diary of an Endorphin Junkie

I spent Saturday and Sunday down at Buttonwillow racetrack, getting some practice time in before the AFM race there next week. First time there in 4 years, and it was as if I knew nothing about the track.

4 years ago it was my first track day. I was *SLOW*. Slowest person in the slowest group. So slow that one of the staff questioned why I bothered coming to a racetrack. He meant well, and we became good friends later - but it was sad at the time.

This time was a little different. I was 20 seconds faster right away, and I dropped another 20 seconds during the day to end Saturday with a fastest lap of 2:10.5. On Sunday I didn't improve my lap times as much, but I got my average times during the sessions down to 2:08s.

Here's a picture of the bike, properly dressed up. I've got to redo those skins in proper colors, but otherwise it's race-ready...

Hm. So there I am, trying to find a good run through Riverside and up over Lost Hills.

This is a fast section, I'm redline in 5th gear and hauling for all I got. I'm catching the guy in front of me, but he's on a gixxer 1k - he'll outrun me down to the Mazda Gap and I'll pass him on the brakes. Easy 'nuf.

I'm doing 115mph, and when I clear the top of the hill my front end will be too light to get any turning done. Gotta finish the turn early... so I stay late on the brakes, drift left and set up the turn in... hit it. Found the apex and ... WHAT THE HELL IS THAT BIKE DOING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TRACK??!?!?

Yeah, I cleared the top of Lost Hills and found the Gixxer 1k braking hard right in the middle of the track just over the top of the hill. I have no idea how this idiot got in the A group. I can't turn harder because I don't have any front end traction. The only thing I can do is stand the bike up and run off the track into the dirt. Oh, jesus.

It's okay, the story ends well. I relaxed, loosed up on the bike and tried to ride it out. I hit the dirt going about 90mph, and skipped through the first set of bumps. The rear end of the bike started swapping back and forth, but the bike kept going in a straight line which would bring me back to the track shortly. I managed to avoid dropping the front wheel into a rut, and rolled back onto the track.

Funny thing was, I took care to scrub the tires well in the next two corners to get the dirt off them .. and then did my fastest lap ever, over a second and a half faster than my 2:10 from the previous day. (later in the day I was averaging a second faster than that, but it was notable at the time)