All ready for first AFM race...

WetShrub · 03-24-2004, 4:05 PM

Much improved over when I first picked her up...

15 dollars in shaker cans later.

-Shrub

luvtolean · 03-24-2004, 4:08 PM

Cool! Stay calm out there and just finish the weekend in one piece, you learn lots more that way!

nedro · 03-24-2004, 4:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvtolean

Cool! Stay calm out there and just finish the weekend in one piece, you learn lots more that way!

What he said. There's no skills to learn while bones are healing. Sept how to wipe your but with your left hand.

eeeeek · 03-24-2004, 4:16 PM

Looks real good. Be sure to satisfy the pavement gods by leaning the bike over in your driveway ad letting the fairings kiss the pavement

See you down there. I'm #551 this year and I'll be pitted with my wife, #947 and a buddy, #247. We'll probbly pit with some other SV's, too.

WetShrub · 03-24-2004, 4:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvtolean

Cool! Stay calm out there and just finish the weekend in one piece, you learn lots more that way!

Oh yes! I already have one goal and that is to finish on two wheels. My secondary goal (not a requirement) is to not finish last. I'm not real big on that one and if AFM is anything like YSR racing the first race of the year has quite a few crashes. I think I will just let everyone get the jump on me at the start and then ride my own pace through the race. If I pick people off, cool, if not I will have a great view of the action up ahead. No ego to satisfy here. Just my fun organ....er...my OTHER fun organ.

See you there eeeek.

-Shrub

luvtolean · 03-24-2004, 4:29 PM

I won't be there. But those were similar to my goals for the first weekend, only I think I'm too stupid to heed my own advice and would rather crash than finish last.

WetShrub · 03-24-2004, 4:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by luvtolean

I won't be there. But those were similar to my goals for the first weekend, only I think I'm too stupid to heed my own advice and would rather crash than finish last.

Crashed your first weekend eh? Stay away from you then. I am just wondering how long it will take people to get used to racing against each other again and whether they can make it through the first couple turns without wadding it. I'll be watching from a safe distance I'm sure.

Scary thing is I know a guy that will be in the 600 superbike class as his first race too. He passed the race school already with Keigwin's but he is a total tool on the bike. He can't do anything and target fixates constantly. I did 3 total rides with him. 2 street, and one track day. His first track day he runs off the track on the warm up lap at 50 mph. By the end of the day he had 5 run offs. He crashed his first ride with me when he went too hot into a corner on a back road. Then the second ride he ran off the road twice and made a bunch of unsafe passes around some cars just because the person in front of him made a pass (a safe one at that). He just blindly followed without thinking. I haven't ridden with him since May but it makes me think that if they pass this guy in the racer school, how many other dudes are there like him out there in the pack? Is one going to be right in front of me when I'm leaned over at 100 mph? The guy I bought my bike from had crashed it 4 times in his first season! Were they his fault? I dunno. I read in the rule book that if you crash 4 times during the season you can't race the rest of the year. Maybe that's why he sold it. These kinds of things make me think I will just let people ride away at the start and if I catch them then cool.

-Shrub

luvtolean · 03-24-2004, 4:53 PM

Oh no, I didn't crash my first weekend.

abtech · 03-24-2004, 5:24 PM

Yes, discretion is the better part of valor in club racing, particularly in crowded grids. These days, if I don't get off with the lead group, I basically just concentrate on smoothness and predictability so the banzai pilots behind me won't get confused . . . Of all the crashes in the past 10 years, I have never crashed from something I did, rather because of oil, a crash in front, getting t-boned from the inside, oil, stalled bike on the grid and did I mention oil? (three times in a 4 year period and all WERA races where they wouldn't throw the red flag even after 10 to 15 bikes had crashed in some a$$holes oil).

Take it easy and concentrate on smoothness. Getting fast will come in time . . .

WetShrub · 03-24-2004, 5:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by abtech

Yes, discretion is the better part of valor in club racing, particularly in crowded grids. These days, if I don't get off with the lead group, I basically just concentrate on smoothness and predictability so the banzai pilots behind me won't get confused . . . Of all the crashes in the past 10 years, I have never crashed from something I did, rather because of oil, a crash in front, getting t-boned from the inside, oil, stalled bike on the grid and did I mention oil? (three times in a 4 year period and all WERA races where they wouldn't throw the red flag even after 10 to 15 bikes had crashed in some a$$holes oil).

Take it easy and concentrate on smoothness. Getting fast will come in time . . .

Thanks for the advice. Yeah, so far in 20+ YSR races I have had 4 crashes related to other riders and 1 was my own fault for over braking. The others were some one jacked up their line and went into me. With YSR racing they don't have a school so anyone can race with hardly any experience. Some 8 year old kid was racing last weekend. Wouldn't know the race line if you gave him crayons and finger paints but because of his weight he would just roll away from me. He caused 4 crashes in one day because of poor riding and in only one of them did he actually crash. The last one, he T-boned me after straying off the race line and then trying to jump back into it. I didn't go down but boy did I get a chuckle when he did. Afterwards I asked him if he was okay because I don't want him to get hurt but in some ways he needed to be taught that if he rides erratically that he will pay the price. Mom and dad should keep him in juniors a little longer.

In 4 years of riding, that 1 YSR crash is the only reason I have crashed and it was my own fault.

-Shrub

tigerblade · 03-24-2004, 5:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WetShrub

If I pick people off, cool, if not I will have a great view of the action up ahead. No ego to satisfy here.

-Shrub

Yeah that was my intention until I started passing the damn Gixxers in my first race. I took more and more time off each lap until the red mist took its toll and I got a little greedy in the last corner coming on to the main straight and got too much throttle. Didn't finish that first race but couldn't wait to get back on and go again! BTW, it's much easier to fight a headwind with a windscreen...

WetShrub · 03-24-2004, 5:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigerblade

Yeah that was my intention until I started passing the damn Gixxers in my first race. I took more and more time off each lap until the red mist took its toll and I got a little greedy in the last corner coming on to the main straight and got too much throttle. Didn't finish that first race but couldn't wait to get back on and go again! BTW, it's much easier to fight a headwind with a windscreen...

Hmm...I haven't seen red mist since I raced bicycles. It was all about the kill then.

Trackho · 03-24-2004, 7:44 PM

Just curious---what kind of lap times were/are you running at T-Hill when you decided to race??

CBRVFR · 03-24-2004, 8:20 PM

Have fun and be careful, if those aren't mutually incompatible goals. When in doubt, have fun.

roadracer319 · 03-24-2004, 11:23 PM

When in doubt, gas it! I think that's how it goes.... Anyway, have fun.

Cowboy · 03-25-2004, 1:18 AM

See you in race #6. Don't let your concerns distract you on the track, keep your concentration and ride your race. The problem I had (and still do sometimes) is kungfugripitis. If you feel your getting tired or making dumb mistakes, tell yourself to breathe and loosen up on the clip-ons.

WetShrub · 03-25-2004, 1:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 929Boomer

Just curious---what kind of lap times were/are you running at T-Hill when you decided to race??

I hadn't gotten an official time but when I watched some onboard video of myself with a friend on a track day we had most laps on the 929 under 2:10....depending on traffic or no traffic. Never been to T-hill on the SV.

I actually decided to get a track bike, but then the racing seemed like a logical next step and a bonus to having a track bike. Not really sure yet how devoted to it I will be. Perhaps after this weekend I will decide whether or not I am willing to sell a kidney to keep racing or not.