[Misti]

Originally Posted by Ducati999

I would like to thank so many of you fellow members for not only taking the time to read this thread but for the great feedback and advice that so many of you have offered. Without the friends, support and encouragement of this forum I might never have even tried the track. What you write on here may mean more to someone than you know.

OK so what did I learn from all of this?

First off running the race line is essential. There is no way to slowly increase entry speed into a turn if you are approaching it differently every lap.

Second: same as above, you cant roll on earlier/later if your speed or line are not the same each lap.

Third: How hard it really is to hold the throttle wide open at full acceleration while headed towards a rock wall, jersey barriers or any solid object. Even running up a steep hill where I know there is plenty of time to stop, I found it difficult to keep the throttle 100%. Something to work on next season.

Fourth: (General rule) if the bike is at less then 90% lean you should be at some level of throttle or brake. Would love to discuss this rule in depth as it can be easily misunderstood. This rule helped me find a lot of the time I made up on track and showed me places where I was decellerating when I should have been on the gas. Another Ducati rider from the Black (Fastest) group discussed this with me and it really helped me change my thinking.

Fifth: Do the track walk. Even if you are super fast, nothing beats the slow walk with loads of time to note reference pionts, find hidden bumps or just get a better feeling for the surface of the track turn by turn.

Sixth: Suspension, many on here dont have adjustable suspension. I had not looked or adjusted my rear suspension in 10 years. Computrac found that the compression on my rear shock was set to 0. I was unaware that anything was wrong till I swapped to Pirelli tires. I had no complaints with the stiffer Dunlop tires but as soon as the Pirelli's were installed unwanted movement from the rear appeared. I want to get the suspension fully redone with Ohlins out back and possibly some cartridges in the forks.

Seventh: I still have a lot to learn. While 1:55 is super fast to me, not so much for the guys running in Black group at 1:48 or less. I know where I need to get on the gas earlier and hold max throttle longer to get down to 1:50ish but the last few seconds will be another journey in themselves. I will try to upload the video for my fastest laps tomorrow so you can critique my riding so I can further improve. I showed my wife my old videos and this newest fast lap and she can see I am not riding past my 85-90%. My point is that I am riding much faster yet there is no more danger than before. Yes the faster speeds mean possible worse injuries but the video shows no more chance of a crash than before. Actually with getting the race lines better, the exit of the turn has you pointing in the right direction so less chance of visiting the grass!

Final: Relax, the more I tried to go faster or just think too much about doing it perfectly, the slower I went. Once I just relaxed and rode the bike and had fun, the lap times dropped and I had more fun! My muscle memory knows how to ride the bike so letting the thinking part of my brain just slowed things down. The more I relaxed the better I flowed with the bike and the better the bike worked. Like Keith Code says: Is the bike happy? are you happy when the bikes happy?



To wrap up,
I will keep adding to this thread if possible. My 2021 track season is sketchy at best right now but I always hope for the best. I have not even come close to what my bike is capable of but I am closer than ever. I hope to post 1:50 or better next season but thats another story.

Great write up and great progression!! Well done! I'm glad to hear that you were able to take good information from a variety of people and put it all to use in a way that made sense to you. I love the way that you list the things that helped you in a systematic way and that you are open to the fact that you still have a lot to learn.

For your final comment, you talk about being relaxed and mention that when you tried to go fast, it didn't work out as well for you vs when you worked on being relaxed. This is super important.

Now, you can remind yourself to be relaxed until the cows come home, but there are usually specific things you need to do to help you stay relaxed while riding. What did you find were some specific techniques you used to help you be more relaxed? Was it looking further ahead? How you were sitting on the bike? Were you squeezing the tank with your knees? What was the biggest factor in helping you stay relaxed while riding?