Back in one piece

My first day on the racetrack went about as well as planned considering I've been away for 10 months now. Last weekend I decided to take advantage of a Sunday trackday, which is very rare around here because of the demand for racing over the weekends and was at two minds with what to do with the opportunities of staying Monday and making it a double-header. The choices were to:

a) call it good with one day
b) do another regular trackday Monday
c) get my AFM racing licence Monday.

Although I'm not going to do much racing this year due to limited funds, I decided on to take the opportunity to get my license anyways. While more expensive than a regular trackday, getting your club racing license is actually a pretty easy affair. After 2 hours of basic classroom time where we learned the differences in safety rules, flags, bike setup, racetrack etiquette and daily procedures, the afternoon was dedicated to working with the instructors to make sure we'd be "welcome" on the track with other racers. Riders are basically judged on how well you understand consistency, handle being passed as well as making safe passes, and general riding skill. Having already riden the day before, I was perfectly comfortable hitting the track with one of the instructors, whom I know fairly well, and had no problem meeting their criteria.

To close out the day, the final test was practising race starts which was certainly the most tricky part of the day. Let me tell you something, it sounds easy to launch a bike at speed because you do it all the time getting in and out of the hot-pit entering the track, but when they introduce this little thing called a green flag and 20 other riders around you it's a tad more difficult. My first of 3 starts was an absolute disaster because I basically shut my brain off when the green flag dropped, promptly dropped the clutch, launched the front wheel sky-high and got zero drive off the line. Oh, and it didn't help that I was on the front row of the grid. But hey, I provided some first-class entertainment to the experienced racers and instructors on the side line! The second two were much smoother though and I managed to hold my own with most of the quicker guys, and pass a few more into turn one. My bike may be heavy, but the low-down torque makes it pretty fast if you get it right.

I now have my club racing license, and I actually feel very relieved to have taken the bike out on the track for the first time this season. I think I've been pretty stressed the last few weeks having not been able to test-ride it on the street beforehand, because I've had no idea whether I have actually addressed all the problems and put everything back together properly. Anticipation is one thing and adds the appropriate amount of focus to keep you thinking straight. Having self doubt that your machine will stay in one piece is another story, and is not something you want to have to worry about. Apart from the fact that RC51's don't like nuts and bolts and like to spit them out at every possible opportunity, she held up great and rides much better after going on a roughly 30lb diet of excess parts removal. I'm also now free to focus on my running more, because I have been spending a lot of energy in the garage getting everything prepped which will now be drastically reduced. The ironic thing is that now I have committed to this route as opposed to continuing to debate whether it would be better to remain riding on the street, I'm much more relaxed. It's tough enough to run at a high level without throwing motorcycle racing into the picture, but as long as I don't crash and break shit on both me and the bike, I think I can do both. Running will still remain the priority though until I feel that I'm no longer able to run fast, because no matter how much fun it is dragging your knee at 100mph, it just doesn't compare to the achievement you feel from training your ass of and running quick.

Until later...