Saturday evening, Papa Bear showed up at my house, ready to load up for our track day at New Jersey Motorsports Park. His enclosed trailer is awesome, with plenty of room for our motorcycles and all our gear. We enjoyed a traffic-free ride down to the Quality Inn in Millville, NJ – $60 per night! We had plenty of time to catch up; I haven’t seen enough of Dan this year.

Sunday, 6 am came very quickly. We grabbed our free breakfast and drove the few miles to the track, and set up in the paddock at the Thunderbolt course. I failed tech inspection with a leaky fork seal (nothing I could do about that but “promise to watch it”) and a too-loose chain. Easy fix, but adjusting the chain meant I missed the first lap of red group, so I never got to see the race lines. Shame, that, since I’d never been on Thunderbolt before. Ah well.

So I took it easy the first session, for that reason and because I haven’t been on the track since 2007. Eep. Everyone passed me at least once, but it wasn’t crowded out there so there were no problems. Apparently someone crashed during the checkered lap, no injuries but he was out for the day. Someone always tries too hard in the first session …

Dan, like me, took it easy in his first session – though he was in the blue (advanced) group. He may have gotten passed as much as I did. As I geared up for my second session, I was concerned I might get bumped down to the white (beginner) group. Turns out I wouldn’t find out yet, as crash #2 happened right in front of me in lap 2 of red session 2. Right after the 90 degree left halfway through the back of the course. I didn’t see him go down, but I had to pick my way through his yard sale of plastic and metal debris. Sigh, session 2 over for red.

A coach, Chris M, pulled me over on the pit-out lane, asking me if this was my first time on this track. Yes sir, sez me, that’s why I’m going slow, and I never got the lines. He wanted to take me out in white to show me the line and evaluate me, maybe bump me down to the beginners. No problem, I’m not proud, let’s go …

There was some confusion about me needing a white sticker to go out in that group, but it turned out to be bogus. I followed Chris and got the lines, but a lot of the two laps were at parade pace due to the ART basic gang. And then, right after the 90 degree left again, sone idiot tries to pass into the baby duckling line of ART basic riders, on and off the throttle all choppy … he set up a tankslapper, hit an ART student (!) and was pitched off his ride 10′ into the air. He came down hard into a tumble right in front of me; I could hear him cry out in pain as I swerved to avoid him and his bike. I later found out that his buddy did the same thing on lap 2 of session 2 the day before, crashed out secondary to idiocy. You’d think it would have slowed him down … the aftermath was a busted collarbone and femur.

Hard lesson to learn.

So if you’re counting, that’s three crashes before blue even got their second session. And we were fresh out of ambulances, so the track was closed until one came back. At 11:30 we started up again, and when red came up I went back out with Chris M. He led for a few turns then signaled for me to pass him … I went ahead for two laps, and then the rain came. Big time. I pitted in, and went to find the coach.

He said I wad running mid-white pace, but didn’t need to be demoted as long as my lines stayed clean. Whew! =) Which would have been fine, except for the storm …

Turns out Thunderbolt was aptly named. Dan and I hunkered down under the pop-up for what seemed forever, getting to know some of the riders near us in the paddock, eating, watching others pick up and leave, and wondering if we should do the same. I really wanted to wait it out, though, as this may have been my only track day this season! We caught a break in the weather, and then it came again … really heavy. It laid down a lot of standing water on the track, the guys running slicks would be SOL.

Eventually it cleared, and TPM dried off the race line so we could get back out around 3:15pm. They had held a meeting and let us decide if we wanted to wait it out … the 20 of us who’d stayed were all for it. So when the track was safe, they gave us open track tine for the rest of the day!

Now this meant everyone could go out any time they wanted, for as long as they wanted – as long as we played it safe and watched out for the wet spots. There were about 10 places where water was running across the track (there were a lot in the 120 degree left) and there was standing water coming onto and at the end of the front straight. No worries, take it easy they told us, and do all of your braking early on the straight.

So Dan and I joined the free for all, and we had a blast! I could feel the rear sliding around a bit on that left, but it was manageable, and a fine spot to learn traction control. I stayed slow on the straight to let the red & blue riders pass me so I wouldn’t be a rolling road block in the turns.

I got more comfortable as the afternoon went by, the air warmed up, and the track dried off. I dialed in turns 1, 2, and 3, and up to the 90 degree left … figured out how to handle that one as it had some slick patches … but I never got to master the tighter left or the decreasing-radius right on the back side. I needed more time and maybe a coach.

There was one more crash: one of the kids next to us lowsided coming from the front straight into turn 1. He was unhurt, and his Aprillia was mostly unharmed … just muddy as hell from where it went off-roading. Guess he missed the note about the standing water …

In any case, I haf no complaints. The open track time was glorious, I got all I wanted. Dan was feeling good by the end of the day, and we both had big ol’ smiles on our mugs as we loaded up for the ride home. I’m so glad we went!

