So I finally got to have my first track day. It had a lot of ups and downs, so here's my summary and a video will be forthcoming.
Things started the day before with bike prep. Chain cleaning and lubrication, swapping from my street wheels to my race set, realigning the rear and setting chain tension, a nice thorough bath, swapping the mirrors for block off plates and finally loading up the Kendon trailer. It was getting dark and my garage lamp needs new bulbs so I decided to call it quits and finish the last few things in the morning (namely disconnecting lights and taping everything up). While not terribly stressed or anything, I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep and was running a bit low in the morning. Still, bright and early I left just before dawn.
When I got to the track I found my first problem. After my bike theft I had the repairs done by a shop (insurance prefers that). It appears they used SAE allen wrenches on my aftermarket purple bolts. This meant quite a few were stripped to the point my metric hex keys wouldn't bite. This made getting the side panel off more than a bit complicated in order to get into the fuse box. Still, with a bit of persistence I was able to get that done (and will be promptly replacing those bolts ASAP). I taped everything up and got through tech inspection just fine.
The other unfortunate event was when I got ready to gear up I found my race suit was more than a little tight. I put on some weight over the winter from eating horrendously and being more inactive than usual and the suit would not cooperate and zip up. Thankfully, I had anticipated that might be the case and brought my two piece gear to cover that eventuality (also: I am putting myself back on my old diet).
The experience also gave me a ton of respect for California Superbike School. You don't realize how smoothly that runs until you're at a track day. First, they announced session changes via a hand held air horn. If you weren't garaged near the start/finish line it was very easy to miss the sound while geared up with ear plugs. I was late to both the first and second session due to this (I learned my lesson after this and started parking myself close enough to watch track control for session changes).
I also took the add on 'class' they offered, considering it was my first regular track day. I found it a bit disappointing, the lectures were very high level and we were instructed to, roughly, 'follow your coach and take their line' which is a fine technique for some things but makes it hard to focus on things like finding your own reference points. Still, there was value in that I got some specific feedback and comments from the coaches after the sessions which was encouraging (I was told at one point my lines were excellent, which made me feel pretty good). I'll definitely take
Misti any day and am looking forward to riding with her again this July.
Now as for the actual track time: For the first session things started off a bit rough. I was re-familiarizing myself with the track and taking things pretty easy. I was surprised at how much the 'missing' CSS turn markers were throwing me off and I started being way more intent on finding my own reference points. This made following the coach who came in front of me and signaled to follow a rather distracting affair.
The second session I never got a coach, but this actually worked out in my favor as it let me finalize my reference points and establish my own lines. I started getting comfortable and fell into a nice rhythm. After the session a coach gave me one suggestion (to straighten out a section by blending some turns together) and I took it into account for my next go around.
Session three was pretty fun, and the video is posted below. When I finished I had the aforementioned compliment on my lines and I was pretty happy with it as having gotten myself on a solid start for the year. There are still a few bad habits I knew I was falling into. I'm not getting my toes on the pegs as often as I should, which is hurting both my clearance and my body positioning. I'm a bit too timid around a few corners (11 in particular) resulting in slowing too much and ending up with boatloads of unused track. I'm trying to slowly work my speed up to teach myself the right entry speed without getting in over my head.
Unfortunately things started raining at this point and after debating back and forth decided to pack in early; both riders parked next to me were leaving and I have a season pass so there's plenty of time left in the season.
Other lessons learned:
- I forgot I kept my Hero4 case in my tailbag, which went MIA after the theft. This resulted in having no way to mount it. DOH! I've ordered a replacement.
- I didn't test my mirror plate camera mount. The video was all at a significant tilt angle. I noticed this after attaching the Hero3 but didn't have the GoPro connection parts to try and correct it.
- I put a Contour Rotating-Flat-Mount on my swingarm and put one of my Contour+2s on that. The internal rotating mechanism fell off twice, thankfully both times in the pits and not the track. I'm going to get this mount off and replace it with a profile mount which should be more stable.
- I didn't bring any track map printouts with me, nor was I setting specific goals for each session. This mostly worked out (reference points for the first two in particular) but was definitely a mistake.
Lastly, I realized that with my season pass and other track days that I'm going to the track at least every 2 weeks this summer. This puts me in a weird position -- do I swap back to my other set of wheels (with street tires?) and then swap back again before the track? That's a lot of work to do that frequently. On the other hand, not doing that means either putting commute miles on my track tires or not riding outside the track.