November 25th, 2012. On the evening of the 24th, my Curve Unit sister Patty A and I pack up our stuff and head on up to the infamous (in my mind now lol) Thunderhill Raceway in Willows, CA. It's a chilly evening, but we have enough time to get most of the unpacking done, have a beer, and settle in for a night's sleep. Sunday dawns chilly but clear and sunny, so per the required timing, and with the help of some awesome pit-mates, I get set up, registered, teched, and head to the classroom for my first classroom session. It's a full class with a wait list, but I'm not the only girl as one of my friends, Josie Gomez, is also going through the class with me.
Our first session out we get introduced to our instructors for the day, and it's a pretty chill session since everything is pretty cold. Back to the pits, talk to my instructor who had a couple suggestions, and run back to the classroom leaving the bike in the hands of my pit buddies. Classroom sessions were useful, giving some info on what to expect on a race day, why it's different than a trackday, and prepping for a race - both mentally and mechanically.
The next few sessions I'm working on implementing the feedback from my instructor - turn in points on a few corners, (needed to work on a later turn in on 8 and 14 especially) and braking points and issues. Still need to work on my bravery going into a corner - too much street riding has me in too much of a "slow down WAY before" mindset - good on the street, but has me getting beaten on the brakes at the track regularly.
Two o'clock session brings on the passing drills - although most instructors were keeping an eye on us all day anyways, it was known to the crowd that the session was for that purpose :) Which meant sandbag, stuff, cut off, etc opportunities for the instructors. They must not have been too worried about me by that session though, because I ended up spending nearly half the time with the track to myself.
Since this was my first time back to THill since August, I also had a few mental hang-ups to get over. I picked the most remote exit reference point coming out of Turn 1 that I could find out on the horizon to keep me from gawking at that dirt on the side of the track. Other than giving the stick eye to the edge of Turn 1 all day (flipped it off on one of the last sessions just for good measure) and leaving a rather large margin for error, I dusted off the demons and made it through the day successfully.
One of the big things for the day was that absolutely NO crashing of any variety or you auto-failed and had to retake the class another time. So, most of us (myself included) were taking it a little easy just to ensure that we were being super-duper safe. Our classroom sessions actually managed to get done early, so for the last two sessions of the day we had the option of riding at our own risk (crashing rule still applied) or just sitting it out. I didn't feel like playing the numbers game, so I sat them out.
At 4:30, just as the sun was going down we had our practice race starts. That was, well, interesting....but fun. We go out, do a warm up lap, then "grid up." I check to be sure my bike was in gear, then prepare for my first attempt at this. The green flag goes, and I attempt to take off....slowly. Very slowly...there goes the entire group....I'm still going hella slow and the bike is bogging....WTH!?!? Ugh, like a dumbass I didn't downshift back into first when I approached the grid. Took off in 3rd gear. *rolls eyes* Okay, not gonna make THAT mistake again. Second try I ensure I'm in the right gear and get ready. Green, and we're off! Of course, that whole Yamaha vs Kawasaki friction zone area kicks me and I dump the clutch a little too quickly - and pop a nice little wheelie. Starting to feel like an idiot, but in my defense I've never had to quick start my track bike before. Land it back down and finish the loop, and grid up for our final round.
Problem at this point is that the sun is getting pretty much gone, and I've got a tinted shield AND sunglasses on. I could see the track and riders, but details were not extremely visible. Ugh. They make this one a full lap race-to-the-checkered round. Off we go - FINALLY, a reasonable start on my part! Around the track we go, and the race mentality kicks in for a bit. As I come down the front straight the flag is out waving - but I can't tell if it's a checkered or white. I figure it must be the checkered so start to chill a little bit - then by about Turn 5 I realize that everyone else is still zooming along - crap, musta been a white flag! I kick it up a notch for the last bit, then come across the checkered. Cool down lap and back to the pits.
Once the bike is taken care of, I head over to the classroom for the final - and best part of the day - graduation! We all passed our NRS and officially are now license-able riders! Woohoo!
