Back at the Track… The 999 Returns
The Rebuilt Ducati 999 Trackbike
And it’s back…
The 999 returned to life at Buttonwillow Raceway, after many months of hard work by a number of individuals, and it was absolutely magnificent to ride!
At the moment I’m soooo fried it’s not even funny, certainly a bit sore, and well, more than anything just stoked to feel like the bike and I are back together… This has been a long day coming and post-crash I’ve often wondered what it was going to feel like — Would I still enjoy it? Would I be freaked out about it? Would I lowside the bike again? Would inherent danger trump desire for speed and skill? All human emotions, all real and justified to have floating around your head… And all incredibly annoying when all you want to do is return to a place of enjoyment with your bike…
Sitting here now, with an adult beverage in hand, it feels f’n fantastic to have been able to get back on the bike, go reasonably fast and end the day unscathed and with the bike all in one piece. It couldn’t have gone better for a first-day back at the track sort of experience. I’m not sure the demons of destruction are completely out of my head yet, but they’re well on their way to being vanished and that in and of itself is a worthwhile achievement. To have been able to forget about life and just enjoy the day while riding the ‘9 once more is icing on the cake and absolutely marvelous…
Couple of quick shouts out to Mark and his crew at The Trackclub who did an outstanding job coordinating well over one-hundred riders in the blazing Central Valley heat. Also to Alex White and his crew at Motorcycle Performance Services, the group that rebuilt and retooled the 999. It was everything I remembered the bike having been before and a whole heck of a lot more — same vibe, different experience…
And while I’m greatly looking forward to writing something more intelligent and meaningful up this weekend, right now I need another drink and a good, long hot shower…
Buttonwillow The Italian Contingent Arrives
The 1098S at Buttonwillow
The clock says 3 when I wish it said 4…
It’s amazing how missing one hour of possible sleep seems like such a missed opportunity when you’re just a few hours away from setting out for the next great adventure to test yourself and your soul…
Rest after all is a weapon, as they say. Yet right now I’m feeling like the guy who brought a knife to a gun fight while laying in bed and listening to the void of silence that city life creates this early.
If it weren’t for the trash trucks and transit authority, I’m not even sure I’d know I was awake. Yet I am…
Rolling out of the bed, the dog slowly raises his head and quizzically looks at me, as if to say, ‘I know you’re totally insane and all, but this is nuts’.
I’d like to think it’s the only time this thought will cross my mind this morning but instead it’s just the first salvo of the day. Because to some extent anyone who signs up for a trackday and finds intrigue in seeing the bleeding edge of their skill set probably qualifies as slightly mad.
On one hand it’s a completely beautiful thing; when you can match the right bike with the right environment and take a purely mechanical object and transform into a magical creature that fulfills a fantasy. Yet you’re also taking your prized possession directly into an utterly combustible atmosphere that has dozens of both real and imagined landmines that you’ve got to navigate successfully in order to survive.
Perhaps at its core it’s exactly because of this conflicting duality that tracks provide such an intense draw and offer such challenge and intrigue. Or maybe as the dog seems to be suggesting perhaps I’m just somewhat nuts. Hard to tell when the even the coffee pot shrieks in disbelief when you fire it up before it’s timer has gone off.
photo by vanhap
A dozen tie-down straps later, I’m losing layers of clothing at a surprisingly rapid rate. Sweating in chunks in the back of the pick up truck bed as the mildly stifling heat of an empty and pitch-black neighborhood works its way over me when the local paperboy shows up.
No more then fourteen, the kid makes eye contact as I tighten the tensile strength of a hand built synthetic strap derived spider web. Disbelief scrolls across his face while he feigns indifference. No doubt he’s wondering who in their right mind would choose to not only get up this early but also start hustling when they don’t have to? It seems counter intuitive to say the least and at this point I’m not entirely sure I disagree with him. The idea of sliding back under the covers seems like a noble thought indeed. But then to do so would remove the possibility of today’s scheduled enjoyment.
A second later the kid tosses yet another paper, which lands with a unexpectedly loud thud, while I light my first smoke of morning and give into today’s temptation — The idea that in just a few hours I’ll be surveying a pristine track on a causal California Monday with my own weapon of choice.
It’s time to finally let the 1098S out to play again.