… and with it, a full recharging of the “all is right with the world” batteries. This was the sixth annual AngelRide CT (and the 4th one I’ve done), in which 250 or so bicyclists rode from Norfolk CT to Mystic CT over two days. As charity rides go, it was pretty easy — just an 80 mile day and a 60 mile day), but there are some nifty hills in there to keep them cyclists honest.

I was on the motorcycle safety crew again, and it was a real pleasure to spend three days on the best bike in the world (the 1998 Honda VFR, of course). And it was great to see some old friends and make some new. We brought in a great handful of new moto recruits, who I’m sure will be back in 2010. They did an awesome job wrangling the wayward bicyclists and keeping them self (though we had one of our motos go down in some gravel — he’s okay though).

This ride raises money for the Hole in the Wall Gang Camp, a legacy of Paul Newman. The Camp allows kids with cancer and other terminal or just-plain-tough diseases to be regular kids for a week or two, and play like regular kids — without sacrificing medical care. So we all helped some kids be kids, kids who normally had to worry about WBC counts, rad therapy, or being to weak to swim in a lake. It’s a very good cause, and I’m thrilled I got to help out again.

So, as always, pics are up on Flickr, here … enjoy!

On the way home today, on the moto (now street legal and all lubed and cleaned and such), I was pelted by hail and rain all the way from Jersey to Brooklyn. Yowch! After a few long weeks of work-work-work-get-the-racer-up-how-many-miles-left-ooh-piece-of-candy, Jeff and I got the motos in working order and I saw him off to PA. Now, normally I’m Mr Prepared on the moto, but I thought it would just be a wee ride, and we had already dodged one storm, so why not just wear the mesh jacket and gloves, rain gear be d@mned. Well, we got hit by a storm right after getting into NJ, and I had to turn right around and go back through.

The first time through, we were going West and the storm was going East, so we were through it quickly. On my way back though, it got worse … and drivers were gettin’ a-scairt so I had to roll through at 10 mph. Shudder. I was freezing … and then it started hailing. I was pelted — one hit me in the nipple. Now that’s pain!

Long story short, the rain was done by the time I got home, but I was left with a memento … my lovely mesh/leather JR jacket bled red all over my arms and hands. I am so pretty, with my red arms and hands.

The CBR was running very well, though I have to say I noticed the bumps and ripples on PIR East more than ever before. And the Red group seemed so slow … maybe everyone was taking it easy after a few nasty crashes in the AM, or maybe Ralph was right and we’re just moving faster now than before. I don’t know, on the lap that Jimmy followed me I was reassured that I still need to “twist the facking throttle, you poooooosie”.

Mike’s right, he and I had a blast tearing around the track after each other. I would follow him for a session, then he’d follow me, occasionally passing each other, and passing some of the others in the group. I got off a great pass between turn 5 off the NASCAR straight and the kink before the double-apex, as Mike was coming off the straight a bit easily … it’s an awesome place to gain some ground. I only saw Dan when he passed me on the brakes on the NASCAR banking. And Jimmy, when he followed us for a bit, passed me like I was in reverse. Man, it’s good to be a coach!

I spent a lot of time working on my STAR School body positioning (versus my previous horny-monkey knees-out a-flailin’ style), which works very well for me. But it turns out it hurts my left knee for some reason, perhaps because my inside knee is bent more than I’m used to and PIR East is all lefts. By the end of the day I found a compromise position which worked well for me. And Ralph gave us some great advice on a turn-in spot for turn 4, which set me up for the straight very well.

I had some more contact lens problems, which led to me (a) throwing a hand up on the straight as I couldn’t see, blinking madly to try to fix them, (b) blowing turn 5 and continuing on the NASCAR straight, turning around (safely) and getting waved back on by a corner worker, and (c) continuing down the track slowly but predictably with one eye, and coming off to fix the eyes. I have made up my mind, this has happened too often, I’m getting LASIK in the off season. I get really focused and blink less than I should on some laps, which dries out the contacts and causes problems.

After the day we shot the sh!t at Woody’s over burgers, ribs and buffalo chicken. A great way to unwind before a long drive home.

But how? I decided on aluminum foil. I wrapped them loosely and left a lip at the low end, to drive any flowing oil down into the collector. When the filter came off, the oil indeed channeled down into the pan. Sweet! And since I let is sit to drain for a while, there was no spilling when I removed the foil later. Nice!

No mess. And if I was feeling really green I guess I could save the foil to wrap up dinner.

