Onboard GoPro video from Sunday (2 laps and change):
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I only was able to get 2 sessions early in the day because I forgot to clear the memory card. Still really happy with how the video came out.
Riding the Ape
The first session out with the Ape I took it really easy but the suspension was at street riding soft and as a result the bike was pitching a lot. That got a little bit dicey when making throttle adjustments in the corner because rolling off just a little bit could push the front. I went ahead and had the race support vendor at the track dial in my suspension and it fixed everything right up.
The Ape feels about as nimble as my 1000RR but it feels like it has less midrange grunt. In some ways that's great because it doesn't want to wheelie at inopportune times. It still feels like a rocket ship up top, and it has the benefit of traction control and ABS that makes it easier to ride. The ABS didn't feel intrusive at all, it lets the bike squirm a bit and the modulation is nice and delicate.
Braking
One thing I figured out is that I need to fine tune my braking technique because I think I'm squeezing the lever a bit too fast. I was braking super early just about everywhere just to be conservative with my street bike, but I can see where I can brake a lot deeper if I tidy things up a bit.
There was one guy riding a Panigale who also races who was talking about how he brakes at the 3 marker on his Panigale with street tires. I'm glad I didn't follow his advice, I was braking around 3.5 on the 600 race bike with race tires, and with the RSV4 I probably carry more speed down the straight without the benefit of race tires, there's no way I could brake that late and make it. I suspect either he was really slow on the straight or maybe he had an 899 and not an 1199.
Team Promotion
I've run with that group before and had a good time. People largely obeyed the passing rules in my group and were pretty competent. However, in the lower intermediate group some guy got a bit of the red mist and tried to brake too late into T1 while passing 2 other bikes. Apparently he snatched the brake so hard he did an endo. He ended up needing a chopper ride
There was a second rider's meeting at lunch to talk about the incident, and apparently a bunch of people missed the red flag that came out when that guy crashed. That was problem enough, but what shocked me is that the TPM organization was saying the incident was in
my group and that 20+ riders missed the red flag. I know damned well that A. the crash was not in my session and B. I didn't miss a fucking red flag.
But adding insult to injury TPM doesn't require numbers so they couldn't say who ran the red flag and who didn't, or even who was involved in the incident. They made an announcement, "Will the red Ducati that was involved in the incident please report to the classroom," but shit, almost all of the Ducatis there are red. Seems like TPM wanted to be a bit laidback and easy to run with but I thought it was a huge mistake to not run numbers. I'll probably email them about that.
Anyway it was a good two days, even with the cold making it a bit rough. First time I've rode with Tim in over a year so that was cool. Hoping to get a couple more people out this year and to take the SV out.
![[Image: Tim_crossing_paths.jpg]](https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-MFQE-4fLF1s/U4R6NFBUCRI/AAAAAAAAEGg/LD6w8VUm9oY/w760-h507-no/Tim_crossing_paths.jpg)
![[Image: 10390005_10203389044503387_6163496032927688936_n.jpg]](https://scontent-a-iad.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-prn2/t1.0-9/10390005_10203389044503387_6163496032927688936_n.jpg)