I suppose we all buy the bikes we do with certain images in mind; perhaps it’s a great sport-touring journey up a virgin coastline or an ever gaining adventure across a desolate landscape. Maybe it’s the crystallized picture of dirt flying over the front fender as you whack the throttle in between the dunes or a collection of pixels that showcase a grinding puck going down in the perfect canyon corner. Or perhaps it’s something simpler; the image of your own two hands wrenching on your beloved beast in the garage. I suppose I’m no different. (more…)
Fast Freddie Is Fast…
Admittedly I’m fairly brain dead at the moment, so chances are this post will be anything but in English, however we just got back to LA after spending the last few days “kicking tires and telling lies” with the Freddie Spencer School folks at Miller Motorsports Park in Utah. It was a remarkable deal - for starters Miller is just an amazing track - this was my first time there and I was completely struck by how clean, modern, and brilliantly laid out it is. Yet what made it truly special was the reason we were there, to spending time interviewing former Grand Prix World Champion Freddie Spencer, the only man to win both the 250cc and 500cc Championships in the same year, and one of my personal favs, long time Cycle World scribe Nick Ienatsch. If I were more awake, this is the point where I’d go on and on about what great individuals both men are - however in my current mental state that’s a touch hard to do… 12 hours drives will do that to you 
However since leaving the track I’ve been struck by two overarching thoughts… First, while sportbikes are unequivocally cool machines - and there’s little need to argue about that - more often then not it’s the folks behind the bikes, the brands and the faceshields that truly stand out. Both Freddie and Nick are no exception and to be able to pick both of their brains is an out of this world experience. The knowledge they’re able to share and the insight they offer is utterly amazing and the stories they tell make you wish you could have lived their lives…. Secondly, to be able watch them work with students and ‘teach’ is awesome. Even though I wasn’t riding I felt like I learned a ton. But more to the point, I’d always wondered if the premium price tag associated with the Freddie Spencer School was worth it, yet after seeing the attention to detail, the level of one-on-one instruction (which took place at an altogether different level they any other riding school I’ve ever seen) and the improvements being made by the riders who were there, I can’t help but want to pony up the cash to do it the right way and go back to ride with them myself. What they do and how they do it is a completely different animal then anything I’ve ever seen in person…
The Future
It’s late Saturday afternoon and to be perfectly honest I’m absolutely whipped right now. My lower back hurts, my wrists feel tired and my legs are completely shot, but none of that really matters or can overshadown yesterday… Because I witnessed my riding future and it’s on a racetrack.
Without a doubt the proverbial ‘lightbulb’ has gone on inside my head and suddenly all those little things that hung me up before - such as when to downshift, how to do it smoothly, dealing with excess speed, cornering at speed, braking, trailbraking, braking before a corner, and accelerating while leaned over just to name a few - now just simply make sense. I don’t know how it happened or when it happened, but somewhere along the line the Duc and I have become a harmonious pair that thinks together and acts together. Riding the 999 yesterday was both an all together new experience and yet something that felt so perfectly normal and so perfectly sensable that it just happened with little thought or effort involved. All in all, it was a day that I will cherish for quite sometime because for the past thirty-six hours I’ve had a perma-grin smile plastered across my face and I can’t stop thinking about how amazing it was to be out on the track and how I finally feel that my skill level is worthy of riding the Duc…
A much longer blog entry is required to explain this and it’s certainly coming…
A Planned Break…
As the chaos of life continues - a good chaos, but chaos none the less - I broke down and scheduled another trackday with Reg Pridmore and the CLASS folks at The Streets of Willow. I had thought about trying out another riding school and/or a different trackday organizer but after pondering it a bit I just felt that I’d like one more go around with a group I know and trust. I’m thinking I’ll be asking for a heck of a lot more one on one this time around as I feel like I need to find a way to break through to the next level with regards to my riding skill. I figure that one of the up-shots of dealing with the CLASS crowd at The Streets again is that a) I now know the course, b) I’ve gotten to know the 999 much better and c) I feel like Reg & Gigi have seen me ride enough to have a more intelligent dialogue than just ‘here’s what you can do to ride better’… So off we go… Yet another adventure… I’m stoked.
A Few More Trackday Pics
So when I walked into work this morning, Gaz handed me two DVD-Rs with 350 high rez tiff pictures from last Monday’s CLASS Course… Needless to say I was completely blown away. Nothing makes you feel like a big time rider more than having someone shoot trackday photos almost exclusively of you all day long. Especially when they nail three or four shot action sequences! I honestly can’t thank him enough and I feel extremely fortunate to have a friend like him…
Here are a few of my favorite shots of the day. Normally I don’t upload the high rez files to the site because of space considerations and download times, but after checking out the photos I couldn’t resist. They’re absolutely stunning…
Guest Editorial : MotorMilt’s View of Trackday
[Editors Note:] This morning MotorMilt, my old man and weekend riding companion, and I were shooting the shit when he happened to mention that he enjoyed the CLASS course so much that he felt absolutely compelled to write Reg, Gigi and the gang at CLASS to thank them for the experience. After taking a few minutes to read his note I thought that it might be worthwhile to publish it here on Twisting Asphalt because perhaps it would be of interest for others of you out there who are thinking about attended a trackday with someone like Pridmore. [Editors Note #2:] I should also add that in the time since I posted my thoughts about our track experience a number of folks have written in asking for MotorMilt’s take… Well here it is… In a manor of speaking…
Reg,
I just got home after attending your March 28, 2005 CLASS session at The Streets of Willow. It was the third time I’ve taken your course and wanted to share some thoughts with you.
