AFM Round 3, 2018 – Those “Ah-ha!” Moments

Most of my race reports are a chronological explanation of my weekend, but I think I need to vary from that a bit this time around, and approach it from a different angle.

Ever since moving to the “big bike” aka my Roseville Motorsports Kawasaki ZX10R, I’ve heard/been told/imagined/etc that it was a big bike: hard to ride, required muscling it around, point and shoot, hard on the brakes, hard on the gas, try to tame “the beast.” Between hearing all of those things for years regarding riding a liter bike, and my own preconceptions, I had myself thoroughly convinced that riding this bike was going to be hard work, and my 2017 season did nothing to alleviate those notions.

Hence why, at the start of the 2018 season, I enlisted the help of a coach, Tyler O’Hara. I not only wanted someone who interpreted things the way I needed to hear them, but also knew the bike, and especially who could help me get my “head space” back where it needed to be. We had worked together a total of 3 days so far this year, and I could tell a lot of little puzzle pieces were being laid out, lining up, but I could also tell there was something missing. Something big, and it just wasn’t clicking into place, and I felt like it was holding all these other pieces from being able to start clicking into place, too. RiderzLaw’s support has been a huge help in getting this season lined up as a much better environment to reach my goals for the coming years, and getting this coaching was in part due to their continued sponsorship.

This was my status when the 3^rd AFM round of 2018 started. I had a couple frustrating track days prior to the races, where the weather just didn’t cooperate and there was just no way to work on speed, so while I focused on techniques, which I knew was better than nothing, I wasn’t trusting that it was as effective as it could have been.

Saturday of the weekend started out raining, but it cleared up and by the afternoon I was able to get out for a few practice sessions. DareDevil Motorsports was there as crew chief and pit crew, so I got to relax a little more on Saturday. Practices went okay, but I was still feeling very off the pace. The AFemme race was that afternoon, and we had a pretty good (albeit small) line up with Shelina Moreda there on her R1, Valentine on her 600, and Paige McKinnon making a comeback on her R6. 

We gridded up, and most of the front row had pretty good starts. Shelina and Valentine led into turn 1, but I was able to pass Valentine going through turn 2. I set my sights on trying to chase Shelina down, but we started hitting traffic by turn 10, and dealt with a lot of that for the rest of the race. There were several yellow flags as well, one of which worked to my favor, but the next one worked in Shelina’s favor and I never could close back up. My times were about what I had been able to pull off on this bike, but I felt like I was working my tail off to get what were still pretty pathetic times. I still managed to take home 2^nd place, and still have a fighting chance in this championship!

I was struggling with bad headshake on the front straight though, so Jim over at Catalyst Reaction helped me get the bike more dialed in, going a couple ways on our settings until things were pretty manageable and the bike was doing what I needed.

Saturday shenanigans commenced, and I had a great time hanging out with my friends and chatting away the evening, eventually crashing out for the night. 

Sunday dawned warmer and sunny, promising much better weather. My first race of the day, Open Superbike, is a tough one with a stacked grid and a lot of fast riders in both waves. My start was great, but again, the faster guys all were walking away within a few corners. I was still determined to put in a good fight, but felt like I was really struggling for watching everyone else just GO. Pretty soon riders behind started to work through, and the fast 750 riders were into us. One of them made a bad inside pass going into 5, completely standing me up. I managed to stay on track, but I was pissed. There had been some sketchy passes by a couple faster novices on the big bikes as well, and my frustration started to boil. I finished the race, but I was not in a good mood. 

After getting off the bike, I knew I needed to channel that anger into something more useful. Riding angry wasn’t going to help my situation. I kept repeating my little mantra from Tyler of “Relax, focus, flow, breath” over and over to myself. Thinking about turning my emotion into a “cool mad” as opposed to mad, using it to fuel my focus rather than distract me. That all led to me sitting down and thinking about a few things: 

·         Remembering being behind Tyler on track, and seeing how smooth he rode, how well it flowed

·         Then trying to remember the feeling I had when I went fast – what did it feel like? 

      Was I fighting the bike, or just letting it do its thing?

      What am I doing now vs. then?

I quickly realized that I had been fighting this bike right along, thinking I needed to force it into compliance. This prevented me from getting into the zone, and I never relaxed and let the bike do it’s thing. 

The little light bulb went off.

I tried to harness that feeling I used to have, and got ready for my race (there were only two races between my first race and this one). I didn’t even look at my bike, as that dredged up too many of the “forcing it” feelings, and instead looked away just embracing that flowing feeling. Hopped on and headed out for my Open GP race, taking the warm up lap to try to hang onto that feeling.

My start was fantastic, and while I wasn’t going to hang with the leaders for long, they stayed in sight a little longer. Rather than trying to ride hard, I just kept my focus on maintaining that flow. While I had to bring myself back to that numerous times through the race, it started to click a bit more. I finished the race to find I had dropped 4 seconds from the previous race, and it was EASY. That time was also a personal best on this bike, and I didn’t feel like I was trying at all. I had quit fighting the bike. 

I had a long wait until my next race, but kept on reminding myself of that feeling – I didn’t want to lose it. It was a great feeling, but the only thing that I can think of that comes close is that feeling you have after a great session in the sack – you’re not “ecstatic” or hyped up, in fact, just the opposite, but it feels great and wonderful. THAT’S how I felt when I got off my bike.

Finally, Open Superstock was getting called, and I just wanted to repeat that feeling, and work on getting it locked into my mind and body. Again, I had to avoid looking at my bike – amazing how our minds make connections between ideas and feelings and things we see or are experiencing.

I had another fantastic start, and hung with the guys as long as I could. My faster laptime from the previous race became a consistent standard for this race. I still had to bring myself back into the zone a couple times, but it was easier. This wasn’t an unfamiliar feeling, but it was something I haven’t reproduced since moving to the ZX, so I didn’t want to lose it. I finished the race, and again, felt great, relaxed, and the times had come very easily. 

I also saw and realized this was the piece of the puzzle that had been preventing all the other little pieces from clicking into place. This particular one will allow all the other things I’ve been working on and trying to implement to finally start making a difference.

On a weekend when most people were struggling with times, to set a new personal best on the ZX and have it feeling like it was easy and relaxed is huge in my book. This was a big hurtle that I’m confident has set me up for some noticeable progress over the coming months.