phobe

I'm sad it's over; this weekend was the perfect conclusion to my rookie racing season.

Saturday:

Ordinarily we practice on Saturday and race on Sunday, but rounds 5 and 6 are combined as a double-header so there would be no practice day; only 2 sessions before the morning races were set aside for practice.

Again, with little track time since round 4, I was a bit rusty, but I did have the advantage of a minor software upgrade from about a week before. In round 4, my mentor and team founder Brad could see that I was visibly frustrated, and offered to accompany me to a private trackday to work one-on-one on my skills. I gladly took him up on his offer, and it would pay dividends. After a few laps of following behind me, Brad gave his diagnosis: "Taylor, you're a good rider. Your body position is great, you're smooth, and you look good on the bike, but you're inconsistent and lazy. Your lines are all over the place... the only line you're consistent in is through turn one, and it's the wrong damn line. You need to practice your lines, apexes, brake markers, turn-in points, and you need to keep your eyes up. And you need to be more aggressive on the throttle." I had been "winging it" for so long that I'd fallen into my own lazy slump. We practiced the basics all day, and I came away from it knowing exactly what I had to do to improve. Maybe I was looking for some magic spell or trick but the solution was disappointingly simple.

I developed a theory about club racing: Once you realize you have no talent, then you can start to get faster. Like any sport or hobby, there are a rare few that are "born with it"; these are the Spencers and Schwantzes, the Haydens and Rossis. The rest of us need to practice like hell. My problem had a lot to do with the delusion of talent. After advancing quickly and making major gains, I think I'd developed the subsonscious attitude that I was a "natural" and that I could ride "by feel", not needing to use visual markers or concentrate on basic techniques. I needed to go back to basics. I needed to be broken down before I could be rebuilt. I had hit a wall and found the limit of my natural talent, and that was right about at a minute twenty-seven point four. If I wanted to go any faster than that I had to roll up my sleeves and get to work. It was double shot of humility.

I had hoped to build on my epiphany in my measly 2 practice sessions but unfortunately they were cut short. As we lined up to go out for the first session, a rider spun out on cold tires entering the track... a seemingly harmless mistake, but he fell awkwardly and screwed up his ankle. The practice was red-flagged and we had to wait several minutes for the medics to haul him off. I finally got out and after a slow lap and a half warming up my tires, the red flag was waved again, and the session ended. We were given one more shortened 10 minute practice session before the races started.

For this double-header weekend I worked out a strategy that I thought would give me an edge in the standings. Most of our club's amateurs, myself included, race middleweight bikes and run in three different classes: Heavyweight Sportbike, Middleweight Sportbike, and Middleweight Superbike. Those three events are always scheduled in that order, and spaced out throughout the race day, with the Middleweight Superbike race as the last race of the day. Several riders would be fighting for a championship in the middleweight classes, and could be expected not to "hang it all out" in the heavyweight class, so as to preserve themselves and their equipment for the races that counted most. Based on this, I abstained from the Middleweight Sportbike class, and raced in only 2 of the 3 classes I was eligible for. I figured that 4 races in 2 days would be enough, and that by skipping the middleweight sportbike races I would be better rested for the Middleweight Superbike races at the end of the day, where many of the competitors get visibly fatigued. This strategy also saved me from spending another $400 on tires.

The weather was perfect on Saturday. Sunny, dry, 25 degrees Celcius and calm. My first race was Heavyweight Sportbike. I was gridded on the 8th row, and using the starting technique that had worked so well in the past couple rounds, I had a lousy start. It wasn't that I didn't execute my technique, it was just that everyone else got away faster. I've learned that in amateur racing, everyone gets faster as the season progresses, and if you want to beat them, you have to advance more rapidly. The status quo is a moving target. In the early rounds, consistent 1:24-1:25 laps could win races, in September, you had to be in the 22s. There was some major carnage at the starting grid as a few riders came together and came off... I was able to narrowly avoid the mayhem and charge towards turn one. I hung with the lead pack for about 2 laps, but started to lose touch and gave up trying to catch them. Regardless, my lap timer flashed times that were already better than my previous best by a few tenths, putting me in the low 27s. My goal this weekend was to break into the 26s. I settled into this pace and ran ten lonely, boring, consistent low 1:27 laps, not encountering another racer for the rest of the contest. I finished 8th out of 15, with a fastest lap of 1:27.08. It wasn't an exciting race, but I was happy with my consistency and new personal best. It was also nice knowing that 1:26 was within reach.