Like many people I had ridden a little in high school and then stopped because life simply became too busy. After college, I decided I wanted to learn how to fly, and got my private pilot’s license. That too stopped, as work, and family became all consuming.
Fast forward 20 years and a friend rides over to my house on his new motorcycle. Reminded me of how much fun they were and soon I had purchased a 500cc used Honda standard. I traded that on an 1100cc used Honda and finally, in 1990 I bought my first ever ‘brand new bike’—a BMW K75RT. That’s what I rode at my first CLASS course at what was then Sears Point. I remember thinking it was kind of a big boat for a track session even though one of your instructors, perhaps it was Fred, was passing everyone on a huge Full Dress Tourer.
Fast forward another 10 years, and I had gone from the K75RT to a K100RS and then an R1100S, which I rode at my second CLASS course, this one at Laguna Seca. At the time, I thought it was a real sportbike, especially compared to what I had started on.
Each time I took your course I was impressed with how much I learned and how much more confident I continued to become as a rider. So last year, I finally got the bike of my dreams, a bright red Ducati 999. That’s what I rode yesterday at Willow and it was an absolute blast.
I have never aspired to be the fastest rider on the track. My goal each time I’ve taken your course was to learn more and raise my own ability levels as a rider. And each time, that’s exactly what has happened.
Before arriving at Willow I read and re-read your book to help focus my mind on control, smoothness, and planning ahead. I do not have the ability to ‘hang a knee’ but yesterday I did find myself shifting body positions and weight, getting my head turned and level, looking through the corner, relaxing the arms, and many of the other things you teach.
I can’t thank you and all of your instructors enough for your guidance and inspiration over the years. All of you provide knowledge and insight without any sense of criticism, often in one-on-one settings that really help to drive the points home because the teaching is tailored to just me and my particular motorcycle. For example, the 999 is geared really tall, and at one point yesterday one of your instructors had me follow him off the track and talk about gear selection at various points on the course. His advice was keyed specifically to me and my 999. I got back out there and wow did it make a difference.
I don’t know why over time I have gravitated from standards, to full dress tourers, and ultimately an outright sportbike but I think what I’ve learned at CLASS has played a major role in that evolution. What I’ve learned has certainly made me a better and safer rider and I want to thank you, Gigi, and all your instructors for helping me to continue to learn.
Your CLASS courses have also increased my enjoyment of the sport of motorcycling over the years. I can’t wait for the next CLASS course and frankly, with the amount of outright fun I have on the 999, I’ll be back sooner rather than later.
Best Regards,
MotorMilt
Trackday : The Adventure Continues
Now that I’ve had a few days to reflect on my trackday experience I find that all kinds of widely divergent thoughts keep crossing my mind. I signed MotorMilt and myself up for our most recent motorcycle adventure several months back. Perhaps as far back as last September. The idea of getting the Ducs out on a track seemed like a great idea. Perhaps even the next logical step in our increasingly sporty outlook on life. Of course since there was a tremendous amount of lead time between when I signed us up and when the actual course was being held at The Streets of Willow, I think we both had almost to much time on our hands to think about what our first track day experience with the Ducati’s would be like.
To be honest, I really had no idea how it all would turn out. Would I enjoy it as much as my previous track experiences? Could I handle a liter bike on a track? Would I feel like a poser hanging out there? More importantly would I get myself in trouble because suddenly any number of the rules of the normal road didn’t apply?
I had no answers for any of these or any number of other questions that crossed my mind. I tend to think I’m a pretty good rider so this way of thinking frankly surprised me, but then I started to remember my first CLASS course experience which was nothing but jitters, nerves and an odd sense of almost ignorant confidence. The entire week building up to that trackday I honestly believed that I was suddenly going to be amazingly fast. I was mesmerized with the idea that I was going to be out on a track… A track!.. Instead what I found was that riding on a track is hard. Hard work, hard concentration, hard physically. Things happen out there in fractions of the time they seem to take on the normal road. From when to brake to where to get on the gas, everything shifted into a higher gear. I happened to be riding an old BMW R1100RS with ABS on that day. Thankfully so, because I wasn’t as good a rider back then and it was raining through out the day. During the fifth or sixth track session I engaged the ABS for my first and only time on that bike heading up the hill before the hard left hander that starts the famous corkscrew. I remember that by the time that the course ended on that day, I felt lucky just to be alive. As I’ve been thinking back on that experience both before and after this Monday’s more recent trackday I’m amazed how even the smallest events - good or bad - seem like biggest deals when you’re first getting the hang of riding.
