exercise rather than simply doing what we’ re told and hoping it works out. Our classroom also had a stationary bike on a stand, which each student sat on to demonstrate their understanding of body position, with the coach providing feedback to make sure we got it right.
Each level also has its own off-track drill, a special exercise to help riders between sessions. I found Level III’ s offtrack drill to be the most constructive of the ones I’ d done. Instead of hopping on the“ lean bike” or doing drills in the parking lot, this drill consisted of watching video footage of your riding. During one of the track sessions, your coach followed you around the track with a camera on their bike. After the session, you watched the footage with a coach, who pointed out how your body position affected each corner, where you should have done something differently, and where you did it correctly.
This exercise was more informative than it sounds. What you think you’ re doing on the bike isn’ t always what’ s actually happening, and seeing yourself riding from another perspective shines a light on what’ s really going on, allowing you to change your riding for the better. For my part, I had been focusing so much on the current exercise that I had forgotten a step we learned in Level II. With that realization in mind, future sessions were much smoother.
The track provides a distraction-free space to focus on your riding.
Unfortunately, those future sessions would have to wait. After the first couple of on-track exercises, the forecasted storm fell upon us, requiring a premature end to the track session. We passed the time with some extra classroom instruction, and when the storm was still holding on after that, we decided to take an early lunch so we could get through the rest of the lessons without interruption after the storm had passed. California Superbike School operates rain or shine, so even if the forecast is calling for bad weather, students should plan to show up anyway. This had happened when I took Level II as well, and just like last year, the storm eventually passed, and we were able to resume the course and cover everything scheduled for the day.
I won’ t give a step-by-step explanation of the five exercises in Level III, since I couldn’ t possibly do it as well as the CSS coaches and don’ t want to give incomplete information. Even if I were to write out everything we learned, you simply can’ t get the same level of understanding from your armchair. Putting the classroom lesson into practice immediately and debriefing with a coach who follows you on track after each session is an invaluable learning strategy that can’ t be matched on paper or screen. I will just say that Level III encompasses much more than
RIDERMAGAZINE. COM / NOVEMBER 2026 / 33