Track thoughts and other randomness.

As promised in my last post I got out to the track this weekend. It has been a month since my last outing and I was going back to the same track. I was looking forward to seeing if anything I did from last time carried over to this session. After unloading the trailer the following day, I forced myself to sit down and bang out this post. Sit back and relax as I recollect how another awesome day at the track can be.

Another early morning, another fine day for whipping it up round the track. This past week saw a heat wave hit SoCal. It broke just before my track day and when I arrived I saw lots of folks wearing light jackets. The sky was clear with just a slight breeze. The lack of clouds promised that the cool day wasn't going to last. I managed to leave the house on time and got on the road at 4:00 am to make the 167 mile trip from my house. I arrived with plenty of time to set up my paddock, prep the bike and get registered and tech'd. There is really nothing better than a cool, crisp morning with the sound of crackling race bike exhausts to get the blood pumping for a day of track action!

As can be expected at a CVMA event the paddock area became a motorcycle traveling circus. One thing I love to do is to just float around the track and see how all the different groups do their individual pits. As always there were all types of set ups to be seen. From full Gucci paddock palaces to very minimalist business only track rats. Mine lies somewhere in between, but definitely on the budget end of the scale. There were a lot of groups. One of these days I will be able to get someone to go with me and share in the fun and duties of a track day. The number of families at the track was something encouraging to see. Hopefully my girls will get the Motorbike bug and want to accompany me to the track someday.

As I made my way through the paddock I saw something you don't see everyday at the track. A couple of Harley Dynas prepped and ready for fast laps around the circuit. These guys were in the advanced "A" group and seemed to be holding there own from what I could see. They were faster than I was for sure. I did some Google searching and found this article from Hotbike magazine about a group of V-Twin Motorbike junkies that are getting into the track scene. I welcome this as I have been feeling the itch for another bike of the cruiser inclination to join my stable. I don't think I could get a bike and not track it. Seeing these guys out at the track and getting my pegs blown off by a couple of other Harley riders at my Buttonwillow track day a few months ago leads me to think that I could have my cruiser and track it too!

These guys had done some track time before. I saw mods like frame sliders built off of highway pegs, exhaust systems, performance rear shocks and the one mod that impressed me the most, the big ass front brake kits they had. I didn't get close enough to check out the tires, but the tire and wheel combo is certainly not of the current big-wheel bagger fashion. This bikes were very purposeful. That purpose seemed to be being brash and bad ass with the laps times to back it up. Its this kind of thing that I really dig. Taking something and doing something unexpected with it. I mean my little Ninja was never meant to be at the track and look at it now.

The little Ninja kept right on trucking the whole day. I used more fourth and fifth gear compared to the last time I was a Chuck where I used more third and fourth. My laps times were much improved. My fastest lap was a 2:54 and change which is 10 seconds faster than the last time I came here. This time we rode counter clockwise as compared to the clockwise rotation from before. I feel like counter clockwise is a faster configuration. The decreasing radius turns that were slow became fast sweeping increasing radius turns. I used more wide open throttle. I didn't use as much off bike body position as the last time, but I didn't feel like I needed to. The way I needed to use my sight line through the corners to lock in my turns was different than the last time also. I used the cones more, especially  the apex cones once I made my tip in, then I transitioned my eyes to the exit cones and then I repeated it with the next set of apex cones. I did brake later into the turns and tried hard to do more deliberate tip in when initiating my turn. I was still lapped like I was standing still by most of the rest of the group. I did make a pass on my last session which felt really good. I couldn't believe I was faster than someone out on the track.

Here is where I usually show you how scorched and melted the tires got after a day laps. This time though on the last lap of my last planned session, wouldn't you know it, I ran out of gas. It was kind of like having a heart attack in front of the hospital as I pulled off track right in front of the crash truck that was coming in after the "C" group session to pick up some debris on the track near where I pulled off. I pretty much rolled straight to the truck, disconnected my Helite vest and jumped in the front seat. The funny part is they have a sign at the hot pit entrance to remind you to see if you have enough gas. I got so used to the Ninja barley burning any fuel that I didn't bother to check. Lessons learned and I will add that to my post session data collection along with checking my tire temp and pressures.

It was another good day at the track. I'm in talks with a buddy to see if we can head out to the track next month over the Thanksgiving holiday to burn some laps at Chuckwalla. It will be fun to have someone to chat with about how the session went. This weekend I'm also planning to go to a Harley demo truck event near me. I'll certainly have some pics and notes to make a post about that as well. I'm actually looking forward to riding a few of those new 2018 softtail models. Lots of stuff coming soon so don't stay too far away. Later!

Blue