I had a few hours break before my Middleweight Superbike race, giving me lots of time to watch races, hydrate myself, and mentally prepare. Middleweight Superbike is a horsepower class, and a money class... Amateurs and experts are gridded together on a single waved start, and the results and winnings are not separated as they are in the "Sportbike" classes.

This race went much differently from my first. Though my start was not great, I was able to out-drag and out-brake a few riders to turn one, and got to experience the thrill of planning and executing some great passes through the technical sections. My friend Benny didn't make it easy for me... I'd show him a wheel, and he'd close the doow, taking away my line. After going through this routine a few times, I was able to line him up for a pass out of the chicane, where I out-drove him onto the back straight. I made the pass stick, and a couple laps later I encountered my next challenge, catching up with Ken Tilston, another amateur who had become somewhat of a rival on the track, after a couple of battles early in the season. Ken was faster than me on the entrances to turns, braking a bit deeper, but I was faster on the exits, getting a better drive. It was an epic battle. Ken and I passed and re-passed each other several times. The adrenaline was intoxicating. Towards the end of the 10 lap race, I could tell that Ken was getting tired. He began to slow way down in the more physically demanding corners, particularly turn 3 and the chicane. I out-drove him onto the front straight on the 8th lap and was able to keep him behind me until the checkered flag. Eighteen racers started, 16 finished, and I placed 8th overall. I was the 4th amateur. I won some prize money and turned a whole series of laps in the low 26s, as well as a couple in the 25s, with a best lap of 1:25.865. I was ecstatic... I went over to Ken's pit and thanked him for such a fun race.

Sunday:

The weather forecast changed 8 or 9 times, and the "meteorologists" couldn't figure out if it was going to rain or not. It was cold and dark, with a light but persistent drizzle that kept the track greasy. It wasn't supposed to rain until the afternoon, so I hadn't changed my tires the night before, but I would clearly have to now. My spare rims had new slicks fitted to them, so I had to get my rains mounted and change wheels before my morning heavyweight race. I missed practice, and my experience in the rain was limited to my novice debut back in June.

The Heavyweight race was tough. After a spinning, fishtailing start, I tried to hang with a pack of amateurs engaged in a 5-way battle for the lead. I was holding my own reasonably well, but got a little zealous with the throttle coming out of the chute to the front straight, and went into what I thought for sure would be a nasty highside. My rear spun around sideways and jerked back into place. My feet came off the pegs and I nearly went over the bars but I somehow recovered and rode it out. My confidence took much longer to recover though, and I slowed down quite a bit. I finished 8th. There were a lot of crashes, and I was happy just to finish.