Fast forward to this past Monday and the days leading up to it… In many ways I felt almost exactly the same heading into this CLASS course as I did the last time. Lots of doubts and concerns counterbalanced by a whole bunch of building excitement and a desire to see how much progress I’ve made as a rider. If you look back at some of the blog entries I wrote leading up to this trackday, I think it’s pretty obvious that I had at least a mild conflict going on about the day.
In retrospect not only have I progressed as a rider in a physical sense, such as how far I’m leaning over or my feel for the brakes, but also in a mental sense. Several times while I was out on the track I had what one of the CLASS instructors named Fred would call ‘a moment of concern’ and this time instead of going in the tank like I did after the ABS engaging entry to the corkscrew, I just went on and let it roll. Moving past whatever happened in whatever distance existed between the last corner and the next one.
The Morning
Having never been to Willow Springs, I had no idea that the temperatures would be so all over the place. MotorMilt & I had spent Sunday night in Lancaster, a small town just down the road from where Willow is located. During the day it was slightly windy and about 65-70º out, but at night it was freezing. Damn near 30º when you added in the wind chill. Dust is everywhere. It’s dry. The locals call it high desert and I don’t really disagree. All in all, a very different climate than the Westside of LA. By the time we woke up, the forecast had changed. We no longer could expect a day filled with sunshine. Instead it was hit or miss rain with lots of wind.
The Arrival
We arrived at Willow Springs at about 7:15am. I thought we were going to be a bit early but as it turned out the FastTrack folks were running (And I do mean running, after watching those folks later in the day, they can fly…fast) on the Big track at Willow and check-in at the main gate took longer than I think anyone anticipated. Once we signed the liability waivers, which has to be one of the better ways to start a morning 
, we headed into the main paddock area at Willow and started looking for the CLASS group. I have to say that of all the racetracks that I’ve been to as either a rider or a spectator, Willow Springs has to have some of the least descriptive signs I’ve ever seen. It took us a good couple of minutes to find the ’small track’ since it was our first time. Luckily we still made it on time, which let us unpack a bit before checking in with Gigi…
It turns out that Willow Springs is one seriously windy place. Through the course of the day it was consistently windy and when it really got going it was nuts. The kind of wind that was knocking helmets off of bikes on a regular basis if you weren’t careful. I was surprised that even though it felt incredibly windy, while we were out on the track it didn’t really bother me that much. Usually I’m not the biggest fan of riding when it’s gusting, but perhaps because I was so focused on the track it didn’t bother me as much…
After we unloaded all the gear, checked the oil and tire pressure and got sorted out it was time for tech-check. When you sign up for the CLASS course they send you a flyer with their technical requirements, which basically amounts to a bike in decent shape and relatively new tires. Truthfully I don’t think it’s much of a tech check. The main concern seems to be that you properly taped up your mirrors and taillights so that you don’t cause any distractions out on the track.
The Start of the Course
Once tech check was over and everyone had registered, Reg ran through a quick set of rules for the day. The most important of which was that passing on the inside wasn’t allowed. This single rule probably is what separates Reg’s school from other more race oriented schools. And while some folks violated it during the day by accident - myself included - it allows you as a rider to know that no matter what the inside is a place you can go safely.
After the rules were out of the way, Reg split the roughly sixty riders into two groups, dubbed ‘A’ and ‘B’. The ‘A’ Group was filled with the fast cats, some of whom could really let it out. Definitely some knee dragging going on when they were on the track. The ‘B’ Group on the other hand had everyone from first time track riders all the way to folks who just wanted to practice at a slower pace. MotorMilt & I decided that the ‘B’ Group was probably the right place to start out.
Twenty Minutes On, Twenty Minutes Off
Once the groups split up, it was time to hit the track. The ‘A’ Group was the first to go out. They did a quick session where they followed instructors around the track in groups of five or so. After one lap around the first rider who was behind the instructor would pull over to the left and allow the rest of the group to move up in line. Then that rider would fall into the line at the back and the whole group would do another lap around the track before repeating the same routine.
