Thunderhill June 6th

[pizza]

Can you take me rock crawling :

absolutely, alberto!!! i still love my jeep... but it doesnt give the same kind of rush as bikes. ill never be able to give up rock crawling.

[pizza]

... and because i know everyone was wondering...


yes we all still alive, safe and in one piece.

weather couldnt have been better, we had an awesome group of friends, the track was packed. most of us were in B group, and seem to have the same conclusion that B was incredibly fast... probably faster than ive ever seen a B group pace.

hopefully youngster has made it home safe?! since he decided to take his questionable reliability converted u-haul truck, instead of sticking the wife, son and his bike in with my truck.. the thing took a sh!t on the way back home..we'll hear from him soon enough!

[A DRAGON]

i could be wrong but I think Tonys truck is a crew cab.

you are correct!!



i like to think of it as a land yacht.

No fair. That guy doesn't care if he makes turn 1 at Thunderhill. If he goes off track we're on the brakes and he's on the gas. Wow!!!!!!

[Rand]

Well, I finally exorcised the demon!

Saturday was crap.  Not much more to say about it.  I was seriously considering selling everything and taking up gardening.  Maybe I just missed my window and it was time to quit.  But I told myself I just needed to process it, sleep on it and get back out on Sunday.  There has just been this lingering fear that I have been trying to beat back, with not much success.  But I was determined not to let it get the best of me.

So I got back on Sunday and really didn't know if things would be different.  I went to sign up for the day.  There was lots of room on Saturday, so I didn't worry about pre-registration.  Sunday was packed.  The girl at the reg table asked me if I was willing to ride in the A group.  I said I would, but I was very concerned about being a "pylon", so I better step up my game.  I knew that it would be good to gauge my riding by other skilled riders, if I could keep them close enough to learn anything.  I ended up with the best all-around track day of my life!  I can now say that I am riding better than I was in 2006.  In part because I have studied some riding technique and knew what I had been doing wrong in the past.

But the main thing was that I was pitted next to a guy named Rick, from Redding.  He was running his bone-stock CBR954RR street bike and turning 2:05's.   We talked a bunch and I got a couple sessions under my belt.  I was doing my best to run clean lines and increase my corner speed and getting passed a lot, but trying to stay out of the way.  There was a lot of close passing, but I stayed calm.  Hopefully I wasn't too much in the way.  It was amazing to watch the fast guys.  For the third session, he followed me for a couple laps and then came in and gave me some great pointers and told me where the turn-in points were and where to get on the gas and use the whole track on corner exits to get maximum drive off the corners.  I'm still slow coming off 15, but getting better.

I started using the turn in markers.  I could just give a quick twist on the bars and focus on the apex and progressively roll the throttle as I stood the bike bike up.  The bike is amazingly light and quick on turn-in.  I finally felt connected with it.  The only suspension change I made was to add 2 clicks of rebound damping, because the front was a bit nervous coming off the brakes and entering some corners.  I was finally using all of the available power and carrying much higher speeds into turns 1 and 9 than I ever had.  The nice thing about running race slicks is I know I have more traction than I can use.  the thing was on rails.  The more I rode, the more comfortable I got.  I kept trying to shift into 7th on the front straight because I getting to redline in 6th. 

By the mid afternoon I was doing some passing.  I was calm and relaxed all day.  Ran all 7 sessions and went home redeemed!  Now I can just go ride the bike.  I can see taking a few more seconds off pretty quickly, just base on how much of the track I still have coming off the corners.  I never got below 2:12 before.  I'm sure I was faster, yesterday.  I haven't been concerned about lap times, but I guess it's time to start keeping track, so I know what works and what doesn't.

Cheers,
Rand

[Team Gorgonzola]

Good for you Rand!! I know I was so concerned after my 2 crashes at RFR (no pain thought just the bike) and it took me a long time to regain confidence and speed. I hope to ride with you at RFR the 19th and or the 20th.

[A DRAGON]

Rand Excellent job. I think my best is a 2:14 I need to get back there.  You did outstanding welcome back to the mythical world of motorcycles.

[Rand]

Thanks guys.  I look forward to getting together.

The thing that helped the most was having my turn points set, just lke Keith Code says.  I was just concentrating on getting comfortable on the bike and making small mistakes on Saturday.  Once I had my turn points, I could just tip it in, look for the apex and drive out.  No more floating around.

It's amazing how much that helped me.  I was no longer a street rider, doing a fast street ride in a controlled enviroment.  My corner speeds were higher than ever and it was no big deal.  I knew I was riding with a good safety margin, because I had more room to the outside of the corners and because I could see how the fast guys were doing it, which was simply amazing.

[A DRAGON]

What are you talking about. I remember where we came from. You are one of the fast guys.

[youngster775]

were here and were ALIVE! story to come later..... gotta get to this baby shower now! what a weekend! 

[Rick Bay (BRA)]

Well, my Sunday at the track was cool. However, I think I need more practice there. My first two seccions at the track was very slow.
I did not know where I was going. Everybody passing me at "A" group.
After talked few things with Steve I started to getting better. After lunch I started passing a few riders. I was doing pretty good, getting faster each lap. But I was tired than I decided to quick.
My truck took 5 hours to get back to Tahoe. I had to make a couple stops to cool the car down. But I'm happy anyway.
I wanna say tks to Steve for the tent I apreciate that.
It was very nice seeing a lot of SSA members there.     

[jlavallee]

You guys are troopers, I can't imagine driving back on Sunday night as I was back at the hotel and asleep within an hour of leaving the track. Thanks to all for the good company!

After not riding the track bike all summer last year I am still all over the place but the B group was easily the fastest B group I've ever seen. Hopefully I'll be able to make the next RFR date.

[Rand]

What are you talking about. I remember where we came from. You are one of the fast guys.

Ha!  You're a funny guy, brother J.

[A DRAGON]

Rand. Did you ever think we would be like this? We really thought we were fast back then. Look at us now.

[Team Gorgonzola]

You guys are troopers, I can't imagine driving back on Sunday night as I was back at the hotel and asleep within an hour of leaving the track. Thanks to all for the good company!

After not riding the track bike all summer last year I am still all over the place but the B group was easily the fastest B group I've ever seen. Hopefully I'll be able to make the next RFR date.

Come on up, I think, maybe I can hang withyou in B or slow A

[A DRAGON]

Shoot we were below C Group when we started. Our ego was way past A group. Getting better is so much fun.