Again I had a long break, but this one was much more stressful. The weather was absolutely perplexing. In the early afternoon it dried up enough that the Open Superbike competitors actually raced on slicks. I changed back to my other wheels which were shod with DOT race rubber. Later in the afternoon as the drizzle started up again, I stared up at the sky trying to decide what the hell to do. The expert racers had all agreed that the day's racing had created a dry line, and that DOTs were the best option for the Middleweight Superbike race. Going with my gut, and against everyone's advice, I swapped back to the rains just 15 minutes before my race. I was warned that this would be even more dangerous, and my rain tires would disintegrate as the track dried. The rain drops got bigger on the warmup lap, and I took my grid position as the only rider with rain tires. (To be fair, one of the experts left a spare bike equipped with rains in the hot pit lane, and jumped on it at the last second, starting from the back. He worked his way up and went on to with the race in epic fashion) The first half of the race was quite wet, and the front-runners slowed down dramatically. I had made the right decision. I may have caught up to the leaders, but in the wet I lacked the confidence, and took a more cautious approach, concentrating on being smooth with my inputs. The weather let up halfway in, and the track started to dry a bit. I wondered if my rain tires would survive but I really wasn't going fast enough to wreck them and it really wasn't that dry. I started to experience a couple of serious problems. One was visibility... I would crack my visor open going through turn 5, but when I sat up to brake at the end of the front straight the wind blast would close it again, and I would run the first 4 turns fogged up with very limited sight. The other problem I started to experience was brake fade. I would pull in my lever to brake for turn one only to have it come all the way back to the bar, and would need to pump it to get stopping power. This was terrifying, especially in the wet, and my braking point started working its way to somewhere WAY before the markers! After the race I removed my wrist band from the brake reservoir and found the fluid level to be dangerously low. I must have been pumping big air bubbles into the system. I don't know how that happened, but I sure as hell won't let it happen again. Change your brake fluid every round! I finished this race in 7th place, and as the fourth amateur.

And so that was the end of my racing season. The celebrations were great, with beer, burnouts, beer, foodfights, beer, and beer. I reflected back on my season with a sense of warmth and satisfaction. At times it was hard, it was often frustrating, it was sometimes dangerous, but it was always deeply rewarding, with the thrill of competition and the satisfaction of personal accomplishment and progress. It was also a bit sombre, knowing that I won't be able to do this next year. Our track sits on city land, and will be demolished in 2010 to make way for a drainage ditch. Our club will still have a 2009 season, but I've got a mortgage, a wedding, and a demanding job taking away the resources of money and time which I would need for another race season. I've contemplated selling my racebike. I would wait until the time if and when someone decides to build a new facility in Calgary to get another bike and start racing again. I'm sad that it's over... especially just as I was starting to get good! The season went by so fast... I still can't believe it's over. Hopefully my hiatus isn't a long one. Now that the bug has bit me I think I'm infected for life, with no hope for a cure, and I will race again.

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"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

phobe

A few photos:

_CAP5251 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!


Battling with Ken in Saturday's superbike race:

http://kendalphoto.smugmug.com/galle...503_Gd3WB-A-LB
http://kendalphoto.smugmug.com/galle...605_gaGL6-A-LB
http://kendalphoto.smugmug.com/galle...285_EFmM9-A-LB

Wet racing:
http://kendalphoto.smugmug.com/galle...486_UPn8a-A-LB

Through the carousel:

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__________________
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

bwhip

Excellent report. Thanks so much for sharing. I enjoyed reading of your progress through the year, and can certainly completely concur with the joys and frustrations, highs and lows along the way. Well done for your first year, for sure!

Now pack that bike up and get down here with Amy and the gang for our final round on 10/4 & 10/5. It's on the full track! You can stay in my RV to save money.

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ND4SPD

Nice job Tan. Your rain tire bet was inspired by Nicky's Indy performance, wasn't it?

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ONEvcs

Nice report. Good job on your first season.

CBRVFR

Very cool. Good effort!

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Baketech

This thread is worthless without the press release...

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CBR929RE

good results Tan. I was kind of always worried about you racing/riding there. looks way too dangerous with all those walls.

does Stratotech have a race series?

how much you want for the bike?

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less than a year till Grattan

SheepOfBlue

Congratulations and if it makes you feel any better I did the same thing (or worse) with my clutch fluid on the RC at my only WERA race. Try getting off the line without jumping on a clutch that is grabby or slipping (though I think I would rather have that than brakes )

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phobe

It's dangerous and rough but a lot of fun. Stratotech has the EMRA but Strato is a go-kart track. Only 1 mile long... Not as fun. Besides, the real issue is time, and getting Saturdays off... which I can't as long as I work in the stupid retail car biz. If I could find an ad agency to pay me what I make now to write copy and create ad campaigns monday-friday 9-5 I'd race my face off. That scenario exists only in a dream world though.

