today was much better. no incidents. my bike started on the first try. my speeds increased.

the morning saw me taking it easy as i was a little paranoid about crashing again. not enough to make me slow down, but i still wasnt comfortable going into turn 5. going into turn 5, one is braking had down a steep hill, only to find a tight 180 degree, double apex turn. the combination is difficult for me as i like to trail brake up to my apex, but the down hill, combined with heavy braking really puts a lot of weight on the front end and maked leaning the bike difficult. but i persevered.

i was also trying to get back to my old speed at this track. as the day progressed i was able to prevent my braking instincts from taking over and go into and through corners faster. a benefit to this is obviously the speed, but it also set me up to make some really fun passes. normally, i make passes either coming out of corners by getting a better drive or by using an outside-inside pass to get under them on the exit. thise weekend, however, i was having a ball taking the log way and passing around the outside. i was doing it in turn one, two, four, 5/6, 9 and of course teh big decreasing radius right at the end of the track. i always wondered how people could carry that much speed to make those passes. now i am begining to understand. i dont think it is as fun as outside-inside passes. those are kind of a "F you. you just screwed up" kind of pass.

a benefit to going to hte track with friends is sometimes they want to swap bikes for a little while. Mary and i, having bikes that only differ by setup and geometry, did just that. the only real difference between our bikes are the tires. i use the unstoppable Diablo Corsas and she was trying out some slicks. we agreed to do 4 laps on each others bikes and then come into the hot pit and swap back so we could get a good back-to-back comparison. since i wasnt on my bike, i was taking it easy. the bike felt great. TONS of grip from the tires and her forks are set up stiffer than mine and they gave great feelback with very little dive on the brakes. her bike also turned better than mine. hers would turn on a dime, where as mine needs to be eased into corners. after the first lap, i decided to up the pace a little and passed her. i passed her coming out of a corner and noticed that her bike felt stronger than mine. about a lap later, a small group of bikes goes past and i noticed a pony tail sticking out of the riders helmet. she was on an Aprilia and i decided to hunt her down. so i upped the pace and finally caught up nad made the pass after two laps. normally, i dont care what gener a rider is, and i dont think that that was my motivation for wanting to pass her. passing her was a bit of a challenge but i did see it as attainable so off i went on Mary's bike. wow those slicks are sticky. the bike felt planted everywhere. the only downside to the tires and bike setup was it was prone to headshake. i felt a little in the museum turn and had a nice wobble for about half of the back straight. when the wobble started i decided to ignore it and accelerate harder. after our four laps (i miscounted and pitted early only to realize my mistake and get back out on the track behind Mary, which confused her a little) we swpped back and the difference was night and day. the riding position of her bike felt like a touring bike compared to my "monkey fucking a football" (Mary's words) position. i liked her stiffer suspension and obviously her tires, but i like my seating position better. now i feel the need to get my suspension redone and make the switch to racetires.

Shadow Video was having a great day, but unfortunately, they had to leave early. They were soo booked, tehy came by and asked if i would ride afew sessions for them. I have ridden with them before but this was my track day and i wanted to ride my way and not follow people for the whole weekend. i told Doug that i would be happy to help, but that i would prefer the intermediate or novice group so it wouldnt wear me out. i had a good time videoing in those sessions. the riders are at a pace so i can stay close to them and play with the shots to get some more interesting footage. The novice rider i followed was amazing. she wasnt very fast, but i was duly impressed by her form, looking though the corners properly, single steering inputs and unflichable nature when she was getting buzzed. she even showed me a great line though turn 2!

the highlight of my day came during the last session. iwas feeling morcomfortable than i had all weekend. i was braking later, carrying more speed through corners and generally having my shit together. then Pruitt passed me somewhere around turn 2. it was great watching his bike wobble and weave coming out of turn 4 as he stayed on the gas. this time, his pace was a little different relative to mine. maybe he was getting tired, i know i was certainly faster than i had been all weekend, but he didnt ride off into the sunset like the other times he passed me. this time it was more like he was slowly walking away and i was able to keep him in sight for the better part of lap. i did try to up my pace and "follow" him though corners (as best i could from 100+ feet away). i think that helped up my pace as well as i saw my best time of 1:41 for the weekend in that session. it is still a few seconds slower than my best time at Barber, but it was good enough to end my weekend on a high note.

the drive back to DC was split up into two days. its just easier that way, but the drive was still very tedious with bike and Shadow Video trailer.

all in all a great weekend. my bike sustained barely any damage from my get off, i got served some humble pie by a racing legend, i discovered my bike needs some changes and even with my lack of track time compared to previous years, my lap times havent suffered too much.

<< Day 1

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