While the ‘A’ Group was following the instructors, Reg took the ‘B’ group for a ride and stop tour of the track. In full gear and on our bikes, we followed Reg around the track en mass. Stopping every time Reg felt there was something important to point out. I have to say that seeing thirty plus riders swarm around Reg on their bikes is quite a thing. Luckily the LAPD wasn’t ticketing for traffic violations because there were some really interesting slow speed lane changes going on at this point.
This was really our first bit of instruction for the day. Some of it was track oriented - like where the correct line was in a given corner - while other stops were more applicable to being translated back to the street when we got home - such as throttle control and being smooth.
After Reg had finished taking the ‘B’ group around the track, the ‘A’ group went in for their first classroom session and the ‘B’ group then repeated the same instructor lead exercise around the track. As non race like as this was, I found these first few instructor lead laps around the track invaluable. Since I had never been to Willow Springs, let alone ridden the ‘Streets’ course, every turn was brand new for me. I can’t say that I had mentally nailed the track’s configuration down by the time we wrapped this first track session up, but I certainly had a much better feel for the course than when the day started. I suspect that every motorcycle school out there probably does something similar to introduce their riders to the track and I found it very helpful.
When our session ended we headed into the classroom for the first of several times. I suspect that the first half of the day’s sessions were more valuable for the newer riders or the guys in the crowd who were returning riders just getting back into motorcycling. None of the information that was presented was revolutionary to me - but then I’ve been to Reg’s classes before and also have read and reread his book on better riding technic several times. It was however a great clarification on a number of points. Nothing hammers stuff home like hearing it from an ex-champion. Especially for topics like the importance of being smooth, throttle control, and advanced body steering. That’s all stuff you can certainly write about, but it’s worlds easier to describe in person. Ultimately, perhaps this ability to get a hands on clarification is the greatest value of a school like this, you not only get to go practice what you’re trying to learn but also talk to someone who understands it and ask them questions as you’re doing it.
From that point forward, the rest of the day basically followed a twenty minute on, twenty minute off flip flop of both groups between track time and classroom sessions. The one deviation was a short braking drill right before lunch, but otherwise it was pretty easy to lock into the day’s schedule and find a nice rhythm. There were also a number of times where just as I was starting to feel fatigued and starting to think about pulling myself off of the track that I’d come around turn 9 and see an instructor facing up track with their lights on signaling that the sessions was over. It was just uncanny how often that happened. Obviously I’m not a MotoGP star in training but it just blows my mind how mentally and physically exhausted you can get in twenty minutes while whipping a motorcycle around a racetrack. I have more respect for superbike racers tonight than ever before in my life and I’m not even fast.
The Streets of Willow
The Streets course is clearly the little brother track at Willow and it’s not a particularly fast. I found that for most of the day I was riding in first, second and third gear. There just isn’t any place to really run the bike up higher than that. On one hand this bummed me out a bit because let’s be honest one of the attractions of getting out to a track is speed. On the other hand running a road course in first is quite a trick and a heck of a lot of fun while practicing throttle control and smoothness.
The real pisser was the condition of the actual track. The asphalt on the Streets course is just terrible. There were a number of potholes and cracks that you could really feel unsettle the bike while it was leaned over in a corner. Very quickly I found myself aiming away from ‘the line’ in certain corners just to stay out of the way of some of these areas. I suspect the wet SoCal winter had something to do with it because I can’t fathom that at a place like Willow Springs they’d let this sort of stuff happen. But what do I know?
Lessons From The Day
During the course of the day I heard a great number of tips and pointers. Some were more helpful than others. Yet the real value of the day wasn’t during the group sessions, but when I would approach instructors for individual answers to questions. One specific example was with Reg. For quite sometime now as I’ve gotten more aggressive in sticking my knee out in corners (not dragging it yet!) I’ve had some trouble maintaining a horizontal transition across the tank from one side to the other. Sometimes I have a tendency to pop up a bit in the saddle thus slightly unsettling the bike. Obviously this doesn’t work out so well for traction. After one particular session I realized that my bad habit was being exaggerated while on the track. So I pulled Reg aside and asked him what I could do to reduce this tendancey. His answer was two fold and quite simple. The first was to practice the exaggerated leans on a stationary bike. I’m not so sure how much impact that’ll have, but I’ll give it a shot. Why not right? The other point he made and this I thought was much more valuable, was to be very conscious of have the outside knee up against the tank while the other knee is sticking out towards the inside of the corner. His feeling was that by thinking about that you’d focus less on popping up. During the subsequent session it might have been my imagination, but I honestly felt that this helped me not pop up as much.