A lot. If nobody wants to pay me what I want then I guess I'll just have to hang on to it. My teammate Skippy has expressed interest.... We'll see how that goes. His current ride is a rat R1 that's not really even safe to ride.

__________________
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

macgyver

Great write up Taylor. I hope you still come out for next year. Now that I finished California Superbike School I was hoping to race with you.

phobe

I expect to see your comprehensive review posted within a week.

__________________
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

macgyver

I'll try and write something up. But it was the best 2 days of training I've ever had.

JimCulp

Very nice write up. I enjoyed it a lot.

phobe

Your humble narrator, at the end of a life-changing summer:

Attached Thumbnails

 

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"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

bwhip

Love the shirt.

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ND4SPD

Did you leave the headlights in or are those decals?

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Baketech

WDF is the press release...

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seamus

Decals.

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Richard Herald, The Gentle Giant

For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards, for there you have been and there you will long to return.
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phobe

The writer is workin on it... he says maybe tomorrow.

__________________
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

phobe

Merry Christmas, Bake. Hot off the presses:

Quote:

BGPR Wraps it Up Sept 21st 2008 In the final two rounds of the CMRA Regional Roadracing Championship, the racers and crew of Team BGPR Schools used extra protection, double-fisted it while they double-penetrated the double-header event. For Brad “Hot Papa” Gavey AKA the “Big Show”, founder, leader, owner and poet laureate of BGPR Schools, it was a weekend of highs and lows, and that doesn’t just refer to his high beef / processed cheese intake and low metabolic rate. In dry, warm conditions, under a perspiration-soaked Alpinestars race suit, Brad ape-handled his slow heavy number 17 Honda CBR1000RR touring bike around the track quickly enough for a 5th place finish in the Round 5 Heavyweight Sportbike Expert race, breaking into the 19s. The Big Show’s next race was the Senior Open, where racers can “run what they brung” as long as they were born before World War II. Brad entered the race holding a narrow 9 point edge over rival Tim “Ti-Jo” Johnson. With a very obvious power-to-weight and aerodynamic disadvantage, Brad’s physically improbably corner speed was no match for Ti-Jo’s superior horsepower and gangster-rap physique. The two senior racers competed hard enough to nearly soil their Depends, and put on a tremendous performance with Johnson eventually taking the win by no more than a slide-rule. Brad’s Geezer Championship advantage was now only 4 points. Later on in the Open Superbike race, Brad turned a career-best lap time of 1:19 flat, and was punished by Newton’s spirit with a nasty crash in turn 3 for flagrant violations of the laws of physics. Brad crawled out of the blast crater, picked up the pieces of the busted Honda, lashed them together with bits of straw and duct tape, and rode the slow heavy wreckage back to the pits under its own meager power. “Racers race” he was heard to say of his 11th place finish… his tires had melted to a gooey mess from the strain of the physically improbable lap times. Sunday morning brought a splash of rain, and an advantage for Brad, who was rewarded for his smooth consistent racing style. (Not to mention titanic combined bike/rider mass, which parted the water like the Red Sea) Possessed with newfound determination and hankerin’ for a post-race cheeseburger, B-Rad charged to the lead and absolutely destroyed the competition (and his rain tires) to claim the win in the final 2008 Heavyweight Sportbike Expert race. Unfortunately for the Big Show, the skies cleared and the pockmarked racing surface dried momentarily for the Senior Open race, diminishing his “hefty” wet weather advantage. Brad stayed hot on the Puma-clad heels of Ti-Jo for 10 laps, but just couldn’t complete a safe pass on the gangster-rapper engineer. He put up a heroic homestyle flame-broiled effort, but Cheeseburger Brad lost the Geezer Championship by a single point. With a broken cholesterol-clogged heart and a full stomach, The Gavinator lined up on the grid for the final Open Superbike race of 