Summit Jefferson 10/27-10/28 trackday review (and a crash!)

[.RJ]

Long weekend, mixed reviews. The weekend started out slowly, with lots of rain and losing my bike cover out of the truck on the way to the track. Once at the track it wasnt raining but we were waiting until about 11:30 before the track dried out and the day got going.

I had been placed in the Beginner group since I've never ridden with NESBA before, so I figured I'd just ride around for a few sessions learning how they roll and get bumped up. The first few sessions saturday were pretty painful - lots of new to the track riders, lots of trains and very restricted passing zones in the B group (only the front and back straight, and no passing the CR's without getting waved by). The group picked up speed as the day went on, but it was a bit frustrating for me. At the end of the day, I had a CR ride with me for the session to 'evaluate' moving up a group and he said he wanted me to stay in B but he gave me some things to work on - I didnt agree, but I slept on it and I'd give it a shot the next day.

For Sunday I sat out the first session, as it was more of the same plus a cold/slick track, would've been a waste to ride. Once the day got going and the track warmed up, the group was moving a little faster and i could put in some decent laps but still getting stuck behind slower riders pretty frequently. After lunch I had the lead CR ride with me for the session, and while there was lots of traffic I just tried to make the passes as clean as possible and put in some good laps when I had clear track and got bumped up. Yay progress!

I did 2 sessions with Intermediate and it was pretty nice - felt like clear track all session long as most people were moving about the same pace. I was getting tired but still having a good time.

Ok, thats alot to read, where's the fucking crash story?

3rd Intermediate session, and I think one of the last sessions of the day - 3rd lap I was behind a guy going through the left hander on to the front straight and I think he just gave it too much throttle on exit and lost the rear, lowsided about 10 feet in front of me - I didnt have many places to go as the bike was right in front of me and the rider was tumbling down the track so I chose the grass... as soon as I left the track the front wheel dug in, bike went over and I tumbled once or twice and that was it. I kinda tumbled into the other guy who was still rolling - so I think I made the right choice, I'd really rather not run someone over! Everyone was fine so no big deal.

The bike has a busted shift lever and frame slider, but I'm going to tear down the bike over the winter and put new bodywork on it so this isnt a big deal. I've found a few mechanical issues with the bike so far, so there's a few things that need to be taken care of. And, while packing up, I had untied my canopy and walked away just long enough to get the bag for it, and it flew off and folded itself into a pretzel. One of those days I guess

Overall the event was well run and on time, and the CR's pretty helpful. I'm not sure if I'll ride with NESBA next year, but I'll keep that option open. I think the big problem was just too many bikes out in the beginner group, but I wont have to deal with that again.

Bonus! Pics!

[John]

Nice write-up - should have taken the other rider as a speed-bump however.

This your first event on the SV?

[.RJ]

This your first event on the SV?

Nah, I was out 2 weeks ago on it for a weekend at shenandoah too I'm thinking about going to Jennings down in florida over the winter - who wants to come?

[WRXtranceformed]

Nice pics dude! I'm glad you're okay from that wreck, that sucks that when you're riding your bike on the street you have to worry about other people making you crash, and when you're riding your bike on the track you still have to worry about other people making you crash...

[.RJ]

I wasnt much of a crash really, more like a fall over and tumble over

[.RJ]

Some pics I took -

Channing winning the trackday



Gettin low on the GS









V-Strom!





prawpz for the F4i



RC51 = :wood: I need another one...









Retard bike!



Rack 'em

[Feersty]

Cool looking pics.

[BLINGMW]

That 3rd one you posted of me is pretty cool there, not sure what that haze is, must be speed haze! Thanks for the pics!

I'll toss in a couple more since I went down too, hooray! :wink:







That was the first time I've put my gear to use, and I gotta say, I was pretty happy about it. There was a little rise in the pavement after the apex in 1, and I had touched my peg down there a couple times, always startled me a bit.