The Bottom Line
Obviously I greatly enjoyed the day. I can’t thank the CLASS folks enough, if there is a more relaxed, mellow, personal, educational and fun environment to learn about riding I don’t know what it is. Reg is great and has a wealth of knowledge and humor. Fred is simply a magnificent instructor. And Gigi runs a really smooth ship. All in all it was really worth the $300 bucks to sign up. There are cheaper track days and other schools for right now I can’t say enough about the CLASS group. They’re just outstanding. I have no desire to be a pro-racer nor do I wish to emulate one, what I do want however is to learn how to ride better and faster and safer. All of which happens at CLASS. In my mind they really rock.
The Aftermath
As many readers know, tires win a race. As it turns out I chewed mine up pretty good. Reg and the crew had suggested that both MotorMilt & I lower our psi to 30 front and 30 rear. Usually the Ducs are at 32/36. Since it was such a cool day with rain and wind, I felt that dropping them down for a little bit of extra traction seemed like a good idea. In retrospect I wish I had gone 30/34 because the back tire was done by the end of the day. Of course somehow whenever I’m under what the manufactures suggest I kill my tires and maybe one should just expect that at a track day you’re going to abuse your tread….
As glorious as the day was it ended a bit disasterly. After the course had finished, MotorMilt, Gaz and I chilled out for about a half hour before heading back to our lodging. One the way back My Duc ran beautifully. Once we got off the 14 freeway however I noticed that the bike seemed to get a bit hotter than I would have thought given the weather temperatures. Instead of running at 160º it was now running at about 175º or 180º. Normally I wouldn’t give it a second thought because the Ducs only really run cool when they’re running at fifty miles an hour or more. I have no idea if this little bit of extra heat was at fault or not, but when we got back to where we were staying I slowed down to the park the bike and bam… oil was coming out of the bottom of the bike. Not a gush exactly, but a decent amount. I wish I had taken a pict of it. If there’s a more Ducati experience than oil pouring out of places it shouldn’t be I don’t know what it is… To make an incredibly long story short, ProItalia ended up picking up both bikes the next morning.
I realize that I was running the bike hard at the track, consistently hitting the rev limiter for the first time, but this is a brand new liter racebike. It shouldn’t be spilling oil for no reason after a trackday, it should live for days like this…But such is life I guess. So I’m in a bit of holding pattern for right now.
Nothing Like A Trackday!
My first Trackday on a Ducati has to rank right up there with some of the greatest experiences in my life. It was truly an awe-inspiring adventure in so many ways and on so many levels, some of which I’m just now getting a handle on twenty four hours after we wrapped up at the track. Reg, Gigi & the rest of the CLASS Riding School folks were fantastic. If there is a more mellow, low key, no-pressure, highly educational and instructional track environment I’d be amazed. These folks are just fun to be around and when you get them out on a track they’re even better.
Right now I’m feeling particularly whipped - both emotionally and physically - but for those of you who’ve never done a trackday I can’t tell you how worthwhile it is. There is simply nothing like getting out there and pushing the limits of your riding ability in a relatively controlled environment. It’s exciting, it’s thrilling, it’s scarry, and it’s amazing. I learned so much, I can only wish that it all stays with me for quite sometime. In comparison to my previous track experience on sport touring motorcycles, being out there on the Ducati was night and day. The Duc just want to be out there, you can feel it. Almost as if the bike it talking to you. Saying, ‘ahhhhh, I’m home at last’…
I’ll write up a more detailed description of the course, but for now I’m just going to enjoy the tremendous after-glow like effect… Man, what a day.
Trackday : The Day Before
Its amazing, I feel like I’m a five year old on the night before Christmas. I’m genuinely so excited right now it’s a bit scary. I can’t say that I’ve been this stoked about something that’s this personal to me for quite awhile. As MotorMilt & I get closer and closer to hitting the road in order to get to the track, I find that a lot of my concerns about being out on the track have been replaced by this slightly out of body focus on the event. Not sure if that makes any sense, but basically the closer we get to tomorrow morning the more excited I keep getting. A permagrin smile keeps showing up every time I think about finally being able to let the Ducs loose in a way that I’ve never experienced on them before and that’s pretty cool. Seems like its been so long since we signed up. I really can’t wait to just get out there already!
72 Hrs Until Track Day
By my math MotorMilt & I are just under seventy some-odd hours away from our first Ducati track experience. As each hour chips away, I find it harder and harder to contain my growing enthusiasm. It seems like so long ago that we signed up and first started talking about a track day on the Ducs. To finally be on the verge of getting out there is slightly mind blowing. I simply can’t wait to get to Willow Springs and ride these amazing machines in their natural environment for the first time.
