Fall has officially begun as the smell of fallen leaves wafts through the air, and that means I head off to Thunderhill for the AFM Round 6 races. This was to be our final round at THill, with one remaining at Buttonwillow later in the month.
Courtesy of @RiderzLaw I was able to pick up a few things for the bike that would help with the whole "going faster" thing, to include an exhaust, a quick shifter, a few tools to help make tear down and reassembly that much easier - all stuff I've been lusting after for awhile. Add in some new brakes lines, new wheel bearings and we'd see what she could do. Unfortunately, I got sent the wrong linkage for the quick shifter, so that wasn't going to be installed in time, but I was still looking forward to making use of the new Remus titanium system, with a tune scheduled for the Friday before the races - a little last minute, but seemed like it would all work. Which was the case right up until Thursday when the scheduled tune got cancelled on me. Ugh. I hoped the stock tune would work, even though I knew I'd end up down on possible power.
I arrived Friday night with bike, boyfriend, dog, and three foster kittens in tow. My teammate, Paul, was already there and we got the pits set up and finally settled in for the night. Saturday morning dawned relatively clear with promises of nice temperatures. Saturday practices went fine, although I realized very quickly the lack of a tune was going to be a problem - the bike would cut out at approximately 4500 RPM, then catch, then cut for a moment, then go. As long as I stayed above that it was fine, so I figured I could ride around it.
We headed out for the Nv AFemme race that afternoon. I've been a pretty solid 2nd place in this class, and unless the current #1 messed up big time, figured this would be another repeat. This was the case, and I crossed the line in second place per usual. The main issue was that on the very last lap I was behind a couple 250s who were duking it out, so I decided not to get in their way and rolled off in 14 more than I had been - this resulted in hitting that "dead zone" in my mapping, when it caught the bike lurched, cut, then lurched again, completely throwing my lines WAY off. I determined that this was borderline dangerous and knew I'd be trying to find a temporary map in the morning that I could use to at least get me through the day.
Sunday morning dawned windy and clear. I swapped my @DunlopRacing rear tire and set to finding a map that would at least get me through the day. I tried a couple different ones, eventually settling on one that had a power drop at around 6000 RPM, but it was a drop, not a complete cut out, so while I knew it would still suck, at least it wouldn't be as dramatic. I was then ready to prep for my first race of the day, Nv. Formula 1.
Paul and I were both in this race and I looked forward to having some people to go battle it out with. My times at THill were improving enough where I figured there'd be a little more action, and boy was I right! I had a good start and was WAY more aggressive about passing and holding my position than I have been historically. The boys were going to have to work for their passes now - I was over handing the space to them! At one point Paul managed to pass me, but I could tell there were several areas where I was faster than him. Going into Turn 14 he started braking earlier than normal and I had a chance to cut up under him into the corner. I then had 3-4 bikes behind me who I knew wanted back around me, but I also had clear track in front of me, so I put down the hammer and pushed myself to my new personal best of 2:04:9, almost a full 3 seconds off my personal best from the last THill round.
That race was fun and I was looking forward to the next two as well knowing I wouldn't be out there alone anymore. I ran over to @CatalystReaction for a quick adjustment to help with some wallowing I was experiencing from the back of the bike with the slightly increased pace. Nv Legacy Middle was up next, and I had a great start, putting several of the faster riders behind me. This whole weekend I was being far more aggressive about claiming my position on the track and on getting around other riders. No more handing other racers a pass on a platter! I again was duking it out with a few riders, knowing that one rider, Cliff, was right behind me and looking to get around. I wasn't going to just let that happen though, and managed to keep him behind me. I had another rider as well that I was back and forth with a bit, and we had some great battles until the end of the race. Results have yet to post for this race, so I am still unsure of my exact place vs the others who gridded up for it. I didn't quite get back down my Formula 1 time, and instead was at 2:06 for the race being in some traffic throughout most of it. While the new map was better than the previous one, i was still having some issues with power in all of my races with that hollow spot in the band, but at least it wasn't dangerous.
