January 30, 2001

HIGH-TECH TO HIGH GEAR –
ENGINEERS PREFER MOTORBIKES TO MICRO-CHIPS

(Los Angeles, CA) Individual success in the technology industry has left many wondering where the next challenge lies. Not so at the California Superbike School (CSS), where a surprising number of technical and professional wizards have switched gears, so to speak, and sought new challenges as superbike riding coaches.

Coming from some of the biggest names in the high-tech industry, including AOL, Siegel Gale, Worldcom Broadband Solutions and ImarcsGroup.com, these unique individuals have found a new niche at the prestigious CSS, working under superbike guru, Keith Code, teaching thousands of people the technology of riding superbikes.

Travis Graham, an electronic/electrical consultant and designer for an international manufacturing company, sums up his experience best, “I wanted to be part of something special. CSS helps people understand the art of riding a motorcycle so that they can enjoy the experience as much as I do. If I can be just a small part of this, then I have the best job in the world.”

Maintaining the edge over the competition requires the best riding coaches in the business. At CSS, this sometimes means searching the professional ranks. Ultimately, only one out of fifteen qualified riders will teach for Keith. This strident insistence on quality riders and the incredible training that they must undergo results in what Keith calls “ the Navy Seals of motorcycle riding riding coaches”.

For CSS Riding Coach Kevin Quinn, Senior Vice-President for Business Development at Siegel Gale, reconciling the seemingly disparate fields of information technology and motorcycle instruction at CSS is easy. “Keith has the unique ability to take a complex process and break it down to it simplest form and present it so anyone can understand it. We can all see the positive effect we are having on motorcycling by improving the enjoyment and safety of the sport.”

Recognized as the foremost motorcycle Riding Coach in the world, Keith Code has spent the last 25 years instructing over 50,000 people in the art of cornering motorcycles, including dozens of champions. In 1980, he founded the California Superbike School (CSS) with the goal of creating the most comprehensive school for motorcycle enthusiasts. Since then, Keith has become the pioneer in the field of motorcycle training, and his school has become the leading motorcycle riding school in the world.

The appeal of instruction for Mark Horning was, “the chance to combine my love for motorcycle racing (I raced competitively, overseas, for 12 years) and my love for working with students. I jumped at the chance to work for Keith.” Mark’s day job finds him employed at Worldcom Broadband Solutions (a division of MCI Worldcom), where he’s partly responsible for the successful design and deployment of the world’s first terrestrial based, multi-channel, digital television system.

Darren ‘Hal’ McCabe, owner and operator of the Ithaca Motorcycle Works, was surprised to find himself as an Riding Coach after a successful IT career, which included a four-year stint as an interactive media developer for America Online. Hal has since opened a motorcycle shop that specializes in fine European motorcycles. “I spend my days doing exactly what I want to do right now.” After all, engineers will be engineers, whether their machinery is snarling and greasy, or virtual architectures, the passion for applying and improving technology is still the same.

Motorcycle instruction is not a profession for the risk-adverse. That’s why Stuart Vernon, Partner and Chief Technology Officer of ImarcsGroup.com, a profitable start-up, enjoys working for CSS. “I love riding and racing motorcycles. Working for Keith gives me the opportunity to get flown around the country and ride motorcycles really fast on racetracks – and get paid for it!” He continues, “After I started, I found that I really enjoy the satisfaction that comes from helping my students learn to ride motorcycles more skillfully, who also share my love for motorcycling.”

Terry Embry, a financial engineer with the Energy Commodities Trading Department, who also teaches graduate level finance/accounting for the faculty of E-commerce and Technology Management at the University of Phoenix, sums up: “Have you ever had a job, where everyone you deal with is happy? That’s what being a CSS Riding Coach is like. Everyone is glad to be here.”

These colorful personalities have found work that they truly love – and share that passion with every new crop of students. It’s not enough to be a grease monkey to teach at CSS, and that is why many of these highly trained professionals have found a haven at the racetrack. It is the intangibles that make them superior riding coaches. Hal puts it best on what it means to be one of CSS’s top guns: “At first I would have told you that it was the prestige of teaching for the biggest and best motorcycle school in the world. But the more I teach, the more I realize it is the satisfaction of helping a student through the day… and at the end of the day having them come to me with big smiles and thank me for my help… knowing they improved dramatically throughout the day.”

For more information about Keith Code, Superbike School, or the instructional books and video, please contact the Superbike School by phone at (323) 224-2734, by e-mail at media@superbikeschool.com or visit the CSS website at www.superbikeschool.com.