Of course on the other hand I’m downright scarred shitless about it to perfectly honest. I suppose some folks would never admit to that, but it’s the truth. I’m perfectly cool with going fast and leaning over, but I’m a bit worried about getting to competitive inside the helmet and then doing something stupid. While looking over the bikes today I had one of those moments where you think of the worsts while trying to think of the best. When I’m out on the track I truly have the opportunity to flat out kill myself in a way that is unlike any normal street riding.
So its a very mixed mental process right now… Course I’m not sure that’s such a bad thing. Strikes me that since the goal is to go have fun and yet at the same time come home safe, that thinking about both sides of the coin aren’t exactly a bad idea right now…
Christmas Comes Early…
MotorMilt & I aren’t exactly the most holiday oriented people out there, but I guess everyone eventually gets caught up in the gift giving season. Actually I don’t mean to speak for ‘ol MotorMilt, he can do that for himself. But I’m definitely one of those folks who seldom remembers any important dates, anniversaries or birthdays. Usually it simply goes in one ear and out the other. Of course on the off chance that I actually do in fact write something down - like say, someone’s birthday - it usually ends up in whatever the latest and greatest email/calendar software I’m using and thus subsequently gets lost whenever I upgrade or switch to some other new cutting edge email/calendar client. So as you can see dates on calendars don’t really do me much good. If it wasn’t for MotorMilt reminding me of when I’m supposed to be somewhere I’d be one lost dude. Of course every now and then there’s a date that for some unknown reason doesn’t suffer the same fate as all the others. A date that for whatever reason gets permanently ingrained in my mind.
March 28th, 2005 promises to be that day.
Yeah, I know they’re not motorcycles, but it was the best I could do on short notice….
That’s right, we’re heading to the track… For the first time on the new Ducs. I’ve mentioned my desire to get the new bikes to the track for quite sometime in this blog. So I suspect this isn’t really a complete shocker for anyone who’s followed my ramblings, rather more of a ‘hey, we’re finally here’ moment. I’ve increasingly been thinking about track time ever since I started to realize that MotorMilt & I are closing in on the final stages of breaking in the new motors. Now there’s a ton of way to head to the track, everything from club days to organizations that simply offer track time to actual motorcycle courses held on at a professional track. The more I thought about what I really wanted out of taking the new Ducs to the track for the first time, the more I realized that what I’m after is on one hand to have the opportunity to push myself further than I can on the street while on the other hand having someone available critique me and teach me how to do it better. While I believe I ride well, I’m no MotoGP star. So any advice, education or insight I can gleam off of someone with actual track experience seemed like a good idea.
So the other night while surfing around the ‘net I decided to check out what was going on with Reg and the CLASS course folks. Milt and I have taken a couple of courses with them in the past. Abiet on very different motorcycles (i.e. the Beemers). Knowing them and knowing their drill seems like a good way to introduce the Ducati’s to the track. To my surprise they had just posted their 2005 calendar less than a week ago. The first date was… drumroll please… March 28th at The Streets of Willow, here in Southern California.
Obviously the stars were lining up… Who was I to stand in their way? A few credit card digits and a couple of clicks later, MotorMilt & I were on our way.
So now comes the fun part. We’ve got a three month wait - which is already killing me - and we still have to make hotel arrangements, figure out when we’re getting new tires and probably a prep service to go along with it. Not sure if that’s required, but we’re thinking that ProItalia might have some suggestions as far as suspension settings and the like.
Also unlike our last track day experience with Reg and the gang, which was at Laguna Seca - a track we were very familiar with because we had been to a ton of race weekend there - this will be the first time that either MotorMilt or I have visited Willow Springs. According to their website it’s a rather historical track:
This world-famous track hosted the first two NASCAR events west of the Mississippi, the first F.I.M. 500 Grand Prix motorcycle race in America, the first AMA events, the first 24-hour motorcycle endurance race, the first kart road racing in America, and the first California Sports Car Club racing on a purpose-built road course.
