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OMG - Laguna Seca, Sonoma, 3 days of moto fun!

There are some advantages to owning a Yamaha...and the Yamaha Owner Appreciation Days at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca was a HUGE one!!! Not only did Yamaha team up with my favorite trackday provider, Zoom Zoom, but they also gave us Yamaha owners a screaming deal on the day ($100/day for Laguna Seca!); they managed a 105 decibel sound limit (almost unheard of at Laguna) and they paid for camping abilities overnight on Saturday night. Add in a great raffle and all the other perks of an absolutely amazing weekend, and it was epic.

Saturday was my first trackday back out since my THill round, and it was my first time at this legendary track. I also had not done my homework, so basically went in rather blind. After my second session out I had come to the momentary decision that I hated the track. It was fast and technical, yet I may as well have been dragging a freaking anchor for how slow I was going. I was struggling with lines big time, and was making sure everything was working okay on the bike. Finally a friend gave me a little tow around the track and that at least helped me figure out where the heck I wanted to be. I started to pick up a little speed as the day went on, but still felt like I was fighting the track most of the way around it...the amusing thing was that the few parts I found easier were the parts others I talked to were struggling with and vice versa.

That night we got to partake of the infamous Z2 cookout, and I enjoyed an evening hanging at the track with new and old riding buddies. This hanging out period proved to be useful to my riding as well, however, when I happened upon an impromptu body positioning discussion that Shawn Reilly was giving another rider. Yet again, as seems to be the case with my little pea-brain, he described the upper body movement in a way that made the light bulb go off. Another ah-ha moment for me. I camped that night in with my friend Mary-Ann in the trailer that hauled my stuff down, and slept like a rock.

We were greeted with yet another amazingly beautiful day on Sunday morning. Early on I grabbed an instructor and got some serious help with lines and where to place myself on the track. This vastly improved my day, and by the end I was feeling a lot more confident. I also spent a fair bit of time trying out the "new" body positioning, and although it was different for me, it got me over a hump I'd been struggling with since I started - how to really get my upper body off the bike the way I know it should be. Granted, this meant I was, yet again, trying to implement several changes at once, but I ended the Laguna trip feeling good and looking forward to my coming day at my favorite track, Sonoma Raceway.

I caught a ride from Laguna to Sonoma with Jason Hauns from JPH Suspension If you ever need your suspension set up, or think you might, or have never had it done, I highly recommend JPH - he did a great job on my own bike, and is passionate about what he's doing. Spent another night at the track and in the morning met my Curve Unit sisters Amy and Patty A, along with some other BARF friends for the third day of moto fun in my weekend.

The track was super slick the first session out - even going SUPER slow my tires were slipping a bit so I was not going to pick up the pace. Second session it started to feel better, and by the last morning session I was feeling like it was fairly normal. Had some feedback on a few lines to fix and a couple things to work on, and went into the afternoon with a plan in mind. Unfortunately early on in the afternoon the instructor I was working with had a mishap so I spent a couple sessions figuring things out for myself. Deciding that wasn't accomplishing much I went up and requested an instructor, and Shawn Reilly offered to take me out and work on some things. His feedback was great - cleaned up (and hence sped up) several corners for me, namely 3, 7, 9/10 and 11. I was still struggling with 2 by the end of the day, but the few times I hit a decent line made it more tolerable. With the line adjustment I went from liking to loving 7, and fixing 3 allowed me to close big gaps coming into 4. I had one more session after that to really work these things and left feeling like I was pretty much back to being myself on a bike at track pace again.

Overall it was a legendary weekend. I had a blast, learned a TON, and felt like I will be ready for my NRS the end of November. One more trackday at Sonoma, then I'm off to THill to do the NRS!

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