My final race of the day was Nv 600 Production, another race where Paul and I would get to be out there together. I had managed to recover a bit over lunch, so was looking forward to what the race would hold. We gridded up and I had another monster start, gaining serious ground right off the bat. As things started to settle in a bit, I had a few riders I was again battling with. Eventually we managed to catch up to a rider who was slightly slower than myself and the rider I was duking it out with, but we were both having trouble getting around him. The other rider managed to pass me, but I couldn't find a place to pass both of them, and he was struggling to get around the rider we were stuck behind. Eventually he managed a pass on that rider, and now I was stuck trying to get around him. It took me awhile to find a good place to pass because this rider was very strong on his entries (something I'm not that great at yet, although improving!) and he had me on power - so mid corner was my best shot as he was very slow there - I finally had enough time to get around him on the outside of Turn 2, and started to do my best to try to reel in the other rider who I had been battling with earlier - unfortunately, while that gap got smaller, I wasn't going to catch up in the time we had left. I finished the race 16th out of 21, with 2:06 laptimes again.
All of my races were a blast, and it has been great picking up enough speed where I have riders to battle with and I'm not just out there all by myself anymore! This weekend proved that I really do need to learn to deal with similarly (but slightly slower) traffic better though. Knowing that I can do 2:04s with open track means I have to learn to make those passes and deal with traffic better and more efficiently. While I was far more aggressive about passing and holding my position this weekend than I have historically been, in the past I've been SO passive about it that even that improvement still leaves a lot of ground to be covered. Starting towards the back means that as I get faster, I'm going to have to work through traffic in order to work my way up the ranks. That is going to be one of my focuses over the winter season, hopefully I can manage some good training opportunities to really iron some of these things out and come back next year a few seconds faster than I am right now, which I feel is completely within grasp.
Overall I was happy with the weekend, and I definitely had an awesome time and loved getting to battle it out in all of my Sunday races! Despite the power band issues on the bike and that causing some problems, it was a good weekend. I had hoped to see 2:04s in some variety, which I did manage. While I'm disappointed that it was a bit of a "wild card" lap in that I didn't have any traffic but did have bikes I was trying to keep behind me, and I didn't repeat that with traffic, I know I'm more than capable of it. Once I get the bike tuned and it's not having those issues (plus the extra power I'm sure to get) it'll be great to keep working from here.
We are off to Buttonwillow in two weeks for the final round of the year, and I'm excited to head back down there. I had a great time there at the first round, and with the improvements I've made over the summer, I'm looking forward to what I can accomplish there. See you all in a couple weeks!
Courtesy of @RiderzLaw I was able to pick up a few things for the bike that would help with the whole "going faster" thing, to include an exhaust, a quick shifter, a few tools to help make tear down and reassembly that much easier - all stuff I've been lusting after for awhile. Add in some new brakes lines, new wheel bearings and we'd see what she could do. Unfortunately, I got sent the wrong linkage for the quick shifter, so that wasn't going to be installed in time, but I was still looking forward to making use of the new Remus titanium system, with a tune scheduled for the Friday before the races - a little last minute, but seemed like it would all work. Which was the case right up until Thursday when the scheduled tune got cancelled on me. Ugh. I hoped the stock tune would work, even though I knew I'd end up down on possible power.
I arrived Friday night with bike, boyfriend, dog, and three foster kittens in tow. My teammate, Paul, was already there and we got the pits set up and finally settled in for the night. Saturday morning dawned relatively clear with promises of nice temperatures. Saturday practices went fine, although I realized very quickly the lack of a tune was going to be a problem - the bike would cut out at approximately 4500 RPM, then catch, then cut for a moment, then go. As long as I stayed above that it was fine, so I figured I could ride around it.
We headed out for the Nv AFemme race that afternoon. I've been a pretty solid 2nd place in this class, and unless the current #1 messed up big time, figured this would be another repeat. This was the case, and I crossed the line in second place per usual. The main issue was that on the very last lap I was behind a couple 250s who were duking it out, so I decided not to get in their way and rolled off in 14 more than I had been - this resulted in hitting that "dead zone" in my mapping, when it caught the bike lurched, cut, then lurched again, completely throwing my lines WAY off. I determined that this was borderline dangerous and knew I'd be trying to find a temporary map in the morning that I could use to at least get me through the day.
Sunday morning dawned windy and clear. I swapped my @DunlopRacing rear tire and set to finding a map that would at least get me through the day. I tried a couple different ones, eventually settling on one that had a power drop at around 6000 RPM, but it was a drop, not a complete cut out, so while I knew it would still suck, at least it wouldn't be as dramatic. I was then ready to prep for my first race of the day, Nv. Formula 1.