This entire experience is still giving me a high to this day when I think about it. More adventures await, but I think I'm gonna have to rename the blog :D
2013 is sure to bring some amazing times, and I'm looking forward to seeing what it has in store for me. Happy New Year all!
Our first session out we get introduced to our instructors for the day, and it's a pretty chill session since everything is pretty cold. Back to the pits, talk to my instructor who had a couple suggestions, and run back to the classroom leaving the bike in the hands of my pit buddies. Classroom sessions were useful, giving some info on what to expect on a race day, why it's different than a trackday, and prepping for a race - both mentally and mechanically.
The next few sessions I'm working on implementing the feedback from my instructor - turn in points on a few corners, (needed to work on a later turn in on 8 and 14 especially) and braking points and issues. Still need to work on my bravery going into a corner - too much street riding has me in too much of a "slow down WAY before" mindset - good on the street, but has me getting beaten on the brakes at the track regularly.
Two o'clock session brings on the passing drills - although most instructors were keeping an eye on us all day anyways, it was known to the crowd that the session was for that purpose :) Which meant sandbag, stuff, cut off, etc opportunities for the instructors. They must not have been too worried about me by that session though, because I ended up spending nearly half the time with the track to myself.
Since this was my first time back to THill since August, I also had a few mental hang-ups to get over. I picked the most remote exit reference point coming out of Turn 1 that I could find out on the horizon to keep me from gawking at that dirt on the side of the track. Other than giving the stick eye to the edge of Turn 1 all day (flipped it off on one of the last sessions just for good measure) and leaving a rather large margin for error, I dusted off the demons and made it through the day successfully.
One of the big things for the day was that absolutely NO crashing of any variety or you auto-failed and had to retake the class another time. So, most of us (myself included) were taking it a little easy just to ensure that we were being super-duper safe. Our classroom sessions actually managed to get done early, so for the last two sessions of the day we had the option of riding at our own risk (crashing rule still applied) or just sitting it out. I didn't feel like playing the numbers game, so I sat them out.
At 4:30, just as the sun was going down we had our practice race starts. That was, well, interesting....but fun. We go out, do a warm up lap, then "grid up." I check to be sure my bike was in gear, then prepare for my first attempt at this. The green flag goes, and I attempt to take off....slowly. Very slowly...there goes the entire group....I'm still going hella slow and the bike is bogging....WTH!?!? Ugh, like a dumbass I didn't downshift back into first when I approached the grid. Took off in 3rd gear. *rolls eyes* Okay, not gonna make THAT mistake again. Second try I ensure I'm in the right gear and get ready. Green, and we're off! Of course, that whole Yamaha vs Kawasaki friction zone area kicks me and I dump the clutch a little too quickly - and pop a nice little wheelie. Starting to feel like an idiot, but in my defense I've never had to quick start my track bike before. Land it back down and finish the loop, and grid up for our final round.
Problem at this point is that the sun is getting pretty much gone, and I've got a tinted shield AND sunglasses on. I could see the track and riders, but details were not extremely visible. Ugh. They make this one a full lap race-to-the-checkered round. Off we go - FINALLY, a reasonable start on my part! Around the track we go, and the race mentality kicks in for a bit. As I come down the front straight the flag is out waving - but I can't tell if it's a checkered or white. I figure it must be the checkered so start to chill a little bit - then by about Turn 5 I realize that everyone else is still zooming along - crap, musta been a white flag! I kick it up a notch for the last bit, then come across the checkered. Cool down lap and back to the pits.
Once the bike is taken care of, I head over to the classroom for the final - and best part of the day - graduation! We all passed our NRS and officially are now license-able riders! Woohoo!
This entire experience is still giving me a high to this day when I think about it. More adventures await, but I think I'm gonna have to rename the blog :D
2013 is sure to bring some amazing times, and I'm looking forward to seeing what it has in store for me. Happy New Year all!
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