T-Hill April-24-25 ?

[slmoto]

Ask the local shops to match the internet prices on tires. I did that at BVH, they usually can't match the prices but they come close enough which helps bring them down to a more reasonable price. If I remember right the last set I bought there was about a $60 difference per tire and they were able to bring it down to only a $15 difference per tire so I purchased them from them. Then you can enjoy cheap or free mounting and still support the local shops.

[dub]

Now I want to leave earlier on Friday so I can have dinner at Casa Ramos.  Thanks for the heads up.  When is everyone planning to get down there?

I don't think there is an official start time. People will start heading over there from the track at about 6-7 I would imagine. I'm sure you will still catch everyone if you get there 7-8.

[RichVee4]

Good discussion of T 3 at T Hill to be aware of, off camber right turn .  Also points out importance of warming up tires.

http://bayarearidersforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=188160

If anyone has any other good advice for us new b's would love to hear it.  

[GreenMachine]

A. Don't overthink it.  You're a good rider.  Have fun.  Don't crash.  And don't injure yourself.

If you're in tune with your bike's tires (grip), go out at a moderate safe pace and build additional speed after reeling off lap after lap.  Ride to have fun, whatever that means to you within the rules.  If you're finding riders are doing things you don't feel comfortable with, let them through and get away from them.  You're allowed to pull into the pits and go back out without question.

I've mentioned this before.  As far as safety goes, save your energy for the afternoon sessions.  It seems that a lot of riders go to trackdays to impress and race other people.  They'll wither or end up leaving early after they accomplish the inevitable accident.  Those riders seem to go out in the first session or two with little control and much disregard for what was just explained in the riders meeting a few minutes prior.  You might be okay in C group.  B group was frightening.  I had to factor in my lines and speed to adjust for other riders stuffing me in turns, forcing me off my line, and going around me on the exits.  For the most part I ended up changing my riding to be overly cautious and almost wished I hadn't gone out at all in the first two sessions.  Had I been on my line and at my pace early on, on an unfamiliar track, I would have been forced off and probably had a big spill.   

Crashing sucks.  What I found was that if I could find some separation from other riders I could finally have fun and pick the pace up.  And as the day wore on, fewer and fewer riders went out, leaving just the "fun" riders like me on track, so those were the best sessions in my book.

[RichVee4]

Appreciate the input.  I can see how the first few sessions can be a little white knuckle with everyone gung ho wanting to show their stuff.  If I remember correctly the first C session there is no passing so wont have to deal with that as much. 

I like the suggestion to pace yourself and wait for the afternoon sessions when the pack thins out and you are more familiar with the track.   

This is going to be fun!

[GreenMachine]

FYI: If you want good pictures of you on track, you'll need to do that great looking riding in the first sessions.  The reason is they have to regroup all of their photographs by the end of the day, so they have to end the picture taking early on.  So at the end of the day when you're at your most confident and riding the 'coolest' you think you can, nobody is there to capture those moments.  What you get instead is a collection of unflattering early morning pictures of you on your bike warming your tires, strolling around the track. 

Another tip you can take advantage of, depending on your comparative track pace to those who show up, is that if you're too fast for C group, is to move up to B group after lunch or later in the day.  Ask an instructor about that.  If you're a fast C, go out at the front of each session, lining up early.  If you're a slow B, go out at the back of the B riders heading out.  Either way, you'll end up with more track in front of you where you will have far fewer goofballs to content with. 

Here's a recommended race line video in case you haven't already overloaded on peoples' track videos yet.  Just realize you're not on a track prepared R6 and you may not be able to do this sort of pace.   

[flamecrow]

Had an awesome first time at the track with Rich and Monica. Great seeing and meeting Dub too.

Pics and videos to come... Also I just now realized KKM (Kevin), whom Rich and I were keeping an eye out and hoping to meet at the track was the same man the passed away from the Geiger accident.  Ride in Paradise KKM

[RichVee4]

Made it back to town, long weekend.  Track day went well and learned a lot.  Monica and Tim did great and I appreciated dub giving me some one on one coaching.   I know I was worn out Sat evening!

Pics to come.

[RichVee4]

Was surprised how fast the day went.  With 20 min class time between sessions we hardly had a chance to sit all morning.  Weather was perfect, cool and no rain in sight all day.  Rained heavy the night before.  Pollen counts were off the charts.

