06/25/03 Another bike track day at PIR. An excellent one. The weather was perfect, the bike was running well, and I'm getting back into the groove. Had some fun dicing back and forth with a 996 - I was faster in corners but he had the power to pull away on the straights and corner exits (see video, 5.8M)

The day before I had finally sorted out the fender rubbing problem - by simply cutting out the offending part. A bit crude perhaps, but I figure a fender with a hole is better than no fender at all, and at least it's securely mounted now. Then today got the new tires scrubbed in nicely :)

The turn signal install looks pretty clean also. Very happy with the bike at the moment.

All in all got seven sessions although two of them were in slower groups just because they allowed us to run more than one group. 140 miles on the track, and I wasn't even all that tired. Despite the increasing pace (1:25 best laps) I'm feeling more relaxed on the bike and have a better sense of how much is left in reserve. Which means I enjoy the day more and don't fatigue quite as much. Practice will do that :)

07/16/03 Another track day at PIR. Finally getting into the swing of things enough to make progress again. Except the day started on a bummer note - three laps into the first session, on the straight, in my peripheral vision I saw a light-brown shadow move across the track at shoulder height. Then - WHAM - at 130 mph I hit a hawk! Even through all the padding in the suit it was a serious hit, like someone punching me hard in the shoulder (I have a sizeable bruise there now). The bird had a body about a foot long, with nearly three-foot wingspan, as far as I could tell. At first I thought - and hoped, in a way - that I had killed it instantly. The hawk was laying there by the side of the track on every lap, totally motionless. Then about an hour later it was gone! Now I hope it was only stunned and will survive. I guess I'll never know for certain. The corner workers wouldn't let me go there and check on it because it was in a dangerous area.

Thankfully, from there, the day improved considerably. I'm now dragging knees consistently in both left and right turns, and can skim the pavement throughout a turn with little effort. Lap times have improved and although the best taped time is 1:24 I know I've done better than that later in the day, after I ran out of tape. The bike performed great and was a willing and capable dance partner in the curves.

On this day they also had an Aprilia factory demo truck there, with bikes (Mille and Tuono) available to ride on the track. I tried out a Mille for a session...

It's a nice bike, but far too soft for my liking on the track (would be quite comfy on the street though). The power is obviously greater than that of my 748, but it is not a night-and-day difference, surprisingly. Just an incremental increase. The 748 feels so much sharper and more precise though that I far prefer it. Quite glad I got to ride the Mille, as I had been entertaining the thought in the back of my mind... Now it's no longer an issue. Probably not the result Aprilia intended with their very kind demo effort, but there it is. Riders of other brands, Honda in particular, seemed more impressed so I hope Aprilia will get to sell some bikes through this. They deserve to.

Also I've been instructing a friend of mine who recently got his first bike. This was his second track day, and he went from being 14 seconds slower to trailing by only 2 seconds. Impressive - and gratifying, as I'd like to take at least part of the credit ;) Of course he'll be faster than me pretty soon, but so it goes... I find it quite rewarding to distill all of my hard-earned experience into a few concise pointers, and then see it really make a difference. And as always, I learn something myself in the process.

UPDATE:

Found some low-res photos from the event on the web, including some of myself both solo and passing a slower rider on the outside of a turn. Neat.

I guess I'm a bit more aggressive these days than I used to be three years ago...

10/03/03 Didn't make it to either of the track days this week on account of not feeling up to it. Still, this year with 4 (ok, really 3 and a quarter) track days and the lengthy 900 ride up the coast I feel I've improved as a rider and had much fun to boot. This adds up to about eight times the bike mileage of the year before. It's a trend in the right direction. So now the 748 joins the other Duck in its winter home....

This way I'll have something bright and cheerful to look at while it's grey, cold and rainy outside.

02/20/05 Lately the weather has been absolutely beautiful and even all the gravel is off the roads. The downside is that I've been working a lot and haven't really taken advantage of it. So yesterday I decided to clear my head with a brief bike ride and so the 748 finally came out of the livingroom. Hard to believe it's been over a year and a half since it last ran. The room now looks somewhat empty without it...

Of course the battery had to be charged and the tires were down to 15 psi but the engine turned over readily and fired up into a steady idle. Nice. Due to work schedule I could only allow myself a brief ride to a gas station to fill the tires and the tank but there is my favorite twisty road between the house and the gas station so it's a much more entertaining ride than it sounds :) At low speeds I was immediately reminded of a 748 handling peculiarity - once you lean it into a corner the steering really wants to take its own set and so you have to let it by keeping a very light touch on the bars. The feeling is like the inside handlebar is pushing back at your hand. This is the only bike I've ridden that does this and it's only really noticeable around town. Twisty bits are just wonderful. On the way there I had to take it easy due to low tires but with full 30psi on the way back I allowed myself a bit more exercise. I'm instantly comfortable on this bike, at least in part due to experience gained with the R1 last year. Really looking forward to this year's track days. Most of them I'll run on this machine. In the meantime, she's back in the garage, waiting for me to get my work done.