Monday Morning Update
The only major thing worth reporting today is that I did my first track day on Friday.
It was the first day on the track since my surgery, and all went reasonably well. I was on a new bike, but on a track that I know well and love, Infineon Raceway. It goes up, it goes down, it goes round and round, it's like a roller coaster. I rode my new bike for the first time; a 2003 Suzuki SV outfitted with all the right racing parts. Not the most bling bling race SV around, but above average. The SV is pretty different from the GSXR I'd been riding on the track previously. It has around 75 hp, whereas the GSXR has around 109. I felt the difference in power most when throttling out of The Carousel, or Turn 11; the GSXR takes off like a surprised racehorse, and on the SV I felt like I was on top of a plodding nag, beating it on its ass with a stick, pinning the throttle while shifting up through the gears and wondering why I'm not going anywhere.
I'm slow on it. I don't know how or when to shift it. It needs to be shifted all the time. I can't tell you how many times I looked down and was 2000 RPM over redline, thinking, "dammit, I need to shift again." Also, when blipping my downshifts while braking before a turn, I noticed that I was sticking the throttle open at the same time, which is very, very bad. Coming down the front straight into Turn 1, braking, downshifting and blipping, then letting off and noticing you're still rocketing forward off of the track is upsetting. So I was very shy with my braking. Everything else I think was decent, my corner speed, drives, and lines.
Towards the end of the day I started to get used to it all.
The best news is that I didn't crash, even though I went off the track coming out of Turn 4. People frequently slip and fall when they go off the track into the dirt, but the plodding nag stayed upright even though I was a little aggressive with the rear brake. I eased back onto the track and my friend Jason buzzed by, pumping his fist in the air like "hell yeah!" They all said they thought I was going down for sure.
Here's the track map, so you can see the turns I'm talking about:
Saturday I slept in, had a lazy morning, then took my trailer back. There was a huge accident on 101 that made me a half hour late for my hair appointment.
It was the first day on the track since my surgery, and all went reasonably well. I was on a new bike, but on a track that I know well and love, Infineon Raceway. It goes up, it goes down, it goes round and round, it's like a roller coaster. I rode my new bike for the first time; a 2003 Suzuki SV outfitted with all the right racing parts. Not the most bling bling race SV around, but above average. The SV is pretty different from the GSXR I'd been riding on the track previously. It has around 75 hp, whereas the GSXR has around 109. I felt the difference in power most when throttling out of The Carousel, or Turn 11; the GSXR takes off like a surprised racehorse, and on the SV I felt like I was on top of a plodding nag, beating it on its ass with a stick, pinning the throttle while shifting up through the gears and wondering why I'm not going anywhere.
I'm slow on it. I don't know how or when to shift it. It needs to be shifted all the time. I can't tell you how many times I looked down and was 2000 RPM over redline, thinking, "dammit, I need to shift again." Also, when blipping my downshifts while braking before a turn, I noticed that I was sticking the throttle open at the same time, which is very, very bad. Coming down the front straight into Turn 1, braking, downshifting and blipping, then letting off and noticing you're still rocketing forward off of the track is upsetting. So I was very shy with my braking. Everything else I think was decent, my corner speed, drives, and lines.
Towards the end of the day I started to get used to it all.
The best news is that I didn't crash, even though I went off the track coming out of Turn 4. People frequently slip and fall when they go off the track into the dirt, but the plodding nag stayed upright even though I was a little aggressive with the rear brake. I eased back onto the track and my friend Jason buzzed by, pumping his fist in the air like "hell yeah!" They all said they thought I was going down for sure.
Here's the track map, so you can see the turns I'm talking about:
Saturday I slept in, had a lazy morning, then took my trailer back. There was a huge accident on 101 that made me a half hour late for my hair appointment.