Long weekend, mixed reviews. The weekend started out slowly, with lots of rain and losing my bike cover out of the truck on the way to the track. Once at the track it wasnt raining but we were waiting until about 11:30 before the track dried out and the day got going.

I had been placed in the Beginner group since I've never ridden with NESBA before, so I figured I'd just ride around for a few sessions learning how they roll and get bumped up. The first few sessions saturday were pretty painful - lots of new to the track riders, lots of trains and very restricted passing zones in the B group (only the front and back straight, and no passing the CR's without getting waved by). The group picked up speed as the day went on, but it was a bit frustrating for me. At the end of the day, I had a CR ride with me for the session to 'evaluate' moving up a group and he said he wanted me to stay in B but he gave me some things to work on - I didnt agree, but I slept on it and I'd give it a shot the next day.

For Sunday I sat out the first session, as it was more of the same plus a cold/slick track, would've been a waste to ride. Once the day got going and the track warmed up, the group was moving a little faster and i could put in some decent laps but still getting stuck behind slower riders pretty frequently. After lunch I had the lead CR ride with me for the session, and while there was lots of traffic I just tried to make the passes as clean as possible and put in some good laps when I had clear track and got bumped up. Yay progress!

I did 2 sessions with Intermediate and it was pretty nice - felt like clear track all session long as most people were moving about the same pace. I was getting tired but still having a good time.

Ok, thats alot to read, where's the ******* crash story?

3rd Intermediate session, and I think one of the last sessions of the day - 3rd lap I was behind a guy going through the left hander on to the front straight and I think he just gave it too much throttle on exit and lost the rear, lowsided about 10 feet in front of me - I didnt have many places to go as the bike was right in front of me and the rider was tumbling down the track so I chose the grass... as soon as I left the track the front wheel dug in, bike went over and I tumbled once or twice and that was it. I kinda tumbled into the other guy who was still rolling - so I think I made the right choice, I'd really rather not run someone over! Everyone was fine so no big deal.

The bike has a busted shift lever and frame slider, but I'm going to tear down the bike over the winter and put new bodywork on it so this isnt a big deal. I've found a few mechanical issues with the bike so far, so there's a few things that need to be taken care of. And, while packing up, I had untied my canopy and walked away just long enough to get the bag for it, and it flew off and folded itself into a pretzel. One of those days I guess

Overall the event was well run and on time, and the CR's pretty helpful. I'm not sure if I'll ride with NESBA next year, but I'll keep that option open. I think the big problem was just too many bikes out in the beginner group, but I wont have to deal with that again.

Bonus! Pics!

 

sounds like a good time, good thing nobody got hurt

 

i like ur gold wheelz!

 

Nice pictures! The gold wheels are looking good

 

you guys are finally starting to listen about the gold

 

Sounds irritating and fun. Glad neither of you two were hurt.

 

Gold bling!

How did the 4$ seat fare?

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by Starscream &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">How did the 4$ seat fare? </TD></TR></TABLE>

Excellent - I'm going to use it from now on. It formed onto the tail easily, stayed put, and as comfy as a 1/2" foam pad is going to be.

 

glad you didn't get busted up to bad and the bike is repairable.

how far away are those trees? it looks like their's a decent about of run-off, but still trees?!?!

 

Sweet pics, but when did you buy a pocket bike for the track?

I think you should ditch the white swingarm sliders for GOLD ones.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by marmaladedad &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">
I think you should ditch the white swingarm sliders for GOLD ones. </TD></TR></TABLE>

Good call. Frame/swingarm are going to get painted black over the winter, with some new bodywork

 

Argjay... have you looked at the controls positioning closely? I know it's bad to judge from pictures but they seem slightly out of proper/comfort range as evidenced by this picture:




I am not trying to say this contributed but it looks a little painful to ride like that.

Looks like a fun time... cold but fun

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by MSchu &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Argjay... have you looked at the controls positioning closely?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Yep - I need to move the bars 'out' more, I noticed that this past weekend.

Thanks

 

Great pics! Looks like you have a positive outlook on the situation which is for the win. Glad to hear the damage was non existent (you) and minor (bike). Hoooray trackdays!

 

Some pics I took - my friend on the GS500, its his first track weekend



Gettin low on the GS









V-Strom!





prawpz for the F4i



RC51 = :wood: I need another one...









Retard bike!



Rack 'em

 

 

how come you didn't do shenandoah with TPM yesterday? I just got back from main today. expletive it was cold in the morning and first few sessions were sketchy as hell. After lunch it was solid but still a lil sketchy with grip in a few areas plus there was mud on the track and what also looked to be oil... All in all a good day, only bad things that happened was a cracked my friend's fairing when putting it on the steering stem stand and my zipper came apart last session so I had to pull off... Got it fixed and got to ride down the main straight backwards. Was kinda cool T1 is so weird now but I started to get a hang of it. T3 is a lil wider but brings the wall closer and the chute is even scarier now. T5 had some weird sealer **** down but the rest of the carousel was awesome. Next year it should be sweet.


ps. I kinda like the TPM passing rules though it could be good or bad. With such slow people sometimes passing was really really sketchy like coming out of T3 and before you get to the top of the Chute. Then of course the Chute itself. It made it great though cause I can pass pretty much anywhere I needed to except it being a lil tricky to get an outside pass in the carousel unless the guy was real slow.

 

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by EngineNoO9 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">how come you didn't do shenandoah with TPM yesterday?</TD></TR></TABLE>

It filled up and I didnt sign up in time I figured I didnt need to as their events at shendandoah had been kinda empty all year.

 

WOO HOO!!!