I am now absolutely salivating for a cross-country ride. And hole-in-the-wall off-interstate diner food. Sigh. Evil TV.

… The School:

Firstly, Jason Pridmore is an okay teacher. He’s skilled at getting his message across to non-racers like me, and he’s got a great curriculum (unlearning things like “always use the widest line possible” before learning new techniques, etc). My only gripe is that he repeated himself a lot in each class session. But that’s excusable, he’s not applying for tenure or anything. He’s got good material that’s a ton of use to me, teaches is fine, and has a great support staff of instructors (some of whom taught the 2nd half of each day while he rode with us out on the track).

Secondly, Jason Pridmore is fast. Not, “wow, look at him go” fast, but “WTF was that, I saw a blur pass me, I think Rick was on the back of it!” fast. I took the opportunity to do a 2-up ride with him (sorry man), and it blew my mind. He has a stock Gixxer Thou with Dunlop Qualifiers, and a modified tank that had two flush-mount grips for me to hold on to. Good thing they were there … even on the “easy” first lap I was holding on for dear life when he accelerated, and pushing back with all my might when he braked. He was super-smooth, even with 200+ (ahem) pounds of me bobbing along in the back. I was amazed by how far he looked up the track, how often he looked around to take in the scenery (since it was a slow pace for him, and race pace for me), and how smooth and hard he got on the stick, and on the brakes. There’s so much room for me to improve … if you get the chance to ride 2-up with a master, take it. Dignity be d@mned.

Thirdly … I learned a lot. We did some really helpful exercises that taught me to downshift super early coming off a straight, and using a lot more engine braking than I had bin (make sure you clutch smoothly!). When the class critiqued pictures of ourselves (yes, I was critiques by Jason Pridmore, in person), it was helpful … I stick my knee way too far out, and am not moving my upper body or head enough. I spent Tuesday trying to drop my inside shoulder to make it easier to look through the turn, and rotating my body instead of getting up and off and out. This was very hard, as I had been tracking for two years the TPM way, which was seriously upsetting my undersprung chassis. I finally felt it improving in the last session. I also learned about the many different lines through each turn, picking ones that allowed me to straightline more of the track (better for braking and acceleration), instead of “swooping” left to right trying to use all of it (and wasting time). Jon Nichols, one of the coaches, led me for 3 laps and really hammered it home. I feel much better about finding my own reference points for entry/apex/exit, as well.

Fourthly … you do in fact get a lot of personal attention (and TONS of track time). I had 4 different instructors talk to me about 6 times total, all providing good feedback. It made me bold enough to follow George and Rick and attempt to offer advice as well! I had started Monday in the Street group, but it was crowded … so Monday afternoon I bumped myself to advanced (LIVE FREE OR DIE!!!) and started getting the proper attention. It was great to get a chance to ride with all of the Hooligangers, over the two days.

… The Track:

Loved it. I’ve heard folk tell of unsafe conditions, rough track, no runoff, big walls, etc, and yes it’s all true. But I had zero problems (unless I was a bonehead, see below) with any of that. The walls are usually where there’s great positive camber, and if you’re looking through the turns then you’re not looking at walls. Sure, there are some transitions in the pavement that affect your suspension, but it’s just something new to test your skills on. It’s a very technical track with a few fast sections, and I found it challenging and a ton of fun. Plus, did I mention that we all got garage space? And air-conditioned classroom space?

… Boneheaded Maneuvers:

I was getting pretty excited about myself at one point, and was tailing Rick for a few laps (he was still going easy and working on smoothness). So I accelerated out of turn 2, and passed him on the brakes into three. Well, this is a tight right-hander leading into the uphill RH Turn 4, and as I had just made a hot pass, I blew my entry. I got the bike over, but was running wide, and bottomed out on a deep indentation, which upset the bike. Nothing too puckering, but the bike was not happy and I was headed towards a 6″ curb on the outside of the turn. I maintained throttle and tightened up, doing my best to not look at that curb, and made it through the turn without further ado, but man, was that a crappy follow-through to the pass. I cooled off and rode through the lap, pitted in and berated myself for a few seconds. I later learned that Rick was chuckling at me as I pitted in.

Lesson learned: passing okay, but be sure you can do it and still hit the next turn smoothly!

Other boneheads? I was passed on the outside of Turn 1 (off the short fast front straight) way too close, twice, on the second day. These folks got me on the brakes (fine) and went to pass on the outside (fine), but shot right across my line as they tightened up for the turn (@sshat). I had to apply front brake pressure while turning, something I’m okay with but would rather not do in the middle of an 80mph left hander. I spoke with the offenders after and they apologized, they knew they made bad passes.

