Fast Guy Question

No worries. Broome shows up, things speed up...as we all scroll past his posts.

j/k

 

You're right, I've been skimming his shit the last couple days.

 

Man - I was stuck in a rut for 2 seasons until 2016 where I was finally able to drop about a second off my personal best. Sad thing is I can't tell you exactly what I did this past year to make that time. I'm not a natural so lots of track time and patience is all I got going for me......

 

It's all mental. As I sit here thinkin' about it, suddenly I've become faster than hell.

 

I still think you need an SV... It will teach you to go fast quicker

 

Wouldn't money also be a factor in how quickly someone gets to be considered fast?

 

Dude, remeber Ryan Gordon?? That fkker was Fast.

 

Ive actually thought about it. Ive never even sat on anything smaller than a 600, except for Grim.

But I know absolutely shit about them. Arent there like different generations and shit like that? And some people swap the whole front end, or use different wheels and shit? Is there an "all you need to know about SVs" thread like there is the Grom and 250 threads?

But then again, didn't Suzuki just come out with an all new one? That might actually be fun. I could get one and ride it on the street for a while to get used to it, then race prep it.

 

Not everyone can learn to go fast. Some just don't have the feel or lack the bravery to push harder and deeper into the corners or get on the gas earlier. Some peoples skills will peak earlier than others no matter how much seat time they have.

 

That's true. That is what I was getting at early. There are people that have been riding in Novice or Intermediate (track days) for years, and that is as fast as they will be. Nothing wrong with it, they are having fun. But racing is just like any other sport. It requires good reaction times, hand-eye coordination, sense of speed, judge of speed differential, and some level of fitness to actually physically ride it.

Like any other sport, some people will naturally be better than others, no matter how much practice they get, or training, or how good their bike is. That is just how it is with any physical/athletic activity.

The only difference is that it doesn't require as much physical athletic ability. Meaning you don't need to have a 40" vertical leap or run a 4.4sec 40yrd dash to be competitive. You can still be very competitive even in your 50's, and possibly even later, as long as your body holds up, reaction times stay good, etc.

Batey was running 6th or 7th in an AMA SBK race when he crashed going into T6 at Road Atlanta (due to his brake pads being pushed back into the caliper because of a tank slapper after wheelie hill). He was hauling ass and battling up front, and he was only a few months from his 50th birthday.

 

Captain Verbose I presume..

 

I think that's a very important point. Generally speaking a new young rider that's fast to begin with has the opportunity to get better support, which can lead to
more track time and better machinery. The flip side is that a rider who is slower to learn to go fast can potentially miss that window of opportunity, and may never
get to find out their ultimate potential.

That being said, it's hard to learn bravery!

 

it might not be so much bravery as it is the ability to forget fear and everything else except the task at hand.

and lack of money may be helpful in some ways too. a guy on a tight budget might obtain more skill by pushing a box stock machine to the limits in order just to keep up sometimes than those who have aftermarket errythang.

 

I learned 90% of my current skill set by following people much faster then me, at speeds much higher then I thought possible. My mind doesn't have the bravery, but it has the stupid to think if someone else can do it then dammit I can.

 

When I raced with WERA, I had an SRX600 that I had pieced together, and occasionally it would complete enough laps to finish a race.. I just wanted to have fun.

Joe Morris decided that I was too slow, and he would help me get faster. I followed him for one practice, then he followed me for one practice.

He then told me that, for me to get faster, I needed another bike, that I was riding as fast as it would go.

That was the best thing anybody ever told me about my racing.

Fun can be cheap, but serious/competitive cost money.

 

the ole' saying is soooo true.
" you can teach a fast rider to stop crashing.. but ya can't teach a slow rider how to go fast"..

Fast guys have and almost always will be "fast". Close to track record pace ? that could depend on machinery and injuries.. but I seriously can not think of ANYONE that was slow as dirt, then years later, i was thinking "holy shit! how'd they get so fast!" ..

 

I won my first track day. I just never had the time to ride often enough to become a world champion. So I just raced for a few years to feel the rush of competition.

 

My opinion (and that's all it is) is that most fast guys have a natural ability to disregard consequences and deal with bike feedback.

Both of those things CAN be learned, but it takes a tremendous amount of track time, which most of us will never get.

I think someone who is being coached on a weekly basis (by a coach who knows his or her shit) has a real chance of learning to be truly fast, but the people with natural ability are able to develop and maintain their skills with less seat time.

 

^^ yup. their brain just processes stimuli differently (faster) than normal people is part of it..
A willingness to crash can only take you so far. Some aspect of no-fear is important, and crashing is inevitible, but crashing a bunch will (eventually) cut any riders career short.

 

There was a story in a magazine long ago of when Eddie Lawson first teamed up with Kenny Roberts. They were practicing at Philips Island. Eddie was just as fast as Kenny everywhere except for one corner, and Eddie asked Kenny about it.

Kenny explained that, at a certain point in that corner, you needed to slide the front tire 3 inches to the outside to set up a better drive for the next corner.

Eddie said, "Now I understand," and started sliding the front tire 3 inches in that corner to set up a better drive.

That's learning at a level I cannot even imagine.