This time, I got a little unsettled after touching down, tried to feed the steering back in, and dumped it. I got to watch the shower of sparks and ended up sitting off track in the dirt. As soon as I hit the ground, I was immediately pumped that it wasn't a hard hit, by the time I came to rest I was laughing about it. :lol: Wheeeeeeeee!!!!!

After cleaning out the clump of mud, checked it over, mostly cosmetic damage, took it back out for another session. Pic maybe doesn't do it justice, it's funny to think how fast I'm still going there. :thumbup:

[.RJ]

At least you finally got your knee down!

[BLINGMW]

Great success!

[Sijray21]

nice pics guys! good to hear the crashes went well though.

[.paul]

congrats on the bump, and i think this is your first tday channign? not sure, congrats.

glad you all had easy offs

[Evan]

I wasnt much of a crash really, more like a fall over and tumble over

you're a pro at that from mt. biking so Im sure you felt right at home!

[.RJ]

you're a pro at that from mt. biking so Im sure you felt right at home!

:thumbup:

[BLINGMW]

congrats on the bump, and i think this is your first tday channign? not sure, congrats.

I did a free, two session thing at VIR Patriot the weekend before, but this was the first "real" weekend. I was actually getting a little bored before I layed it down, that gave me a renewed optimism about doing another weekend. :beer: I got a co-worker and friend to come do the free thing this Sunday, and he's hooked, so I'll have plenty of people to go with next season.

Just another thought, and personal recommendation. I had a few people recommend I get a "real" bike, and I gotta say, I'm pretty damn happy with the GS for now. Sure, I get rolled on the straights. And it's soft as hell. And I look pretty goofy on it. :lol: But honestly, I didn't find but just a few other riders out there that I couldn't catch in the corners, despite the fact that I'm on rather narrow, street, bias ply tires. In fact, with as much as I heard people complaining that the track was slick, I feel like the suspension/tire and cool temperature combo was giving me more grip than many out there. Also, the bar ends and case guards did an excellent job of preventing damage during the lowside.

Its biggest limit right now is the low pegs I think, as that's preventing me from getting to the edge of the tires. I see it as a good learning tool, forcing me to get off the bike more. It's easy to ride, inspires confidence, and I can see doing at least a few more events with it before I find its really holding me up. I was running faster laps than at least half of the riders out there in the beginner group, and I was still leaving a lot of corner speed on the table on many of those turns. Hell, it was still doing ~100 by the end of the short back straight, how much faster do you need to go? Most had a whole lot more bike than skill, and I think a lot of them would have benefited from a slower bike as a learning tool.

[.paul]

yeah, if i get my new toy, i will be back out there next season

[stevegula]

3rd Intermediate session, and I think one of the last sessions of the day - 3rd lap I was behind a guy going through the left hander on to the front straight and I think he just gave it too much throttle on exit and lost the rear, lowsided about 10 feet in front of me - I didnt have many places to go as the bike was right in front of me and the rider was tumbling down the track so I chose the grass...

Glad you're ok (and Channing too).

What was his line in regards to you? Most times the rider in front is just going to slide to the outside and if you just hold your line you'll roll right on up the inside and keep trucking.

[.RJ]

What was his line in regards to you? Most times the rider in front is just going to slide to the outside and if you just hold your line you'll roll right on up the inside and keep trucking.

We were both on exit, on the outside - past the apex. In retrospect I probably could have gone left and stayed on the pavement, but the bike was sliding down the middle of the track, spinning and scattering parts. I'm a little sore today but still an easy get off.

[stevegula]

We were both on exit, on the outside - past the apex. In retrospect I probably could have gone left and stayed on the pavement, but the bike was sliding down the middle of the track, spinning and scattering parts. I'm a little sore today but still an easy get off.

At least you didn't get object fixation and turn that bike into a ramp.

[.RJ]

I bet I coulda done a sweet jump off it though. Maybe next time.