Wrecks, melted rubber, mutant GPS and fog. An awesome day at the track.

What's better than hitting the track on a beautiful winter's day? Being at the track with family and friends. I've been mentioning that I was going to be getting back to Chuckwalla with a good friend for a while now. It was time for another round of track action for me and the first track day for him. Since I've blathered on about my track days a bunch of times already, I thought this time around I'd let someone else do the talking. Read on for another guest post from my unpaid field correspondent, Torque Spec!

"Ah, good day My Motorbike  Fans! I for one can't wait to tear down the stairs, open my news feed and see the latest from Ol' Blue. Maybe it's just the season, but I'm like a kid on Christmas morning when a new blog post comes out. For those of you rolling your eyes right now this is mandatory messaging required by all guest bloggers, just for future reference in case any of you out there are so moved as to offer your insight to the group. Of course I'm only kidding! (Not really, I need any and all ego feeding compliments! Blue) It's a pleasure to have another opportunity to speak with you all. This time though it's not about some far off international adventure, but an experience available to any of us in the continental U.S. (Sorry AK and HI!) I'm talking about a track day and in our case, specifically one with TrackXperience at Chuckwalla Raceway.

Two little Ninja's waiting to hit the track.

"The start of this track day began the way they always do, in the shop. After performing my regular maintenance items as well as upgrading to some new brake pads, I rode up north to finish getting the bike ready for the track. I was a little nervous about it because I've been reading about changing springs and fork oil and witnessed firsthand the trials and tribulations experienced when Blue was trying to safety wire his Ninjette. However this really was a pretty painless process. It involved pulling my mirrors, two fuses, taping my lights, and tying it down to the trailer. That's it. I think it took longer for us to find and purchase a gas can that it did to prep the bike before heading out. Seriously, the bike flew through tech inspection with zero issues except for me forgetting to tape my wheel weights. The tech inspector added some nice Finding Nemo Dory packing tape at the inspection paddock, presumably to remind other riders that I had forgotten. After that we lowered the tire pressure to a comfortable track pressure (front 28 psi and rear 30 psi) and took some initial temperature measurements for a baseline. Boom, track day preps complete.

This was pretty exciting for me since it was my first ever track day and my first time ever on the racetrack with my own motorcycle. I had completed level one of Keith Code's California Superbike School back in June, but on one of their bikes and that was targeted type of instruction. Today I was in charge and on my own bike; a stately 2014 Kawasaki Ninja 650. She's not as aggressive as her big sister the ZX-6R, and certainly not the reigning WSB queen the ZX-10R, but she's a fun little bike whose parallel twin works great on my daily commutes in traffic and the 10,500 redline allows me to have some fun. Despite all bravado above, I did take the new riders class between sessions to help me get used the racetrack, and to get the super bright vest that let all the other riders know just how new at this I really am. It wasn't bad, but mostly served as a reminder of the things I had already learned at CSS. Still, a good reminder and the staff was super friendly which added to the welcoming atmosphere of the day.

Not as many people as a TrackDaz weekend, but just as fun!

"Now on to the important part, the time on the track. It was great. That seems like an over simplification and doesn't really do it justice, but I lack the words to describe how much fun it is to ride around on an actual racetrack without having to worry about traffic or speed limits and just focus on riding as best you can. The day was perfect for it and the adjustments to my bike really seemed to be working as my tires quickly got up to temperature and my lap times kept falling each session. We both used an app on our phones called TrackAddict and it was amazing how much data this app would keep for you, even in the free trial version. It helped me see where I was losing time and where I was doing pretty well with graphic depictions for corner entry and exit speed, top speeds, and of course, lap times. I might add that my lap times were lower than Ol' Blues, but he would just as quickly add that I had another 400 cc's on my power plant (you only beat me by 7 or 8 seconds!). I'll leave it to you other Motorbike Obsessions fans to weigh in on that. So when the ambient temperature started to fall faster than our lap times, we decided to call it a day. 

My first ever real track day was a success. I had a lot of fun, some laughs, and improved my skills on the bike while hanging out with a good buddy. If there was one conclusion I took away from the whole experience it was that track days really are for anyone looking to have a blast on two wheels and get better at riding their motorcycle. It was easy to prepare for, the entire atmosphere was relaxed and inviting, and the weekend was really enjoyable. Till next time keep the rubber side down."  

-Torque Spec

Thanks buddy. Nothing better than going to the track with friends. I can't wait to do it again!

Like Torque Spec was saying, we were monitoring our lap times and tire temps all day. Chicken Strips were on the menu for both of us as we were frying our tires all day. The air temps weren't too hot, but it was so clear and sunny that during the hottest part of the day the pavement got into the 120's. This made for some good traction out on the track. We didn't have any tire temp data to use to set up Torque's bike. We guessed what would be needed and adjusted a little after the first couple of sessions. His Michelin Pilot Road 3's seemed to take to the track very well and he didn't have any complaints about traction. From the before pic above on the left and the after pic on the right,  you can see that he was getting some good heat in the tire and his lean angles were track appropriate.

Since I have plenty of track data to help me set my tire pressure it was easy to get things ready before the first session. I checked my pressures and adjusted as needed to what I thought the day would bring. Being a little later in the season, the day warmed up as expected, but it didn't stay as hot as it usually did. I took extra air temps so that I could see what the cooling track did to my tire temps. As the day went on, my tires stayed at a constant pressure. The temps did start to drop just slightly towards the end of the day. This matched with the drop in pavement temp as the sun made its move along the daytime sky. Next time, I need to drop the pressures just a touch as the day cools off so that my on-track temperatures stay where I need them to be. Even with those minor changes, you can see in my own before (left) and after (right) pics above that I was increasing my lean angles. This matched with my lap times that dropped by an average of 10 seconds from my last track outing. I am still about 40 seconds off the Expert 250 Supersport rider race pace for CVMA. My goal for the second half of the CVMA season is to get myself to within 10 seconds of the experts which will be the right times for me to mix with the Amateur 250 Supersport riders for the 2018/2019 season. That is the season I want to start racing!

The title of this post is a cryptic one, but it covers the whole day in a nutshell. Our first session got delayed when an intermediate session rider had to get transported to the hospital after a back wreck. We didn't get out on track until almost 11:00 for our first session. We definitely melted some rubber as can be seen in our awesome tire pics above. We got caught in some hellacious traffic just outside Palm Springs on the way back into Riverside County. After putting up with 5 mph traffic for almost 40 minutes, we took the advice of our iPhone map and tried the suggested diversion around the blockage using some side roads. We got 10 minutes of 50 mph travel when the frontage road got blocked by traffic as well. I guess everyone else had the same idea. Another 30 minutes was spent with the GPS literally having us go around in circles before we got back on the freeway only to suffer through more stop and go traffic. It cleared up eventually and we were flying except for falling asleep at the wheel. After a quick coffee stop we were almost home when the fog rolled in. I couldn't see more than 10 feet in front of my truck. Finally we got back to my house where we had to prep my buddy's bike to get him on the road home that night. As easy as it was to prep initially, it was just as tough to get it prepped back for street use. Fatigue was the case and we just wanted to get him on the road. I broke his mirror getting it back on and after another 40 minutes of cussing, he was on his way. I hit the sack at midnight after getting up at 3:15 the night before. A long day, but it was worth it to get out on the track with a friend. I hope you can have a similar adventure this holiday season. Stay tuned to this blog for a bunch more posts as I continue to hone the little Ninja into a mighty track weapon over the winter break. See ya!

Blue