My mind was prepped for the old track which I now know is the 3 mile track.  The 2 mile track is the West side and much tighter and less familiar.  The first few sessions bikes would back up behind slower riders and be difficult to pass.  Once out in front the pace was quick but not being familiar the race lines were sloppy.    Toward the second half of the day the pace was much faster and less riders so could get some fast laps without traffic.

I actually enjoyed the 2 mile track, its not a long fast track but more technical with a good mix of rt/lt corners.  Perfect track for the ninja 300's.  They had a Kawai demo trailer there so would see 3-4 300's on the track and it was fun watching them lean though the corners, impressive corner speed. 

Monica did very well.  Thought I would catch up to her easier during the session so I could follow and watch her but wasn't easy to find her.   I was able to coordinate when we left the pits so followed her around a couple times and she had good lean angle and fast pace.   Tim, looked good out there and was learning a lot.   The track has 3 tight corners that seemed to give Tim the most challenge, really hard to maintain speed thru the corner.   

Worked hard at lean angle and body position.  Will honestly say I was not as relaxed as I thought I would be, found myself with locked elbows and death grip on the bars, decreased some during the day.  At pace things happen FAST on the short track so you need 100% focus the entire 20min.  I can remember the two times I lost focus for like 1 sec and got way off my line.  I was getting good grip with my T30's and confidence was building, kept trying to get the knee out.  Seemed like it wasn't possible until the last session and did some riding with dub.  Toward the end of the session, did a fast RT off camber and dragged my foot peg hard then did a fast sweeping LT and finally the knee Touched down!  One small step but a milestone none the less.  It took 110% trust in your tires get to that point.

Sat night had at a 24oz beer at casa ramos and early to bed.  Thankful everyone had a fun and safe outing.

[RichVee4]

Big smiles

[GreenMachine]

So glad you guys and gal had a good time.  Great pics, BTW.  I look forward to more of the stories as they come to mind.

The first time a puck touches down is the milestone and the track is an ideal place to attempt it.  The high bars probably don't help in making it feel natural and the first time might feel awkward, like you have to give it your all just to get even close.  But it's a confidence builder, in that touching down doesn't carry with it the same fears you might have had going into it.  And with that out of the way and your trackday under your belt, hopefully your body will be doing a lot more work to help the bike manage turns comfortably.  If you work at it, there may come a time when you break the paradigm about having to put so much effort into it, where you're going in at 95%, then 90%, working your way away, farther and farther from even 80% riding and you're still skipping the puck on the ground.

Did you take pics of the rubber on your T30s?

[flamecrow]

Here are my pics. I have to also say that I was surprised how stiff my arms were and how much I was grabbing onto the bars! I was pretty sore at the end of the day. I agree with Rich, the full 20 minutes requires 100% focus. Whenever I dozed off or got lazy, I ran wide. I did kill a few cones (about 3 cones total) during the day as I stood the bike up and slightly ran off the track. I also learned how it is really a thing when they say "look where you want to go" because when I looked for the apex cones or exit cones, it was so much smoother as compared to target fixating the outside. There were about 3 occasions where I target fixated the outside of a turn and saw myself nearly running off the track and lowsiding, but luckily I consciously said "NOPE NOT TODAY" and looked where I wanted to go and pushed the handle bar (counter-steer?) and it turned deeper.

Near the end of the day I got a coach to show me the lines (so much smoother when following the correct lines, sets the bike up perfectly for the next turn). When the coach had me lead, it was more difficult to run smoother lines but I slowed down my pace and it got better as I practiced.

Three most important things I learned:
1) Look where you want to go, target fixation is a thing.
2) Fear is your biggest enemy, trust the bike and tires.
3) How to judge speed and race lines.

All in all, had a blast out there. I don't think I took GM's advice when he said take it easy in the morning and go hard at the end because I was so beat up after lunch already lol, maybe next time!

[GreenMachine]

There is always next time.

So did any of you get the need-for-speed bug?

[flamecrow]

Here is an cut down version of the videos taken during the day.

Rich, I'm uploading 4.5gb of the raw video files for you. Once it's done, I'll link it here for you to download and keep because they're awesome

(The cracked fairing is from running over a cone!)

[RichVee4]

Flamecrow - Awesome job on the video.  Thanks for being our Tech guy and getting our day on video.