Race Camp

Here is a little more info on the race camp.

Wish I could go, damn being in Europe for three weeks

Having taught ski/snowboard lessons for over 20 years I'd have to say that stuff like this is purely a personal goal. And, whether that much money is really important to your everyday riding. In comparison, that's a lot of bones for a group lesson at a 6:1. (I don't know how you can have 6 instructors available for every student as noted.) Plus travel time/lodging/gas/food/etc. (The free ripping part cuts an hour off the day too. Not mentioning the lunch break. If there is one.)
But, for someone racing or wanting to get into racing, not such a bad idea.

But, for the average Joe, I dunno...... Depends on if the cost/perceived benefit is worth it. But I suppose the fantasy baseball camps are always full....

It's good that this is offered locally; but for my money, I'd do a Mad March Racing camp with Shaums March. He has 4-hour camps on Mondays up at Whistler (among many other formats).

Borneo said:

Having taught ski/snowboard lessons for over 20 years I'd have to say that stuff like this is purely a personal goal. And, whether that much money is really important to your everyday riding. In comparison, that's a lot of bones for a group lesson at a 6:1. (I don't know how you can have 6 instructors available for every student as noted.) Plus travel time/lodging/gas/food/etc. (The free ripping part cuts an hour off the day too. Not mentioning the lunch break. If there is one.)
But, for someone racing or wanting to get into racing, not such a bad idea.

But, for the average Joe, I dunno...... Depends on if the cost/perceived benefit is worth it. But I suppose the fantasy baseball camps are always full....

Click to expand...

Well, it is a racing clinic. And I've heard directly from multiple people who have done prior race camps with both Fluidride and other well-known race/riding programs that the Fluidride camps are tremendously better. One of those people-- who is an extremely good racer-- put it this way "I learned more in the first hour [from Fluidride] than I did the entire week at [a highly regarded camp]".

For me personally, the time I've spent with Fluidride instructors has been one of the best investments I've made, not just for racing, but for riding in general too. And as for the instructors-- you won't find another group of people who are more nice, more accomplished, and better at teaching race and riding skills-- it's an extremely rare combination.

That should be 6 Riders to 1 Instructor, not the other way around. Sorry for the mistake in the handout.

Agreed, it's not essential to everyday riders but that's not that who it is for. If you are just getting into racing, want to learn and want to get faster this should be a pretty awesome and super fun weekend.

As for the price, I dunno, $400 seems pretty good for 11 hours of shuttle and 9 hours of coaching after your warm up time. Plus you get video analysis and lets not forget refreshments . I hear the gate gets locked so it's just the race camp group on the hill. Just for perspective the Mad March Mondays are 4 hours, 4 riders with March coaching and is $500cdn. Not sure if that includes lift or not.

Yes, it all depends on what you value, but to me spending money that will make you a better rider and have more fun when you are riding is well worth it.

Borneo said:

Having taught ski/snowboard lessons for over 20 years I'd have to say that stuff like this is purely a personal goal. And, whether that much money is really important to your everyday riding. In comparison, that's a lot of bones for a group lesson at a 6:1. (I don't know how you can have 6 instructors available for every student as noted.) Plus travel time/lodging/gas/food/etc. (The free ripping part cuts an hour off the day too. Not mentioning the lunch break. If there is one.)
But, for someone racing or wanting to get into racing, not such a bad idea.

But, for the average Joe, I dunno...... Depends on if the cost/perceived benefit is worth it. But I suppose the fantasy baseball camps are always full....

Click to expand...

That's how I got hooked too. I taught skiing for 7 years. So the instruction for riding seemed like a good idea. But between 2000 and 2004, I probably gave Simon thousands of dollars. It improved my riding a lot.

However the camp that did my riding the most good funnily enough was the one the Bart and Casey put on a
PA.in 2002. (Simon took it too). The stars were just aligned with the planets that day or something. But damn I improved that day. Bart and Casey just knew what to say.

But I digress. If you've got the $$, then go for it. I've always thought Simon was pretty expensive. But if people are willing to pay it, then more power to him.

Yeah, can't be too hypocritical. Them snow lessons paid for a lot of runs. It's true that some lessons click and some don't and the money is relative. I was just saying that it seemed expensive for a group lesson compared to the snow version of the same thing. I mean, it's just riding a bike. Right? The TAS, SPAC, CMAC, etc kid's parents plunk down BIG dough to race in the winter. This is chump change compared to that. But, more expensive than, say a group lesson with a level 3 (Full Cert) instructor. 6:1 isn't a bad ratio but it also depends on the group. It only takes 1-2 to throw off the whole dynamic. If I were to do it, I'd book it with 5 of my good friends that I know were at the same level as myself. Stack the deck. Glad they can do it though and it's good that some feel instruction is helping them. I'm not overlooking making anyone a better rider. I'll tell people learning to ski or snowboard to at least take a couple lessons all the time. It will "usually" accelerate the learning curve and make the time more enjoyable.

For some reason the heading "Race Camp" made me think of this:

Borneo said:

Yeah, can't be too hypocritical. Them snow lessons paid for a lot of runs. It's true that some lessons click and some don't and the money is relative. I was just saying that it seemed expensive for a group lesson compared to the snow version of the same thing. I mean, it's just riding a bike. Right? The TAS, SPAC, CMAC, etc kid's parents plunk down BIG dough to race in the winter. This is chump change compared to that. But, more expensive than, say a group lesson with a level 3 (Full Cert) instructor. 6:1 isn't a bad ratio but it also depends on the group. It only takes 1-2 to throw off the whole dynamic. If I were to do it, I'd book it with 5 of my good friends that I know were at the same level as myself. Stack the deck. Glad they can do it though and it's good that some feel instruction is helping them. I'm not overlooking making anyone a better rider. I'll tell people learning to ski or snowboard to at least take a couple lessons all the time. It will "usually" accelerate the learning curve and make the time more enjoyable.

Click to expand...

The camp is not structured like a ride where riders of different abilities have the capacity to change the group dynamic. Take me for an example, you know I'm the slowest. One of the instructors is working with me, while the others are getting individual instruction and coaching on some steep section or tight corner; how slow or fast I go, doesn't affect anyone else.

The Camp is geared towards individual performance, working with four professional racers who are also excellent instructors was an awesome experience.

I honestly don't remember any group activities, it was all personalized and individual. I think of the clinic as getting 5-6 hours of one on one instruction. The video analysis is worth showing up for if you're serious about racing. I went home after the clinic with a strong sense of accomplishment.

The Racers Camp is on the 26th and there's a Riders Camp in August. I honestly don't think I could ask for a better time than I had at the last Clinic. It's not about just getting instruction from one instructor, you get he benefit of 6 pro-level racers.

But I will say there's honestly no getting around the value of working with instructors/coaches who are committed to helping you learn. I was impressed at the high level teaching and learning going down at the camp. I said this before, but I'll say it again, what helped to make the Camp a hit was the high level of motivation of both the instructors and participants.

MARK.... you took 30 secounds off your time because you learned NOT to slopw down when drinking the beer and racing. You can chug and run.