Paul and I were both in this race and I looked forward to having some people to go battle it out with. My times at THill were improving enough where I figured there'd be a little more action, and boy was I right! I had a good start and was WAY more aggressive about passing and holding my position than I have been historically. The boys were going to have to work for their passes now - I was over handing the space to them! At one point Paul managed to pass me, but I could tell there were several areas where I was faster than him. Going into Turn 14 he started braking earlier than normal and I had a chance to cut up under him into the corner. I then had 3-4 bikes behind me who I knew wanted back around me, but I also had clear track in front of me, so I put down the hammer and pushed myself to my new personal best of 2:04:9, almost a full 3 seconds off my personal best from the last THill round.
That race was fun and I was looking forward to the next two as well knowing I wouldn't be out there alone anymore. I ran over to @CatalystReaction for a quick adjustment to help with some wallowing I was experiencing from the back of the bike with the slightly increased pace. Nv Legacy Middle was up next, and I had a great start, putting several of the faster riders behind me. This whole weekend I was being far more aggressive about claiming my position on the track and on getting around other riders. No more handing other racers a pass on a platter! I again was duking it out with a few riders, knowing that one rider, Cliff, was right behind me and looking to get around. I wasn't going to just let that happen though, and managed to keep him behind me. I had another rider as well that I was back and forth with a bit, and we had some great battles until the end of the race. Results have yet to post for this race, so I am still unsure of my exact place vs the others who gridded up for it. I didn't quite get back down my Formula 1 time, and instead was at 2:06 for the race being in some traffic throughout most of it. While the new map was better than the previous one, i was still having some issues with power in all of my races with that hollow spot in the band, but at least it wasn't dangerous.
My final race of the day was Nv 600 Production, another race where Paul and I would get to be out there together. I had managed to recover a bit over lunch, so was looking forward to what the race would hold. We gridded up and I had another monster start, gaining serious ground right off the bat. As things started to settle in a bit, I had a few riders I was again battling with. Eventually we managed to catch up to a rider who was slightly slower than myself and the rider I was duking it out with, but we were both having trouble getting around him. The other rider managed to pass me, but I couldn't find a place to pass both of them, and he was struggling to get around the rider we were stuck behind. Eventually he managed a pass on that rider, and now I was stuck trying to get around him. It took me awhile to find a good place to pass because this rider was very strong on his entries (something I'm not that great at yet, although improving!) and he had me on power - so mid corner was my best shot as he was very slow there - I finally had enough time to get around him on the outside of Turn 2, and started to do my best to try to reel in the other rider who I had been battling with earlier - unfortunately, while that gap got smaller, I wasn't going to catch up in the time we had left. I finished the race 16th out of 21, with 2:06 laptimes again.
All of my races were a blast, and it has been great picking up enough speed where I have riders to battle with and I'm not just out there all by myself anymore! This weekend proved that I really do need to learn to deal with similarly (but slightly slower) traffic better though. Knowing that I can do 2:04s with open track means I have to learn to make those passes and deal with traffic better and more efficiently. While I was far more aggressive about passing and holding my position this weekend than I have historically been, in the past I've been SO passive about it that even that improvement still leaves a lot of ground to be covered. Starting towards the back means that as I get faster, I'm going to have to work through traffic in order to work my way up the ranks. That is going to be one of my focuses over the winter season, hopefully I can manage some good training opportunities to really iron some of these things out and come back next year a few seconds faster than I am right now, which I feel is completely within grasp.
Overall I was happy with the weekend, and I definitely had an awesome time and loved getting to battle it out in all of my Sunday races! Despite the power band issues on the bike and that causing some problems, it was a good weekend. I had hoped to see 2:04s in some variety, which I did manage. While I'm disappointed that it was a bit of a "wild card" lap in that I didn't have any traffic but did have bikes I was trying to keep behind me, and I didn't repeat that with traffic, I know I'm more than capable of it. Once I get the bike tuned and it's not having those issues (plus the extra power I'm sure to get) it'll be great to keep working from here.
We are off to Buttonwillow in two weeks for the final round of the year, and I'm excited to head back down there. I had a great time there at the first round, and with the improvements I've made over the summer, I'm looking forward to what I can accomplish there. See you all in a couple weeks!
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