SPEED

Where's your story? You could cut & paste the old one if you like :wave

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Bipolar

:asshat

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www.grassyknollproductions.com
www.palomarpics.net

GSXR600Chick

Compliments of www.PalomarPics.net
(Thank You, Kent!)


:thumbup :thumbup :thumbup :thumbup

:kissa :kissa :kissa :kissa

__________________
"There's so much time to learn how to ride, if you can think of it more as a life-time pursuit, you'll realize there's no big rush to get better/faster." ---Robert----

Check out the coolest videos here:
www.grassyknollproductions.com
And the best pictures here:
www.palomarpics.net

"Someone once said that friends are God's way of apologizing for family" --Havoc--
"The world is too fragile for people to be untrue. There's too much at stake, and life is too short for lies." --Brothers & Sisters--

GSXR600Chick

Ok....here you go....It is WICKED LONG!!! But you asked for it!!! :pat
(Picture is once again Compliments of www.PalomarPics.net ) :thumbup

http://www.sportbikeswest.com/forum/...pic.php?t=1917

:secret After all the PM's and phone calls asking for all the details, I thought I would lay it all out so here you go!!!

1. Chris & I tracked out the bike. That was awesome. :thumbup
2. We went to rent the trailer. Spent $50 we didn't plan on spending due to an issue. :2cents Chris saved the day. :hail That was awesome. :thumbup (I swear to God he can fix anything.) Renting a trailer is a pain in the ass. :banghead We are going to be buying one very soon. Marrying a mechanic/engineer was a very smart move on my part. :kissa
3. I headed out to pick up Sean on Sunday. I learned to love a certain Mexican Restaurant in some weird town (when you are driving on a long trip and think you may have to pee, my advice is to stop ASAP and not wait until your eyeballs are floating.) :laughing Sean & I took a detour through this weird town, ended up in the ghetto in an effort to do a U-turn via side roads. These lovely side roads even had speed bumps, which the trailer was just so pleased about. :yikes I think they have speed bumps there to slow the drivers down from the drive by shootings. :dunno
4. We got to the hotel around 6:ish, went to dinner at that BBQ place across the street, :thumbup and hung out for a bit, and headed back to the hotel. (God bless the gas station that had the few things in stock that I forgot to pack!) Sean, Mike & I hung around by the Jacuzzi, at which point James & Larry showed up with a hysterical story about how they had to load up the bikes? :clapping This is their story to tell, so be sure to ask them as it is a good one.
5. I hadn't slept in days due to the anticipation, :nono so I was hoping to get a good night sleep with some Tylenol PM. :snoring It didn't work. :twoup (Gee, thanks Mike for pointing out that it wouldn't work.) :funflip My fan that I brought with me that I love broke. :bawling I was up at least every hour looking at the clock. :bugeyes Around 5am I was pretty much up (the people who know me are going to be quite shocked by that! I am NOT a morning person!). :clapping :clapping It was wet out from rain the previous night, which was not a happy site. :cloudy I woke Sean up around 6:15 to see if he was ready to go. ( I was pretty anxious at that point.) :laughing

Now the track story:
We got to the track about 7am :secret (Hey, Mike (Knightrider), Henry and Javier...Did you hear that??? 7am???? MEEEEE???), :notooth got settled into a garage, and I checked things out to see what the deal was. I am REALLY nervous at this point, :rolleyes and fascinated with all that is going on. We went through tech, and then just waited. I ran around like a tourist with my camera taking pictures of everyone and everything. (I have a few great shots of Kent himself in his great camos). :funflip We had the riders meeting, at which point I found out that they were running the B&C groups together. :yikes I had hoped for three groups, but oh well. :dunno

People with vehicles that didn't have trailers were permitted to drive the track a few times to dry it out. :dance That was AWESOME as we were able to check the track out and talk about the turns (as Sean says, Hey Deb, on this turn we need to remember to trust that the pavement actually continues ends doesn't just drop off the face of the earth!!) Larry was able to get rid of the chicken strips that he had on his new truck. :deathmetal

The A Group goes out for a session, then we are told five minutes until it is our session. I was REALLY REALLY nervous at this point. :help I arranged it so I would be toward the back of the group starting out. :moped We took off, and I realized very quickly that yes, everyone's brake lights are taped up, and no..You can't see brake lights at the track. :yikes That was the first lesson I learned right off the bat. The second thing I picked up on pretty quick was how much I depend on and use my mirrors. :headscratch I checked my non-existent mirrors tons and tons of times. :laughing I also kept moving toward using my blinker to signal that I was getting off the track. :laughing I hadn't realized how much it would impact me not having certain things that I was so used to removed from the situation. :headscratch

