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Posted by Kenn Stamp
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Saturday, 08 December 2007 |
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Page 2 of 3
As much as it hurts my pride to admit this I decided to start out in Novice class. I figured that; new bike (to me) + new track (to me) = caution. During the first novice session a couple of known fast guys led for a few laps to aquaint the newbs with the track. About halfway through I went ahead and started running a little bit harder. Right in the middle of turn 8, a turn that is more devious than it looks on the track map, I had to shut the throttle pretty hard and the bike started oscilating while leaned over. Not confidence inspiring and the thought of it happening again slowed me down in that corner for the rest of the first session. It's funny that even though I chalked it up to rider error, it still played with my mind and kept me from pushing the bike harder.
Second session comes around and I decided to stay in Novice till I sorted out a few things. By the 3rd lap I figured out the line on turn 8 and nailed it. Right at the apex I started feeding in more power when suddenly the bike starts doing the oscilation dance again. Well that pretty much ruined the rest of the session for me as I wasn't about to push harder into curves with a bike that was channeling Elvis and his hips.
Back in the pits I hunted down our local suspension guru (and all around nice guy) Todd Trumble, owner of TTR Racing. I explained what the bike was doing and to his complete credit he understood my explanation and proceeded to fix the issue. This guy is used to working with racers and how they explain things, so for him to understand what I was trying to say (using more hand motions than words) shows how good he is. A few turns, clicks, and exclamations of "well this setup is all wrong!" later he told me to go out and see what I thought.
One more time in the novice class (or so I thought) to check the set-up and all should be good, right? Well not entirely. The new suspension set-up was great; flawless and right on the money. Now that I wasn't worried about the Tuono trying out for Dancing with the Stars, I settled down and got to work on getting comfortable with the bike and the track. Problem was, I couldn't get comfortable with the motorcycle. It had nothing to do with power delivery, handling (anymore), or anything as easily pinpointed as that; it was how I was interacting with the bike's ergonomics.
The Tuono is a tall bike and when I was leaned over in corners I felt like the bike was in one zip code and my head was in another (no it wasn't a zip code in "Crazyville"). I never felt "connected" to the bike. My feet slipped off the short, stubby pegs that Mike had installed and my inside arm kept cramping while leaned over in a corner. Also, and this is something that has never happened before or after, my feet were cramping. I'm guessing that it was due to me trying to keep my feet on the pegs or just the fact that I was a little more tense than usual trying to fight the disconnected feeling.
I remember thinking that everything would work out better after the lunch break. Looking back on this thought process, I realize now that maybe my head was in "Crazyville".
First session after lunch I decided to wuss out again and run in the Novice class once more (you see a pattern developing here don't you) to attempt to sort out the issues I was having. I was comfortable in Novice class because I was using the back markers as a slow down point to re-order my thoughts and try a different technique/tactic in my never-ending quest to get comfortable. Basically my laps went something like this; First one out on track run hard the first 2 laps, then catch up to a slower rider, chill out behind them until the straight, go past them and run hard for a few seconds more until the next slower rider, repeat over and over for 15 minutes.
Sadly, even after 2 more sessions, I was still struggling to find that "sweet spot" of comfort. I'm not going to blame the bike as only a poor workman blames his tools. It was definitely all me. I learned that I am more comfortable riding a sportbike at the track than I am a standard which is flipped 180 degrees form my street preference, which proves yet again why everyone needs (yes needs) to have more than one bike in their garage. And before you ask; yes you can use that line of reasoning with your significant other to justify buying that new bike, you just can't tell them that the idea came from me.
During the last session of the day (for me) Rick wanted to trade-off bikes. He would ride the Tuono and I would ride his Gixxer 600. After bombing around the track all day on a honkin' V-Twin, my first few laps on the Gixxer were less than stellar. Everything was fine until I tried to pass about three people coming out of turn 11 on the first lap. I learned really quickly that pinning the throttle open at 3k RPMs on a 600 does little more than produce more noise.
With that little lesson learned I settled down for lap #2 and worked on how the bike felt. Lap 3 was where I really started to put everything together; or so I thought. Coming out of turn 11 I kept the bike on boil and rocketed through turn 12 with my head down and the throttle pinned. I popped-up and started braking for turn 13. Well, I tried (I thought) braking for turn 13 but all the bike was doing was chattering the rear wheel while heading quite quickly for the trees that are 100 yards off the track. When I didn't slow down much at all, I decided that the trees needed someone to go out there and check on them, so I did. As it turned out I didn't quite make it all the way there but I did go about 50 yards or so off the track. Luckily I was able to keep the bike upright through the rough dirt and grass that surrounds the track.
I decided that a ride into pit road to test the brakes was prudent because I didn't want an episode like that happening again. Strangely enough the brakes seemed to be working fine so after a few quick stops it was back on the track for me and my John Deere 600. After the session I figured out what happened; I was so used to the Aprilia's binders and amount of lever pressure it took to slow the bike down that I never squeezed harder than that even though the Suzuki's brakes required more pressure at the lever. The issue came to light on that lap as it was the first one I was really trying to run at a faster pace. It's amazing the silly mistakes you make when you focus on one particular thing, in this case speed, instead of paying attention to the big picture.
After that little escapade, the rest of the session went extremely well. I felt much more comfortable on that Gixxer and was going much faster on it at the end of one session then I had at any point on the Tuono. I told Rick that I would have felt very comfortable riding in the intermediate class after the first Novice session had I been on his bike all day. Who knows, I might have even tried Expert class by the end of the day.
I had a lot of fun riding with people that I know and enjoy spending time with. Every time I ride on a track I learn something about my style, my likes and dislikes, and about how to more effectively handle a bike. When all is said and done, isn't that the real reason we do track days? Track days aren't all about speed and who is faster than who; sure that stuff is fun, but the real reason is to practice our motorcycle riding skills in a safe and low(er) risk environment.
Right. So when is the next track day? There are a few people that need to see the back of my bike getting smaller.
Go to page 3 for pictures of Kimball (from the forums), Speed (from the forums), Rick Brain, and of course me!
Go to our Track Day thread to discuss this article and tell us about your track day experiences
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