We'd agreed to meet up at the Post @ 5am for the ~2 hour ride out to Palmer. I was woken before the alarm by the sound of rain absolutely pummling my windows. Getting up and looking outside, I was greeted with the sight of a complete deluge. Turning the TV on for the weather, I found that there was a tornado warning in effect! Sweet!
The impacted area was north of us, but not that far away that it wasn't touching on the area we were headed toward. Fortunately, though, the warning (and most of the rain) had passed by the time we hit the road.
We arrived safe and sound and took our spot in line at the inspection station...and were then told we had to turn around, go tape up our mirrors, and then come back for inspection. Ok, no problem. I did a tight u-turn and found a place to park out of the way. We taped up our mirrors and headlights - I thought the website had said we needed to do that. Greg said he assumed the mirrors got taped so that we'd only be focused on what's in front of us and not what's behind, I thought it was so that if anyone crashed, it'd be less of a mess to clean up. Turns out; Greg was right. They don't want us worrying about what's behind us, but instead; solely on what's in front of us. Made perfect sense. (We also didn't need to tape our headlights, but they thanked me for the effort.)
Heading back to inspection, the two guys running it actually complimented me on the u-turn I'd made. Tony then asked me what group I was planning on riding in (they split us into 3 groups, based mostly on bike capabilities). I said I was hoping for the top one but would defer to them. He thought for a second and then said ok, he'd put me in that group and see how I did. Nice!
They first brought us out onto the track for a number of laps to follow one of the other instructors around so that we can learn the track and get a feel for the corners. After that, we headed in for a bit of instruction, and then off we went!
It was f'ing crazy as hell to be ripping around these corners. The floorboards and frame were screaming their objections, as they came into contact with the pavement at just about every corner. And this track isn't an oval track, it's almost nothing but corners!
In said corners, I was doing fine, and even able to pass a couple of the bikes in the shorter distances (timing the apex of the curve is where this comes in), but the one handicap was that the sportbikes had much too much top end power for me, and were easily able to pass me whenever we hit the single stretch without a corner. Dammit - there weren't supposed to be any sport bikes here (it was billed as a non-sport bike day).
After our session was up (20 minutes each), we headed back in to the classroom for discussion about lean, cornering, speed, etc. I had one of the sportbikes guys come up and introduce himself, saying he just had to say hello to the guy who was throwing the Harley around like nobody's business, and who had even been pulling away from him in some of the corners. I laughed and said yeah, but then you guys are sailing past me in the long stretch. Oh well.
After our next session on the track, Tony came up and asked if I'd be ok being bumped to the middle group. He said my cornering was great but that some of the faster bikes were stacking up behind me. I completely understood and said sure, put me wherever you think is best. He kept stressing that it wasn't any reflection of my ability, but simply; my bike doesn't have the same abilities as the sport bikes do, and I couldn't argue with that.
The one good thing is that it meant I got to go right back out onto the track with that new group, instead of sitting in the classroom again. Sweet!
After a few more sessions on the track, I had a guy from this second group come up and compliment me as well (and he was riding a sport bike). But no worries about my head getting too big. All I had to do was watch some of the instructors. They were amazing! Doing nearly double my speeds in some spots, minimal braking, leaning their bikes over to the 30 degree angle (or more). Pure mastery of the sport, and so much fun to watch. I found myself thinking that I should get a sport bike and start learning how to ride like this...but that would probably be a bad idea as I'm sure I would do stupid things out on the roads, rather than saving the racing for the track.
The event ran all the way to 5pm, making it a long day overall. It's amazing how tiring it can be to be so focused. Imagine (for those who have ridden it) doing the Tail of the Dragon at 2x - 3x that speed, all while trying to (safely) pass anyone in front of you, and while trying not to be passed by anyone coming from behind you. Tony and Ken (the other main guy) kept stressing to drink fluids, and I have to say that I was pee'ing after every session on the track. It's crazy how amped your body gets while doing this!
After we'd had our last run on the track, there was no more class so we said some goodbyes and headed home. Following straight travel lanes on the highway, and keeping marginally within the speed limits, felt boring and slow but they are necessary evils if we didn't want to have any encounters with the law.
It was a really fun day. Not what I expected; I was expecting it to teach us overall driving techniques The focus here was a little about cornering and leaning, but mostly to learn this track and then ride it with good technique - at as fast a pace as you were comfortable with.
Would I do it again? Probably not, if on my bike. If I ever do wind up with a sport bike, then hell yeah, I'd be here in a heartbeat.
So, let's get to some pics.
First; the track!
This is obviously an artist's rendition but it gives you an idea of the curves, as well as the elevation. This isn't flat at all. The long stretch at the bottom is the lowest part of the track. You're racing from left to right, so at the end of that long stretch, you're already heading up again, then down briefly as you start heading to the left again and from there on, it's almost entirely 'up', until you reach the last full turn in the midde left, which is a very fast descent.
A nice shade of painter's tape, courtesy of Greg.
Lined up for inspection. Nice - looks like some cruisers in here. This is going to be easy!
Hmmm...what's with those sport bikes that are showing up?
Blue sticker! I'm in the speed group!
Lined up and ready for our turn on the track. (What's with the sport bikes??)
Here's some pics of the track itself. You can see the elevation in the top right of the pic...
The corner that you can't see; connecting the elevated part in the top rght, to the long sweeping stretch on the left, is rather sharp, all at a significant decline.
A nice row of fire extinguishers, just in case...
One last pic, showing the elevation in the background.
There you go; Monday's adventure.
Stay tuned; the next two days found me at the highest elevation in the NorthEast, as well as at the northeastern corner of the US, and I'm going to see if I can get that posted up, tomorrow.
Ride Hard, Take Chances
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