Summing It All Up - 2019-2021

Crashes, Bike Bits, and Confidence

Backstory

In early 2019 I thought I had finally turned a corner on my current bike, a 2017 ZX10R. The first AFM round of that year I went out and started dropping time like crazy, finally down to my previous personal best times at that track. The next round I showed up with high hopes, only to end up with an epic highside that launched me to the moon and over 50' before coming for a landing. For a very long time, I couldn't figure out what caused that to happen, and while I could come up with things that might have contributed, it didn't quite add up.

 After that, however, a series of cross-country moves started taking place in my life, as did learning new tracks, new riders, new race organizations, new track providers - plus everything "normal" people deal with on major moves like that. 

 I made some progress over the remainder of 2019, slow, but saw improvements. 2020 saw ANOTHER cross country move to ANOTHER region of the US, and again, all new tracks, new race orgs....you get the theme here.

Once again, some progress happened, but between money (thank you covid economy) and costs of the moves, I wasn't getting much seat time. It didn't take long to realize I was pretty stagnant, some of it motorcycle related, some of it personal. The personal stuff I put in a plan of action over that winter, and went into the spring feeling better in that department.

I wasn't doing much between tweaks to the bike's suspension, and overall it was feeling pretty good - but there was still something "off" that I couldn't put my finger on, nor could I have described it to anyone. I kept on trying to convince myself it was just me, and plenty of people ride these bikes, and that it was just because I was an overly sensitive chic (not that it helped the situation mind you, but what else could it be - right?!?).

The Catalyst

Headed into my first WERA round of 2021, I was hopeful - seemed like my head was doing better, so time to see if I could pull off improvements. Started off where I had been, and then found that inner fire a bit. That was great - for about 4 1/2 corners when I once again ended up with a violent, no warning high side. Not quite as epic as my first one, but it wasn't a slouchy one, either.

That first high side I think we also finally found the cause - a slight slip on the front, which I corrected, unloaded the rear and no electronics interfered until way to late to save me. It explained how the back got loose, but that still seemed a pretty violent reaction, and electronics clearly didn't pick anything up until far too late.

 Another nasty high side and I was ready to sell the bike - I was over it. I was slow, crashing, and tired of it.

Snake Oil - or not?

Several people, however, had mentioned a "new" contraption on the market called "over suspension," basically just a tuned mass dampener. They claimed it reduced high side crashes by 90% plus a bunch of other claims, but that was the one that caught my eye. The device for my bike was only about $400 - even if it only reduced high side crashes by 1 for me EVER, that would more than pay for itself. With everything I'd already sunk into this bike, I decided, what the hell, go for it, and bought the "snake oil."

My first ride with the over suspension and I was positive I was noticing a difference - but it was wet out, so not a great time to really test it. The next track day I was able to afford, and I was thoroughly convinced it wasn't in my head. 

What I felt was subtle though, not some dramatic change that created magic. For the first time since getting on this bike, however, I felt like I could tell what the rear tire was doing all the time, not just under hard throttle. Suddenly, I felt like I was riding the entire bike, not just one end at a time.

At another track day, I ran into a fellow racer (fair bit faster than I have been) who swears by the over suspension. For him, there was a slight slip upon initial throttle, but when he put this on, that slip was smoothed out and he felt confident to get on the throttle a little bit harder, a little bit sooner - which is huge when you're chasing 10th's of a second.

After a few weekends with this on my bike, I still stand by my initial evaluation - I can feel both ends all the time. And I have a great comparison - I do NOT get that same feeling on my street bike, where I feel like I always have on these bikes (same model bike, somewhat similar set ups). 

Looking Forward

The feeling is subtle. It doesn't magically make me faster or the bike do anything radically different. That little feeling - that thing that has been "off" since I got on this bike has improved my confidence - slowly, as I have several years of fighting through a variety of issues on this bike (transmission(s), suspension, geometry, then this) - but it really does feel like this may have been the element that was keeping my confidence in the bike from fully developing.

Time, of course, will tell - but life is settling down, and I'm looking forward to next year's track season with hopes of managing to put together the funds to make a full season happen like I used to. With a bike I'm finally feeling confident enough to start pushing again.

My very last trackday of the year was a good end to the year. The confidence in the bike finally helped re-light a bulb on some techniques I  hadn't felt confident to keep using the past several years. Adding that in with the things I did manage to improve on over the years, and I'm cautiously confident there may be some good things in store over the next year in terms of my riding, my confidence in the bike, and hopefully combining the old me with the new me.