Endurance Weekend Adventures

Once again the AFM Endurance weekend proved to be quite eventful. It was to be the first time I would be racing on someone else's bike. Friday practice was split between getting comfortable on Bryan's bike for the endurance race and shaking down the new settings on my own bike.

The morning sessions I spent on Bryan's bike. It's an SV650 like mine but a newer model, and of course set up quite differently. Bryan is quite a bit smaller than me, and he sets his bike up to be very sensitive. Quick on and off the throttle, very touchy brakes, very quick steering. As a contrast, my bike I would characterize as big, squishy and comfortable. Sort of reflecting its rider. A little mental adjustment and we were off and running.

Friday afternoon I got the first opportunity to take my bike out after the suspension changes. I thought it felt a little strange and bouncy in the front end warming up the tires before I went out, but I had faith. First lap I took very easy to bring things up to temperature, second lap I picked up the pace a little, passed my endurance teammate Pat at the entrance to turn 7, then promptly crashed at the exit. Pat says (since he had such a good view from right behind me) I started shaking my head as soon as I hit the ground.

My Helimot suit did its job, keeping me perfectly protected as I surfed on my butt across the track. The bike slid for a while but stayed on the pavement and didn't tumble, so very minor damage was quickly repaired.

Post-crash analysis showed that my fork rebound damping settings were completely wrong. Remember that the suspension's job is to keep the tires firmly planted on the track. When I applied the throttle to exit the turn, the front end got light, and the lack of damping allowed the tire to bounce right off the ground. No contact = no grip = no more riding.

I visited Dave Moss from Catalyst Reaction Suspension Tuning, who did a quick re-set and check of all my settings, and I was able to get in the last session of the day to confirm that everything felt right again.

Saturday was the endurance race. We planned on 4 1-hour stints to minimize time lost in pit stops, and I was in the #3 slot. Bryan started, since he's the fastest member of the team and it's his bike, and did a solid hour, cracking off very consistent laps. Thomas was next. We were a little nervous because he didn't get a lot of practice on Bryan's bike, but after an adventurous first couple laps, he settled down and put in very consistent laps. When my turn came, I just concentrated on conserving energy, because 60 minutes is a long time on track. Minimizing shifting and being very easy on the brake and throttle, I got through the first 30 minutes pretty easily. The next 15 took a little longer, I was starting to get very thirsty and tired. About 45-50 minutes in, there was a red flag due to a crash. I was stopped at the top of the track, we waited there for a few, then pitted while they finished the cleanup. Not a moment too soon.

When it was time to go back out, ironman Pat jumped on, and wound up doing about a 70-minute stint to finish us off in grand style.

We had a great time, everyone did very consistent lap times, and we finished pretty well in our class and overall. Definitely worth doing again.

After the 1-hour stint ordeal Saturday, 8-lap sprint races on Sunday seemed like a walk in the park. The morning race I gridded up, got my usual slow start, but hooked up with a small group of riders. I had a good dice for most of the race with #52, passing and re-passing a couple times at different places of the track. Finally, last lap, I was behind, but able to take a different line through turn 11, get on the gas a little bit sooner and outdrag him to the line with my superior horsepower. It was a lot of fun and a great race.

Over the lunch break on Sunday, I had a couple colleagues from work appear to cheer me on, just about the time I decided that all the excitement of the weekend had taken its toll and I was pretty exhausted. Rather than risk being a danger to myself or others, I decided to sit out the last race. So bummer for Jessica and Andy and Andy's mom, coming all that way and not seeing me ride, but we got to watch the really fast race together, and it was still a great weekend overall.

Thanks to Laura and John, who came all the way from NYC to watch the endurance race on Saturday, and Jessica, Andy and Andy's mom for coming out on Sunday for what turned out to be a bit of an anticlimax. Nonetheless, it's great to have visitors and fans, and I promise I'll put on a show for anyone who comes out to watch!