you know what I mean).
The facility is excellent with four tracks and a trail, with one track completely covered by a massive metal structure for protection against sun and rain (and the odd Texas hail storm). Unlike a dedicated motocross facility emphasizing jumps, berms and whoops, the tracks here consisted primarily of oval sections, hairpins and chicanes, mimicking what an asphalt rider would experience at the track.
Although body positioning differs greatly between dirtbikes and sportbikes, a lot carries over: the usefulness of throttle control, trail braking, and weighting the outside peg coming off a corner, were experienced over and over. The instructors are good at pointing out exactly what carries over from the dirt, and they do emphasize the stuff a road racer would find useful.
The bikes are all set up with a knobby front tire and (smooth) street rear tire as well as soft suspension settings in order to exaggerate the effects of non-smooth inputs and the low traction environment. This is another key difference between dirt riding at the TTBC and elsewhere.
A great insight for me was the importance of trail braking for initiating turns and smooth throttle control for accelerating out of turns. I was able to experience this over and again for hours on the second day (once my skill level caught up!). Despite the seemingly unpredictable traction conditions, as long as I did things as the instructors suggested, the bike always hooked up and was well-behaved.
Overall, I have to say the experience was fantastic, probably the best I've had in terms of direct learning on a motorcycle. My basis of comparison consists of a number of track days (featuring "built-in" instruction), and a number of MSF-style rider training classes. The only experience which came close for me in terms of quality was a Lee Parks Total Control Riding Clinic.
Highly recommended!
Link: http://www.texastornadobootcamp.com/
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