I worked with Mike & Fred for 99.9% rest of the day (Thank you so much to both of you!). :hail I was having trouble with "seeing" the road, as I was not familiar with the track, and the road disappeared a lot. :confused That again, was weird to try to get used to. Without trees and telephone polls, it was odd and rather hard to see where I was supposed to go. :headscratch The lines I was told to run were different then the lines that I take on the street, which was an adjustment. Also the fact that there were no cars, no DY's, no "street hazards" was a fricking awesome experience. The only thing to be concerned with was my riding. :woot

After one session that was extra special as Fred (*cough* control rider) was working with me, and he missed the checkered flag, :lmao so he and I stayed on the track for an extra lap. :notooth I was just grinning and grinning. :happyb I didn't stop grinning for quite some time. :happyb I couldn't believe that nobody was passing me anymore, and I thought I finally had gotten a little faster. :woot (The truth of the matter was that we were the only two people on the track, but hey, it was fun until that bubble bursted!) :lmao

My main goal for my first track day was to get a feel for how it works, and to just check the experience out. I didn't ride hard; I actually rode about 40% of my ability. The pace I was running and the lean angles I had were like the first time I was at Palomar, :moped but you know what? It was my first track day and I was having fun, learning a ton. :woot

I liked T2TT as a whole. :thumbup The support that I had from Aaron and the control riders was amazing. They really looked out for everyone and seemed to handle everything in a professional, fun, and appropriate manner. Aaron was awesome with pep talks with me when I was feeling kind of silly since I was so slow. Thank you to T2TT, as each and every one of you helped alleviate a lot of my anxiety, and made me feel like you were happy that I was there. (Next time you may want to re-think your lunch order though...I think you ordered all the subs that existed in the State of California!!) :lmao

For my next track day I will know what to expect, I will have a feel for the process, the rules, the lines, etc. And I expect I will get some sleep the night before as I won't be as anxious. ( I think my sleep deprivation really screwed me.) :sleepbed

I don't even think I can compare a track day to riding on the street. :headscratch It was interesting, as prior to this track day, I thought I could ride fairly well. On the track, it was just so different. Different in a sense that I cannot put into words. :dunno The track was really humbling for me, and I have a new found respect for people who ride the track well. :hail

I found myself at work today constantly thinking about my first track day. :hump All I wanted to do was go back there and do it again. I think I had my first taste of my new addiction, as I can't wait to do it again and again and again. I can't wait to progress, and to have the ease and comfort level on the track that I saw the experienced people had. I am so excited to have experienced a new level of this sport.

Thanks again to T2TT, Fred, Mike, Sean, and all the people who helped me and encouraged me throughout the day. It is all so appreciated. You helped create a monster. :deathmetal

__________________
"There's so much time to learn how to ride, if you can think of it more as a life-time pursuit, you'll realize there's no big rush to get better/faster." ---Robert----

Check out the coolest videos here:
www.grassyknollproductions.com
And the best pictures here:
www.palomarpics.net

"Someone once said that friends are God's way of apologizing for family" --Havoc--
"The world is too fragile for people to be untrue. There's too much at stake, and life is too short for lies." --Brothers & Sisters--

SPEED

:happyb

__________________
Live to ride another day!"
"Zoomsplat" -Wingers"

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Fredball

Big Willow with MTC. Dec 17th 2002.

Tucked the front off of T5 and crashed pretty good. The end.

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"Hippies, theyre everywhere. They want to save the world but all they do is smoke pot and smell bad" -Eric Cartman

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mrXBma

I found my write up

haha and still to this day Im not that talkative. It was a blast thought it was at willow springs big track and John was my teacher for some of the day. Couldnt of asked for a better intro into the sport

pantablo

Big Willow with MTC, Sept 2004. RODE my bike there (first and last time). Was terrified when I first rolled onto the track. Felt better right away, not fast-just better. I was there with almost all my usual weekend (and friday) riding crew so that was really fun and they helped me a bunch.


Rained like crazy on the ride home:


I was hooked. Been going (almost) once a month ever since.

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argh6

Oh man, what memories! My very first track day was Sept. 17, 2003 at Streets. Man was that a fun event.
Having only owned my bike for a few months, which was my first and still only bike, I was literally scared to go out there. Luckily it was a 2 day event with MTC, and I was able to ride with some great friends!
Following around my bro Shaggy, Jared, and Deniz, I attribute my skill today to that first trackday. Jason towed me around, and really opened my eyes to both my bike's and my abilities.
While it did start out nerve racking, it ended up being one of the most exciting weekends I've had!

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argh6

more pics...

__________________
-Jerry -MySpace!
-Speed and Accuracy
-WSMC 789
-TakeIt2TheTrack control rider!