The Track Day I Didn't Do

[BobFV1]

That would be today, the track day I didn't do. It's been less than a month since my last one, but I was toying with the idea of taking the R1 out on Firebird East today with aztrackday.com (http://www.aztrackday.com). Didn't do it. Just got back from my other life in Washington DC and didn't want to go through the work of loading up the bike. Plus, I have been gone for three weeks, and by not getting up early and going to the track, it gave me a chance for a nice, leisurely "reaquaintment" with my sweet wife. :icon_redface:

So the morning was nice, just drinking my coffee, taking care of my husbandly duties. But about 1130 I went outside and the sun was so warm. I went in to the garage and my R1 was there.

It always looks so sad and lonely on that Pit Bull stand in the garage, I just put on a new swingarm sticker and it was just dying to go out to the track. So I asked Delia (my sweet wife) if I could leave for about an hour. She was working on homework for a class (she already has her PhD, but teaches in the morning and takes classes in the evening) and she said "fine, enjoy yourself and we will go out for a late lunch when you get back."

Fair enough. I put on my First Gear Mesh-Tex stuff, my tricked-out Arai helmet and my red racing gloves and I fired up the R1.

That bike is the definition of "fast". Have you seen those commercials for the Volkswagen where there is a little robot-looking thing called a "fast" which tempts the driver to drive faster? My bike is a "fast". It is shift red with black wheels and trim - an uncommon and incredibly breathtaking color combo. I had the track windscreen on which has my lucky number, "24", on it. I hit the freeway. Was feeling good. Keeping about 75, right hand on the throttle, left elbow leaned on the tank.

On my modified, 180HP Yamaha R1, 75 miles per hour is like standing still. 120 MPH is like fast idle. I respect traffic laws, I really do. I think they are great for everyone else, and I try to abide by them. It's no trouble to do so on my Ducati or on my BMW.

But the R1 is just different, it is my "fast". I needed to get by a semi-trailer rig. Twisted the throttle a little bit - three digits almost immediately appear on the digital speedo. Back off that throttle and I am back in the flow of traffic.

I got to the track, Firebird East. I know the track well, have run it many times. Had to wait for a break to cross the infield and get to the pit area. What a crowd, and what a beautiful day! Warm and sunny. As I crossed the track to get in to the pits, I looked down the track into turn 10 and got the "track's eye" perspective.

http://r1150r.smugmug.com/photos/56121216-M.gif

At track level, crossing the track and looking down at the entry to turn 10, I was suddenly transported to a hot session, diving in to that turn at 100 mph, shifting weight, outbraking the cheese-dicks on the other bikes, throwing it in to the turn. Then on to the gas slowly and evenly, just like they taught us at the California Superbike School. Too much throttle and not enough control will walk that rear end out from under me every single time.

But not today, because I was not on the track, I was just crossing it and thinking about racing. I rode in to the pit area. Saw my buddy Matt, an AMA-licensed racer who was a classmate of mine in my MSF RiderCoach training course. Matt was testing bikes for two teams today. We chatted a while. Last track day on the West track he was trying to catch up with a hooligan and he passed me doing about a buck and a quarter with almost no clearance between me and a concrete wall. At first I was panicked, but when I say Matt's last name on the back of his leathers, I knew it was okay - this guy knows what he's doing and he has already moved me out of the equation. In Matt's mind, at his speed, he was already concentrating on his line two turns up the track.

I shot the breeze with Matt for a while and then the group I usually ride in took to the track. Boy those guys look fast. I positioned myself next to a precipitous high-speed double apexer and watched my group-mates ride by without me.

It was beautiful to watch. Coming out of a tight left-hander requiring moderate braking (turn 7), it's on the gas hard through two rights which can actually be done with one apex if you have the proper line (turns 8 and 9).

