Tracking: All Systems Go!

It seems that I've been absent with my ramblings here as of late. Leaving you all off on the note of happiness seems fitting though given the circumstances and events that have unfolded in the interim. As many of my readers (maybe all of you?) know, I've been working long and hard to bring my bikes and myself up to snuff for this new season on the track.  I had the privilege of being blessed with the help of one of my closest friends and most trusted authorities in the area of wrenching, and we spent a long and tiresome day in the garage pulling apart the Yamaha, checking valve clearances, putting it back together, checking valve clearances again, pulling the cams out again and fixing where we went wrong.  It was a seemingly relentless struggle that saw us laughing out of frustration, releasing little bursts of disdain here and there, and finally collapsing in our respective points of rest at around 12:30 in the morning.

Yeah, it's been a long winter with the bikes and although it seems unending, there is a light at the end of the tunnel.  Even in baby steps we make great strides and on February 16th it all came to a head with the season opening track day at Buttonwillow Raceway in the desolate central valley farm-scape.  Over the winter I had done the brakes, the fork seals, the valve clearances, and replaced the throttle cables.  I had gone over the bike several times to ensure that bolts were tight, pieces were secure and everything was good to go.  A few days beforehand the battery had died whilst I was delivering a "thank-you" gift to my friends at the local shop for all that they've done to help us local riders (can we say "irony?"), so I was half expecting to get out there and have the bike start having it's usual tantrums... but it didn't. 

Puttin' the God-son to work as my pit crew.

In fact, it didn't even so much as sputter or hesitate.  It ran like a champ and when we hit our first session out I was even surprised at my own confidence.  It was definitely the first time since CLASS back in October where my mind wasn't stuffed up with self-defeating frustration.  Quite the contrary... I felt as if I was being reborn again.  As I made my way around the track I was genuinely and wholeheartedly in love again.

The R6 is such an awesome bike when you're not working on it.  In comparison to my beloved ZX6R, which is 3 years older, the R6 is a nimble little spitfire that likes the throttle cranked, the RPM's high and it will reward you by doing most of the work when it's time to corner.  Truth be told, I could have carried twice as much corner speed but I was holding myself back because I didn't want to get too overzealous on the first day back to school. In holding myself back, I was obviously holding the bike back as well but it worked out.

The first session was a warm-up.  CaliPhotography was in charge of track photography for the day, having posted up in Cotton Corners during the first few rounds and I felt pretty good in reviewing the pictures of my body position and lean angle given that I felt like my body was much more out of practice than it really was. I was also happy to get some positive feedback from the people in the know. As I reviewed the track photographs, I revisited where my head was at in certain corners.  In the picture posted above I remember focusing on looking through the corners.  In the sweeper (pictured below) I had a lot more margin to make adjustments so I would consciously tell myself to kick my inside hip into the corner a little and/or weight the outside peg while doing so.  It was more of a matter of trying to get myself to develop the muscle memory than it was learning how to do it.  One of the things that sucks about commuting is that you start developing bad habits as you start to learn the urban-survival way of riding.  As a result some of those more technical performance practices get rusty if they aren't exercised in some form.

For some reason I felt compelled to pull my shoulders in... 

Still, my lap times were pretty low in the first and second sessions. I didn't feel defeated, I felt determined.  I felt happy, motivated, I deliberated, I calculated, and then I got on the track and just rode.  By the end of the day, I had shaved 20 seconds off of my lap time from the first session so that was pretty cool. My friend had brought her family out and that really added to my day as well. My God-sons are into bikes so it was a great opportunity for them to get an idea of what these bikes are meant for... even if they were convinced that I was officially racing and not just practicing (hah!).  I smiled in my helmet and let out a chuckle as I lined up on the grid and looked over to see my little pit crew standing in the tower, waving and giving me the thumbs-up all-clear as I returned the gesture, dropped the visor, and left it all behind as I accelerated onto the track.

There is something about riding a sportbike on a track that really brings things into perspective.  The smell of the morning air dusted with exhaust, rubber, leather, and dirt.  No matter how many times you go around a track, no two laps are ever the same.  In many ways the track is the blank canvass on which you leave a fingerprint; where you write your story - where are you strong?  Where are you weak?  Where are you wrong?  Where are you right?  Some people might hold off on braking in one corner where others are more timid.  Litre bikes, two strokes, 4 strokes, twins, singles, 4 cylinders, super-motos, touring bikes, vintage bikes, Goldwings, old people, young people, humble people, cocky people, everyone is in it together and yet everyone is in it alone... on their own ride, perfecting their own craft and actualizing their own potential... making their own music, dancing their own dance. It can be overwhelming at first, especially if you're not used to riding in groups, especially if you're not used to being so free.  But once you get used to it, that's when the magic happens.

Thanks to all of my friends, Let's Ride Track Days, and Buttonwillow Raceway for opening the gates to another magical experience. Thanks to CaliPhotography for capturing the moments for me to review.  Here's to hoping for a successful and awesome season of track days.  Here's to chasing the apex and living the dream.