After the AFM Round 2 crash and subsequent repairs, I managed a few trackdays in there to get some seat time on the new bike. While there was steady improvement, it was slow. With a decent crash on my second day on the bike, I had spooked myself. What I had hoped would be an instant connection with the new bike got off to an extremely rough start, and that got into my head (you know, being a girl and all). Add in general life stress and things certainly weren't where I would have hoped!
However, with the help of some amazing friends and sponsors, I was able to get back out on the bike and make it the the AFM round 4 with excitement pending to actually, finally, make it into a race. It was about time I could actually call myself a 'racer' without guilt of never having actually finished a race :-/
There was a Z2 trackday on Friday, so I headed up to participate in the trackday to get some additional seat time on the bike. After my first session out, I could tell my suspension was not set for that track. I headed over to the on site suspension folks and we ended up completely changing my set up. I finally was able to head out for another session, and had to make some more adjustments after that. Once that was done, the bike felt great and I was ecstatic! Unfortunately my tires were about done, so I went and swapped those out.
Of course, changing tires then meant trying to figure out what pressures I like on those particular tires. My steering damper mount also showed up, so I put that on the bike as well. This led to several things again being changed, and I was back to not being happy with how the bike felt, but I wasn't sure which change it was that I wasn't happy with!
I had decided to skip Saturday practices (my budget would be WAY happier) since I had done the Friday trackday, so spent most of Saturday making sure the bike felt okay at least in the pits and managed to relax a little bit. Races started that afternoon, and I decided to stick to my original plan: just take it easy, stay relaxed, and finish the damn race. I didn't even care if my times qualified me for Sunday races or not. I just wanted to stay relaxed, even if the bike wasn't quite where I wanted it yet.
Finally the time came to head down towards the grid. I went over into the hot pits to practice a few race starts since I had never attempted one on this bike. A few laps around the hot pits and I was confident I could get an okay start without any wheelies or stalls. Out for a warm up lap where the bike felt pretty good. I was relaxed and not feeling overwhelmed. Good. 2 board was up. 1 board. Sideways. And we're off!!
I actually had a really nice start, and had the girl two rows in front of me not nearly stalled her bike, it would have been a REALLY nice start...but since I wasn't feeling overly aggressive, I just went with it.
The first couple laps things were feeling really good. The bike felt good, I felt comfortable and things were going well. Then, as speed and heat picked up, the bike started feeling a little wonky. Great. My tire pressures weren't quite right for being at speed. The bike was feeling really off on right hand corners, so when another racer made a bad pass that pushed me out super wide in 3 I had to slow way down to avoid sliding out on the dirt I could see all over the track.
I recovered and got back into it. No biggie, it's racing. The tire pressures were throwing me off a bit, so there was no pushing things any harder since my goal was to remain relaxed. I focused on staying relaxed, which I did. Finally, it was the final lap! I was going so freaking slow that the faster girls from the expert class managed to lap me on this lap :( . Then we passed the checkered and that was it. I had finally managed to finish a race.
Back to the pits to watch my pit partner's race, and then undress and relax for the evening. We both had successfully completed our day.
Eventually results were posted - mine were nothing to brag about, but then again, I hadn't pushed anything. At all. I was barely riding above a street pace to be honest. But my goals for the weekend hadn't including bragging about how well I had done, so despite a poor showing in the results column, I could at least say that I met my goals of finishing a race, staying relaxed, and staying well within my comfort zone and checking the RAWR when it rose up. Did all of that, so despite poor results, overall it was successful when compared to my goals.
With having met those goals, I can now modify my approach for future races where I can work on becoming more competitive. I'm not worried about my ability to go faster, so that will come!
Huge thank you to my sponsors and the many individuals who have helped make this happen!
#woodcraftcfm
#cyclegear
Those who've helped beyond measure: Sumar V., Dan S., Patricia J., Joel A., Barbara C., and many others!
However, with the help of some amazing friends and sponsors, I was able to get back out on the bike and make it the the AFM round 4 with excitement pending to actually, finally, make it into a race. It was about time I could actually call myself a 'racer' without guilt of never having actually finished a race :-/
There was a Z2 trackday on Friday, so I headed up to participate in the trackday to get some additional seat time on the bike. After my first session out, I could tell my suspension was not set for that track. I headed over to the on site suspension folks and we ended up completely changing my set up. I finally was able to head out for another session, and had to make some more adjustments after that. Once that was done, the bike felt great and I was ecstatic! Unfortunately my tires were about done, so I went and swapped those out.
Of course, changing tires then meant trying to figure out what pressures I like on those particular tires. My steering damper mount also showed up, so I put that on the bike as well. This led to several things again being changed, and I was back to not being happy with how the bike felt, but I wasn't sure which change it was that I wasn't happy with!
I had decided to skip Saturday practices (my budget would be WAY happier) since I had done the Friday trackday, so spent most of Saturday making sure the bike felt okay at least in the pits and managed to relax a little bit. Races started that afternoon, and I decided to stick to my original plan: just take it easy, stay relaxed, and finish the damn race. I didn't even care if my times qualified me for Sunday races or not. I just wanted to stay relaxed, even if the bike wasn't quite where I wanted it yet.
Finally the time came to head down towards the grid. I went over into the hot pits to practice a few race starts since I had never attempted one on this bike. A few laps around the hot pits and I was confident I could get an okay start without any wheelies or stalls. Out for a warm up lap where the bike felt pretty good. I was relaxed and not feeling overwhelmed. Good. 2 board was up. 1 board. Sideways. And we're off!!
I actually had a really nice start, and had the girl two rows in front of me not nearly stalled her bike, it would have been a REALLY nice start...but since I wasn't feeling overly aggressive, I just went with it.
The first couple laps things were feeling really good. The bike felt good, I felt comfortable and things were going well. Then, as speed and heat picked up, the bike started feeling a little wonky. Great. My tire pressures weren't quite right for being at speed. The bike was feeling really off on right hand corners, so when another racer made a bad pass that pushed me out super wide in 3 I had to slow way down to avoid sliding out on the dirt I could see all over the track.
I recovered and got back into it. No biggie, it's racing. The tire pressures were throwing me off a bit, so there was no pushing things any harder since my goal was to remain relaxed. I focused on staying relaxed, which I did. Finally, it was the final lap! I was going so freaking slow that the faster girls from the expert class managed to lap me on this lap :( . Then we passed the checkered and that was it. I had finally managed to finish a race.
Back to the pits to watch my pit partner's race, and then undress and relax for the evening. We both had successfully completed our day.
Eventually results were posted - mine were nothing to brag about, but then again, I hadn't pushed anything. At all. I was barely riding above a street pace to be honest. But my goals for the weekend hadn't including bragging about how well I had done, so despite a poor showing in the results column, I could at least say that I met my goals of finishing a race, staying relaxed, and staying well within my comfort zone and checking the RAWR when it rose up. Did all of that, so despite poor results, overall it was successful when compared to my goals.
With having met those goals, I can now modify my approach for future races where I can work on becoming more competitive. I'm not worried about my ability to go faster, so that will come!
Huge thank you to my sponsors and the many individuals who have helped make this happen!
#woodcraftcfm
#cyclegear
Those who've helped beyond measure: Sumar V., Dan S., Patricia J., Joel A., Barbara C., and many others!
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