… Preparedness:

Okay, okay. If you put your track bike battery on the tender overnight and it still won’t turn over the day you leave for the track … buy a new battery. Don’t ask your buds to bump-start you 4x in the heat, and end up paying $100 for a $50 battery at the track. DAMHIK.

… New Hampshire:

LIVE FREE OR DIE!!! No, seriously. This isn’t a state motto, I swear people were going to shoot me if I put a helmet on and rode on the street (which wouldn’t be “living free”).

My pics from the school are up here — they’re mostly behind-the-scenes fluff shots. Diane took many wonderful action shots, and I’ll post the link up as soon as I get it!

And Rick … you make an excellent traveling companion, thank you for the trailer space. That Tahoe is a dream.

We just finished the 2-day STAR school by Jason Pridmore today. Taking the course from Hooligang was Sharad, Martina, Matt, Rick and myself (Diane was scheduled to join us but was unable to ride due to her broken collarbone – she did attend the classroom sessions).

Arrival at the track was a little chaotic – there was very little organization. The school had a trailer set up, a registration table and a tech inspection. Everyone had to first register, get a wristband with different colors depending up whether you were there for one or two days. After that you needed to go to tech with your bike, riding suit, helmet and boots!

Jason Pridmore himself did most of the morning classroom sessions both days. After a welcome and staff introduction the advanced group was sent out first.

The school was broken up into two groups – street and advanced. On Monday, Martina, Sharad and Matt started in the street group and Rick and I started in the advanced group. Both groups alternated track and classroom time with about 20 minutes on track followed by classroom. First session was a track orientation and we were supposed to follow a coach in a group of about 6 riders. After one lap, the lead rider dropped to the back and everyone moved up so everyone got a chance to ride behind the coach.

It was quickly apparent to me that the advanced group had some really, really good and fast riders. I had trouble keeping up at this controlled speed as I was learning the track. New Hampshire International Raceway at Loudon is a long standing facility and its track has 13 major turns (and some minor ones) with major elevation change. There is a large hill that you ride from turns 4 through 10 that is a fairly technical section. I did drag my knee a couple of times in the first session in the “bowl”, the left hand turn 6 with positive camber.

Classroom focused first on lines, with Pridmore emphasizing NOT using the whole track and going into turns from the inside out. He wanted us midtrack for most corner entrances. Futher sessions concentrated on straightening the track, body position, smooth throttle roll-ons and downshifting.

I had an “oh” moment in about my fourth riding session as I was exiting turn 3, a sharp right before uphill turn 4. I made it through 3 and was leaned over pretty hard right when I probably got on the gas a little too hard too early. The rear tire spun up and fish-tailed me first to the left and then to the right before coming back in line. I was lucky I held the throttle steady and didn’t chop it which would have surely caused a highside.

From that point on, my confidence in my bike in that turn dropped and it took the remainder of the school to actually do better there.

By the end of day one, we were all basically exhausted as the 20 minutes on and 20 minutes classroom didn’t leave much time for rest. My left thigh was aching and I was happy when the track time ended.

We went out to a nice Mexican restaurant in downtown Concord, NH, for dinner that night. Concord is a real nice little town, the state capital and has a lot of history. Franklin Pierce, the 14th President, was from NH and has a statue in the capitol square.

Day 2 started early with a track walk. We went out to a couple of different spots and watched as Jason and some of the instructors came screaming up and over the hill and around the curves. It was amazing to see how fast they could go (and how much faster we could go). They were also very consistent in their lines through the corners. We had much to work on!

Today, both Sharad and Matt joined the advanced group leaving only Martina left in the street group. It was great to ride with Rick, Sharad and Matt in my group as I gave them all a nice target to pass! I was probably one of the slowest riders in the advanced group.

Our first session out, I definitely felt better than day 1 and tried to implement some of the many suggestions made in the classroom. Some of the items I worked on included downshifting technique, different body positioning and straightening the area between corners.

I didn’t realize how hard I was working on the motorcycle. The simple task of squeezing the fuel tank with my knees and resisting braking forces that way, instead of with my arms, helped relax my arms and helped me make better, easier turns.

Rick, Matt and Sharad all improved throughout the day. By the afternoon sessions I was starting to enjoy myself. Uphill turn 4 was much better and downhill righthand turn 10 that was messing me up also improved. I was flowing better and slightly faster around the course.

After a “graduation” ceremony, we all departed, with Rick and Matt leaving first, Diane and I heading back to Concord, and then Martina and Sharad heading back home.

It won’t be until the next track day that we all realize the full results but it was a great experience and not much more expensive than just a regular track day. Jason and his staff were very approachable and they pulled you over and gave one-on-one suggestions when appropriate.

Next year, they are planning more STAR schools in the east. We may actually try one in CA and rent one of their bikes. All-in-all a good time and nobody in our group got hurt!