I watched those guys shift out of the left and in to the right. A complete weight shift coupled with throwing the bike over from one extreme lean angle to the other. It was beautiful. I have done it so many times, but it's been a while since I watched it from a pure spectator's perspective. This perspective is different from a "between hot sessions" perspective when I am thinking about the lines and timing for my next session. This perspective is pure, it is aesthetic. It sees the bike and rider and speed as a work of art, blended together. Lots of bike, lots of weight shift, lots of danger, and lots of speed. It makes lots of beauty.

Well, that's about it. After having my zen moment, I crossed out of the infield, rode home, and my sweet Delia and I had a nice late lunch. We ate at an outdoor brewpub, sitting in the sun and enjoying the hoppy brew. Some poser with no helmet on a brand new Softail with Screamin Eagle pipes parks right next to our table, belching noise out of his pussy-ass little 80 HP engine, his fat girlfriend on back with her cheese-tits hanging out. He just wouldn't understand the rest of this tale, the earlier part of my day. I probably wouldn't understand what he enjoyed about riding either.

That's okay. There must be some common ground. Right?

[jamming]

That's beautiful Bob, I totally understand. Took my wife out for a little ride out here west of town around 1600, real nice. Ran into about 20 Harley riders out on I-10, chased em down, buzzed by in the left lane, checked em out. We were totally geared up and not a helmet on any of them. Way to loud, the ST just humming, not working at all at 80, two up. I gave a little wave and not one person waved back.
Roger.

BTW, next time you see Ted, of AZtrackday...tell em Roger the nutty FedEx Beemer Dude says hi, I keep meaning to run by his house and show him the ST. I need to sign up for a track day when I get a few more miles on the ST.

[Bones]

Bob,

Two parts, here:
I. Sportbike

Your write up brought me back the the sounds, the smells and the feel of the air from track riding and mental prep to be at the track. As the snow flew here today, that was welcome reverie.:eusa_drool:

For those who have never been on or near an R1 with the throttle open, it is an experience, for sure. Yamaha has tuned a kind of nastiness into their engines that are unique and are heavenly.

I was fortunate to have gotten to the point on the track to be able to ride my R6 pretty close to its limits, much of the time. That meant (at least on a track I knew like the back of my hand) trail braking to the apex and smoothly opening the throttle to full, much of the time, just barely keeping the rear from spinning up (which sometimes it would) and just barely keeping the front tire on the ground (which it wouldn't do coming out of 2nd gear corners), and keeping the revs right between 10 - 14.5 K. Sweetness, sweetness. Now that is a bike that weighs a bit under 350 lbs and 130 hp at the crank as I had it set up.

And when I had the chance to ride with a buddy who rode his R1, DESPITE the fact that I was accelerating onto the back straight at a rate that made my inner ear speak to me, he would literally scream away. I mean SCREAM. Like I was on a mini bike. That bike is SCARY FAST!!! And I didn't used to scare so easily. I cannot imagine that 180 hp between my nether regions.:037:

Now Bob, I do not know how you can or have any interest riding that beast on the street. Once I started doing track days with mine, I literally hated riding mine on the street. Getting that bike to be in any way fun at all, it had to be at least near the power band and that meant above legal speed limits in 2nd gear. I just won't ride that way on the street. I am not being critical. I just don't know how you want to anymore. Kudos for keeping you license (you still have one, right?)

Thanks for the write up... enjoyed it....now, next part:

II. Harley

I know, I know. Big, fat, slow, etc., etc. But you are wrong about the power. They don't make 80. They make 60 hp, stock. Probably less than 70 with a full stage I breather kit, EFI reprogramming and Screaming Eagle pipes or what ever.

And I have no love for fat chicks with cheese tits (that is a visual I could have done without). And I have no place for idiots who ride helmetless (though I uphold their right to exercise those poor decisions... as long as I don't have to take care of them in the ER, later). But I like the pipes most of the time. Just like I like pipes on a track bike.

BUT.........

