Just got back...damn, driving through a thunderstorm or 10 sucks!
Rained like a mofo on Saturday morning. Novice didn't get out until after lunch. Saturday I had more tracktime with my car than my bike. Mike shot some footage of my icy cold stunna 3 minute laps with the GTP. :laughing No, I haven't checked out the footage yet.
Before I get into the details, must thank Jack and Dave from SliderPhoto for housing me for a couple days, and Mike for remembering the EZ up.
Started out normally. Mike (Optimus P) and I started in the same group. There's the fast folks, the slow folks, then everybody else. Classroom sessions were pretty good, I finally learned how to downshift without making my back end shake. Still need to work on it. However, the pace picked up, and I just wasn't figuring out the track. Rather than doing the common sense thing (getting with a slower group), I hung out with Mike, scaring the piss out of myself, running wide where I shouldn't have been and turning in too soon where I shouldn't have been. All bad shit leading to me running WAY wide out of 5 and completely blew 6, ended up in the sand. Jumped that, but dumped it in the grass afterwards. Summersaulted off the bike just for fun. Picked it up, naturally, since the weight of the bike exceeds the 2 inch-lbs of torque that a Suzuki shifter can sustain without breaking, the toe shifter was gone. I forgot that the bike was in an 'impact zone' until some spectator reminded me of this (why not the corner worker???) so I moved it out. Me and the ASAP welding guy fixed up the shifter for the next day, since it was the last session anyways.
Next day I started out in the WAY back. Had a lot more fun there, finally learned the track. During the last drill (body positioning) I FINALLY got my knee down in turn 1
(favorite corner, probably cause it's about the only one that isn't blind..) The other rider in my group took a different line than I had been doing, and I REALLY liked it (way wide, dump it in). With rain coming, we decided to start packing up. Weather cleared up and I went out again. Big mistake. I was already out of my leathers when the 5 minute call was on, and I didn't drink any water. Adrenaline was working until I got on the line, then I started feeling icky (headache, stomach ache). Rather than doing the smart thing and pulling out of the line, I went on the track. I either lazily shifted into second (landed in neutral) or the bike popped out of second like it does too often. Reacted too slow and into the grass AGAIN! Since the impact exceeded the 3 in-lbs of torque a Suzuki shifter can take (ASAP made it stronger..), shifter bent and broke again. Weird, but that 2 mph fall did more damage than the 20 mph one the day before. Somehow, the gauge cluster got beat up? :confused Ironcically both happened in the same corner :bs Obviously had the same cornerworker since he didn't even put out the yellow for me (I 'mentioned' this to the track director upon my return to the pits).
Gratten notes:
1.) Unless you are quite experienced, don' t try to learn this track in anything other than beginner. Most midwest tracks don't have multiple blind, off camber corners in succession. It's a roller coaster and blowing a corner generally means you run WAY off, since a lot of the run off is downhill. And I've never used a portapotty or the roof of a cornerworker station for a reference at Blackhawk..
2.) Once you figure it out, this track is super fun (as I said, like a roller coaster). Bit too much tar, but traction is okay and the track is wide. It's weird, but with the shitty front suspension I've got, turns 3 and 9 (both tight, blind downhill corners) were easier on the front than the esses from 5 to 8. At the faster pace, those esses were giving me motion sickness (front end bobbed up and down..bad). I can't wait to come back here with good suspension.
3.) Beg/borrow/steal an EZ UP, shade is at a premium here.
STT notes:
beginner is quite structured as mentioned before. While the classes were good, I don't think they should be mandatory. I think people are going to intermediate just to avoid the classes, leading to people bumping up when they really aren't ready. Reminding somebody while in the pit of the exact drill they are doing would probably work and keep people from bumping up prematurely. Their intermediate has a 6 foot passing rule, not hard (especially on this track) but when beginner has no passing except for CRAP on the front straight, that's a BIG change. And if MY slow ass can drag a knee in a corner (and almost a couple more), the pace can't be that slow.
Not having to make/bring a lunch is nice. :thumbsup
The band was pretty fun on Saturday night. Not a normal occurence, but was fun.
Yes, I'm coming back. I WILL figure out how to go a WHOLE day (maybe even a weekend) without landing in the grass on six.
