What I did this summer. By Cafe Racer.

On June 27, I did Level One of Keith Code’s school. It was my first time on a, “plastic” bike. Up until this time, I had ridden old café racers on the street and had taken my Moto Guzzi V11 to the track once (two years ago), but I was very much a new and unskilled rider.

Driving to the track, I was really nervous. Actually, my nerves bordered on fear. Can I do this? Bikes are fun to look at, listen to and generally obsess over, but am I the kind of guy who actually would ride a motorcycle around a racetrack? Christ! What have I gotten myself into? I actually thought about turning around before I even checked in.

As soon as I was out on the track, I had a blast. I was surprisingly among the fastest third of the people who were participating in Level One that weekend. I thought I had the bike over as far as it would lean – though the pictures tell a different story.

Oh well. I wanted to learn how to ride. I WAS someone who could do this.

 

After I got back, I scoured the classifieds and eBay. I was going to buy myself a bike to learn on. I was in the process of building an EX500 in my living room, but, in retrospect, that project was truthfully more about buying shiny parts than about having a track bike.

I found a 2001 CBR600 F4i on eBay. It was local and owned by a guy who didn’t ride it anymore since making the move to Supermoto. It was raced in WERA and CCS and was well set-up and reliable. $4200 later, I had a bike on which to learn parked in my living room.

 

On July 29, I did my first track day on my new bike at Buttonwillow Raceway. I was scared again – Of a new and unknown bike and a long and demanding track..I didn’t ever get comfortable on Buttonwillow’s 3.4 miles. No matter I was out there and learning.

 

On August 13, I went to the AMA course at Fontana. Great fun. I was on new tires and had grown a little more comfortable on my bike. I started concentrating on corner speed and on being smooth. By lunch, I had gotten fast enough to be annoyed by guys on literbikes who would fly by me on the straights and hold me up through corners. Wait! People are holding ME up?

I spend the rest of the day relishing my newfound speed.

 

On August 20, I ventured to the big track at Willow Springs. Once again, I feel totally out of place. This track is big and scary. Speeds are much higher than any other track I’ve been to. I’m not comfortable and I’m downright scared of Turns 4a and 4b with all the pavement changes.

No matter. I’ve moved up to the Intermediate group after my frustration at the AMA track and I’m pleased that I’m not all that much slower than the group. I even pass a few people.

I’m reminded of something Greg Lemond said about riding a bicycle really fast: “It never gets any easier, you just go faster.”

On the last session of the day, I enter Turn 3 a bit faster than I ever had before and all of a sudden, I feel a strange grinding sound. Holy shit! I’ve dragged my knee! I’ve actually done it!

I touch the ground every lap in that turn until they waive the checkered flag at me and tell me it is time to go home.

 

This last weekend, I returned to the AMA course in Fontana for two days. I’ve got spanking new leathers and a head full of new ideas about how to get around the track faster and more smoothly. I’ve digested all that I’ve learned, I'm calm and really relaxed and I’m ready to put it into practice.

By this weekend, I’m solidly in the middle of the pack in terms of pace in the intermediate group. My knee is solidly and comfortably on the ground and my cornerspeed is way up.

The pictures show what I look like now. I’ve become a different rider from the guy who went to the Code school three and a half months ago.

Next step… a lap timer to really track my progress and much more track time.

Stay tuned.

 

Good choice on learning bikes. And good number. :up:

B.Curvin novice #909

I was in the same boat 6 or 7 years ago. Had a 94 CB1000, a KLR650 and

read Classic Bikes and Performance Bikes. Had all the theory in my head,

but thought I had no business on a "fast" bike. A cat named Michael Lively

stuck me on his SV650, and I bought one within a week. He helped me put

together the things I already knew, and I was on the track within months.

I just won a WERA championship.

With your attitude and approach, I think you'll suprise yourself constantly,

and get real fast.

Stay safe.

PS, I can truly see a difference in the first to last pics.

 

i had a similar experience this summer. i started with frank kinsey's school. he's a great guy by the way, made me feel really comfortable on the track.

 

Nice posts CafeReacer!!!

 

:up: :up:
Now you really have the bug.

 

Well done. It's really cool to see that kind of progression, especially over the course of one summer.:up: Nice photos!

 

I'm resurrecting this thread to show pics from this weekend. My lap times are coming down and my form is certainly improving.





The plan is to do a few WSMC races this summer. I'll update this thread as I turn myself into a club racer from a fan.

- Ben

 

that was actually a pretty good read. i like WSIR...a lot.

 

Bringing this back up once again. There were some delays in my plan, but I finally did my first race with WSMC. Heavyweight Nervous on my 749. I finished second to last but I went out there, did the sighting lap, gridded correctly, started and banged elbows with someone in Turn 1. I then rode around in circles until they threw the checker. I loved every minute of it.

I'm hooked. I can't wait until next month.

Here's what I looked like this weekend.

 

To one guy.

Just kidding! I'm very slow but enjoy the heck out of myself at the track. Congratulations on your first race.



STEVE

 

Not true! I got lapped. The guy who won the race saw my flashy leathers too!

 

I thought I'd check back in with this thread a year later. I hope doing so isn't terribly vain or self-serving.

I ditched the 749 in favor of a stock-motored SV650. I liked the idea of being on a slower bike on a grid with similarly (relatively) slow competition. The SV is so much more fun to ride than the 749 ever was. I linked up with the guys from West Coast GP Cycles who are single-handedly responsible for turning me away from being one of the guys with tire warmers on my literbike... at a track day... in the C group.

I hold an Expert license now but feel far from it. I'm still decidely in the slower end of any race but I'm getting faster pretty much every weekend. I've run two 20-lap Solo races and a handful of sprint races. I'm learning to pass cleanly, working on my racecraft and mostly, I'm having a blast out there.

Here's how I looked this last Sunday:

 

I also started with The Cali Superbike School... at Loudon in 1988. Back then 'trackdays' didnt exist... so race, race, race it was...

Keep doing the Solo 20s... get as much tracktime as possible, and keep living the dream... Life is good!!

Keep the updates coming...

 

great thread. i did code's school last year. been hitting track days as much as possible and plan on doing my first WERA race later this year (after cornerspeed I, another cornerspin, and cornerspeed II). glad to see i'm not the only one that wasn't born at a track day :up:

 

I really dig the progression, I'm hoping to do the same. Keep going strong!!