At 1.8 miles the Streets Course is slightly shorter than Leguna Seca (which is 2.2 miles long) and according to much of the information I’ve been reading on the ‘net it can get quite windy in Rosemond. So that might be an issue, as neither Milt nor I are huge fans of riding in heavy wind. The only major concern I have is that this will be the first time that I’ve ridden on a racetrack without an ABS anti-locking system. To be honest part of me is slightly scared about this since the very first time I was out on a racetrack I locked up my old trusty BMW R1100RS heading into the corkscrew at Leguna Seca. Luckily, I was straight up and down at the time and other than the odd sensation of wheel chatter and a bit of head shake I was okay. As I think back to that particular day, I had significantly less experience riding then I do now and I also wasn’t nearly as comfortable with the feeling of going fast. Times have changed rather dramatically on both counts and I while I’m as vigilant as I have ever been while riding, the fundamentals of riding simply happen now as opposed to having to think about them. I have no doubt that at the time I was locking up the brakes on the ‘ol beemer I was very conscience of getting on the brakes. I wasn’t preparing for a corner. I was locking everything down. These days, having no survived several hard braking ‘moments of concern’ while riding on the street - thinking cabs pulling out in front of you on a city street, bicyclists in the middle lane around a blind corner in the canyons, and general road oddities - I feel much better prepared to face the feeling of heading into a corner at a relatively high speed while at the same time seeing the track ending before your eyes as it swings on way or the other.
The bottom line is that I’m really looking forward to having the opportunity to test my limits without the worry of cross traffic, blind corners with rocks in the middle of the road, bicyclists, cars, horses and all the other stuff we deal with on a ‘usual’ ride. Plus it’ll be an adventure and who can turn that down? I’m so looking forward to this….
I’ve got the itch again…
Once again I’ve got the itch… The itch do another track day.
Perhaps it’s just that time of year or maybe it was reading all about Cecilie’s Motorcycle Adventures and how she went from a beginner rider to taming the track. Or perhaps it’s just what happens when one goes out and gets themselves a street legal race bike like a Ducati. I don’t know…
What I do know is that I spent most of yesterday daydreaming about heading into the Corkscrew at Laguna Seca and not doing anything productive… Well not anything super productive anyway.
Of course frankly right now this is not the most rational idea.
I’ve still got another 800 or 900 miles to fully break in the Duc’s engine according the rather lacking Italian manual that came with the bike. Therefore right now, I can only go up to 7.5k RPMs. I’m still getting to know her as a motorcycle in general, though I am feeling remarkable comfortable and confident. Further more, MotorMilt is of the opinion that given the fact that I’m getting closer and closer to getting my knee down I really ought to go get Bates Leathers to either add pucks to my pants or make me a new pair that works with my jacket. I’m sure there’s probably another service I have deal with somewhere in there too, but I’m not exactly certain. And finally, schedulewise we’re just about to start shooting the two new shows and once that happens it’s basically a very long, very tiring race to the due date with very little time for a slowdown or break….
Yet here I am, still consumed with the idea of getting on the track again. Go figure… So I’ve been checking out a host of track oriented websites yet I keep thinking that for my first track day with the Duc I really want to do another Pridmore CLASS Course. (www.classrides.com). I know Reg and the gang are a bit more expensive, but for some reason it just seems safer to me - perhaps because I’ve done a couple of his courses before and know the drill? It’s sort of like, all I want to do is be able to focus on the bike… Anyway that’s the ramble for the day….
Reduc - Cost Effective Track Days
Since getting new Duc’s MotorMilt & I keep half joking about needed to do another track day to, “test them out”… i.e. be in a situation that allows you to push it as hard as you want and still be safe.
We’ve both done a couple of Pridemore’s CLASS courses over the years, which on reflection were just what I needed to learn more about riding. And while I enjoyed both of my weekends with Reg, I think I’m ready for something a little less structured… On the flipside, one of the local motorcycle shops by us runs their own Track Days and while they’re significantly cheaper than Reg & CLASS folks, they’ve also got two dozen bikes lined up outside their shop that have been laid down at the track. That doesn’t impress me. It scares me. Tells me that they’re not practicing or slowly getting more proficient, but rather they’re running out to the track and kicking open the throttle with little regard. That’s NG as far as I’m concerned.
So where does that leave us then?
Well, one of the members of the Ducati.MS forum passed along the name of track organziation called, Reduc : Sportbike Track Days. Apparently they started 12 years ago in an attempt to make track days more cost effective for it’s members and yet also more structured than just a random day at your local track.
In terms of cost Reduc has it’s act together, a day with them costs you around $140 while a comparable day with say Keith Code or Pridmore’s CLASS can run you $375. They have instructors, although I get the sense from their website that they’re pointing out the best possible line and not how to put your knee down - which I’ve actually heard people ask Reg before… All in all they look pretty legit plus the recommendation from the Ducati.MS folks was quite good.
To become a member of Reduc you need to either; 1) Complete their new rider orientation class, 2) Attend their instructional track day, 3) provide them with proof you’ve ridden with another track club or 4) provide proof that you’ve held a roadracing license. All in all, not to bad.
Unfortunately for MotorMilt & I it appears that Reduc only runs on the east coast, so we’re back to looking for another track group… 
, But I thought I’d share the link and their organization for all you east coasters out there!