Chris
Rained like a mofo on Saturday morning. Novice didn't get out until after lunch. Saturday I had more tracktime with my car than my bike. Mike shot some footage of my icy cold stunna 3 minute laps with the GTP. :laughing No, I haven't checked out the footage yet.
Before I get into the details, must thank Jack and Dave from SliderPhoto for housing me for a couple days, and Mike for remembering the EZ up.
Started out normally. Mike (Optimus P) and I started in the same group. There's the fast folks, the slow folks, then everybody else. Classroom sessions were pretty good, I finally learned how to downshift without making my back end shake. Still need to work on it. However, the pace picked up, and I just wasn't figuring out the track. Rather than doing the common sense thing (getting with a slower group), I hung out with Mike, scaring the piss out of myself, running wide where I shouldn't have been and turning in too soon where I shouldn't have been. All bad shit leading to me running WAY wide out of 5 and completely blew 6, ended up in the sand. Jumped that, but dumped it in the grass afterwards. Summersaulted off the bike just for fun. Picked it up, naturally, since the weight of the bike exceeds the 2 inch-lbs of torque that a Suzuki shifter can sustain without breaking, the toe shifter was gone. I forgot that the bike was in an 'impact zone' until some spectator reminded me of this (why not the corner worker???) so I moved it out. Me and the ASAP welding guy fixed up the shifter for the next day, since it was the last session anyways.
Next day I started out in the WAY back. Had a lot more fun there, finally learned the track. During the last drill (body positioning) I FINALLY got my knee down in turn 1
(favorite corner, probably cause it's about the only one that isn't blind..) The other rider in my group took a different line than I had been doing, and I REALLY liked it (way wide, dump it in). With rain coming, we decided to start packing up. Weather cleared up and I went out again. Big mistake. I was already out of my leathers when the 5 minute call was on, and I didn't drink any water. Adrenaline was working until I got on the line, then I started feeling icky (headache, stomach ache). Rather than doing the smart thing and pulling out of the line, I went on the track. I either lazily shifted into second (landed in neutral) or the bike popped out of second like it does too often. Reacted too slow and into the grass AGAIN! Since the impact exceeded the 3 in-lbs of torque a Suzuki shifter can take (ASAP made it stronger..), shifter bent and broke again. Weird, but that 2 mph fall did more damage than the 20 mph one the day before. Somehow, the gauge cluster got beat up? :confused Ironcically both happened in the same corner :bs Obviously had the same cornerworker since he didn't even put out the yellow for me (I 'mentioned' this to the track director upon my return to the pits).Gratten notes:
1.) Unless you are quite experienced, don' t try to learn this track in anything other than beginner. Most midwest tracks don't have multiple blind, off camber corners in succession. It's a roller coaster and blowing a corner generally means you run WAY off, since a lot of the run off is downhill. And I've never used a portapotty or the roof of a cornerworker station for a reference at Blackhawk..
2.) Once you figure it out, this track is super fun (as I said, like a roller coaster). Bit too much tar, but traction is okay and the track is wide. It's weird, but with the shitty front suspension I've got, turns 3 and 9 (both tight, blind downhill corners) were easier on the front than the esses from 5 to 8. At the faster pace, those esses were giving me motion sickness (front end bobbed up and down..bad). I can't wait to come back here with good suspension.
3.) Beg/borrow/steal an EZ UP, shade is at a premium here.
STT notes:
beginner is quite structured as mentioned before. While the classes were good, I don't think they should be mandatory. I think people are going to intermediate just to avoid the classes, leading to people bumping up when they really aren't ready. Reminding somebody while in the pit of the exact drill they are doing would probably work and keep people from bumping up prematurely. Their intermediate has a 6 foot passing rule, not hard (especially on this track) but when beginner has no passing except for CRAP on the front straight, that's a BIG change. And if MY slow ass can drag a knee in a corner (and almost a couple more), the pace can't be that slow.
Not having to make/bring a lunch is nice. :thumbsup
The band was pretty fun on Saturday night. Not a normal occurence, but was fun.
Yes, I'm coming back. I WILL figure out how to go a WHOLE day (maybe even a weekend) without landing in the grass on six.
Chris