If the attitude of "Mr. Badass" was left aside, I love those bikes. Always have. Haven't yet owned one, but I don't care who says what, most of them are beautiful. And all the reliability problems that folks like to make fun of were TWENTY YEARS ago and mostly solved by about 5 years after Bleustein and the others bought them back from AMF. None of the metrics are as nicely made. Those bikes have NOTHING to do with perfomance. NOTHING. So there is no point in going there. They are about the look, the feel, the sound the smell and the putt along at 70 mph and under.

We all go through phases...or at least I have. I swore there was no way in HELL you would ever have me riding a sport bike, let alone own one. Then I not only end up doing a zillion high performance schools, I end up with a couple of track bikes over time and have them not street legal, no less. And totally obsessed with the whole scene.

I love my track buddies, but I have to say, collectively, those of us who have frequented the track and ride in a "sporting manner" on the street, most definately exhibit behavior that is at LEAST as ridiculous as the Harley guys. It is just a different flavor of silly behavior. :028:

We don clown like attire (race leathers, race boots, etc.)
We buy trick stuff that adorns our machines, but none of us are really good enough to really need those things (high performance exhausts, SS brake lines, slicks, tire warmers, lap timers, anodized rear sets, 520 conversions, Ohlins suspension, etc.)
We talk track language
We dis certain ideas about certain types of bikes or riding on the track
We make fun of the idiots who ride Harleys
You get the idea.

So when I get my Fat, slow, loud but gorgeous Harley, you WILL ride it and you will love it. Because my wife does NOT have cheese tits.

And I do not .....wait....let me check....OK, nope ....I do NOT have a cheese dick.

Loved the thread. PICS man, we need pics.

Jeff

[Arby]

Bob and Bones
Bob,thanks for the write up. But lighten up on the harley guys.
As you said, there is common ground.

Bones
Great write up on the Harley thing. But before you buy one, test drive'em all. The various platforms do handle differently. The one that looks the best to you may be a dog to ride. Likewise your second choice for looks, may be the most fun to ride.

When we hook up with our Harley friends, we get funny looks because of our full face Shoeis and Kilmanjaro jackets.

Likewise the sporttouring crowd makes fun of the Superglide Sport (and us)if we pull up on that.

But we don't care, it just gives all something else to talk about.

Re: the fat wives. We've been married 42 years, my wife still weighs 120 lbs, can knock out a 20 mile bicycle ride with ease,and do 10 or 12 men's pushups any time.
She looks great on a Harley or a sporttourer. For which I am grateful.

Anyhow, I like bikes, and bike people.

I think speedway and trials and road racing is all I haven't tried. But it ain't over yet.

Arby
(Bob)

[Bones]

Arby,
You beat me....my wife and I will celebrate our 20th anniversary in June. She, too, is in great shape. She is steadily working on getting her black belt in Tae Kwon Do and I would look great on any bike, if she would get on one!

My current favorite Harley is the Softail Deluxe, but without the wide whites. The Dynas "perform" better, but in my opinion, the conventional interpretation of "perform" can't really be applied to Harleys, because that is not what they are all about. It is the global mojo they exude (and I am not talking about the "lifestyle" they come equipped with).

My problem .....and I will admit, it really is a bit of a problem.....is that I love all motorcycles. Once I could really understand the zone that each bike works in best, I have found just about all of them to be great in their own way. That includes my son's first bike: Suzuki Jr 50, which I have been known to ride around our yard on any given summer evening, to the shagrin of my neighbors.I don't think obsession is too strong a word for me. I guess there are worse things to be obsessed about.

Jeff

[DarthRider]

One of my old bosses told me years ago, "Dave, you're just queer for motorcycles!"
Not that there's anything wrong with that...

Dave

[Arby]

Bones
The Softtails have the 88B engine. It has the counter-balancers.
The Dynas and the others,I think, have the less smooth non-counter balanced engine. I've had both. The B engine really is smoother.

But i still like my Super Glide Sport.

Arby
(Bob)