2008 and finished 7th place after 15 gruelling laps. This capped off a season where Brad finished 5th overall in Heavyweight Sportbike Expert, 7th rank in Open Superbike and 2nd in Senior Open. Brad was ranked number 5 in the club’s top riders, with 28 events entered, 15 top-ten finishes, 7 podiums and 3 race wins, collecting a total of 243 points, eating 445 cheeseburgers, and shotgunning 94 Coors Lights. Number 15 Mitch “Rat” Rathje, cowboy poet, expert racer and Brad’s hetero life-partner completed his race season in a successful, if not spectacular manner. Rat, who doesn’t enter the Geezer Championship because he wants to let Brad win, was equally sportsmanlike in the Round 5 Heavyweight Sportbike Expert race, ceding 5th to the Big Show while he cruised across the finish line in a much more comfortable Mitchth position. Later on in the Open Superbike race, Mitch was much less courteous and avoided the Gavey blast crater to finish 5th place, with a blistering best lap of 1:19.1. Rat briefly considered stopping to help his partner out, but he knows that “life is better when you plow around the stump”. Sunday’s 6th round brought with it a challenging and greasy Heavyweight wet race. Mitch stayed upstream of the herd but finished the race, which was better than half of the other entrants could claim. Sometimes you get, sometimes you get got. The water-logged score sheet showed 4th place. Mitch entered the Open Superbike race and was able to muster a Mitchth, which was at least better than Brad. When the tire smoke cleared, Mitch wrapped up the 2008 CMRA race season ranked 7th in Heavyweight Sportbike Expert and 5th in Open Superbike. He retired to his dude ranch but will probably be back in the saddle for round nine, riding the Race City range once more and totin’ his old .44. Number 8 Mandy “Matchbox Midge” Mckay brought her ill-matched 4-tone yellow and blue artistic bird-strike BGPR tribute Honda 600RR to once again challenge the Novice race in round 5. Taking second place in her class, Midge put her head down and with a mouthful of nicotine gum and patches covering 70% of her body, achieved her fastest lap time ever with a bird-slaying 1:33.3. After scaring the tar right out of her lungs in the soaked first round, Midge vowed to never race a motorcycle in the rain again and instead stay under shelter like normal people, so she hung up her leathers and roamed the paddock with her rottweiler, chain smoking and shouting at people. Never say never, Matchbox. Number 82 Taylor “The Tan” King AKA “Prettyboy” had expressed some disdain at the poor meteorological forecast, as he didn’t want to wreck his hair, but was relieved to find Saturday’s weather warm and sunny, with the high UV index necessary for proper melanin production. With practice cut short, the Tan was a bit slow to start on Saturday morning’s Heavyweight Sportbike Amateur race. Dropping back from the lead group, Prettyboy settled into a lonely pace which situated him ideally for maximum audience exposure and minimal shade from other racers. Taylor coasted into an 8th-place finish, and was confident that the talent scouts in the rotted-out grandstands noticed him. Later on in the Middleweight Superbike race, warmed by an afternoon’s worth of unfiltered UV rays and his skin broiled to a coppery radiance, the Tan found the motivation to amplify his effort. Lining up on the grid with his immaculately clean colour-coordinated Honda and matching outfit, Pretty Boy popped his collar and ran his best race ever, finishing 8th overall and setting a personal best lap time of 1:25.865. In Sunday’s round 6 wet racing action, the Tan repeated his round 5 performance with an 8th place finish in the soggy Heavyweight Sportbike Amateur race. He was rumoured to have ruined his hair. For the afternoon’s Middleweight Superbike race, Taylor went against the current and equipped rain tires in the drying conditions. He finished 7th. The Tan started this season as a novice, advanced to amateur, and got incrementally faster and browner as the racing season progressed. He grunts when he’s “getting his swell on” at the gym, and he wants everyone to know how jacked and tanned he is. Number 87 Chris “Skippy” Trickett surprised and impressed the hell out of everybody… well, except for the veteran racers who were pissed at being beaten by an adolescent on a bombed-out 2-wheeled jalopy. A rigorous training regimen and a strict diet of Flintstones vitamins and Sunny D between races had Skippy prepared for Round 5 even better than he came prepared for his junior high final exams earlier this year. Chris came out of nowhere to battle for the lead in the Heavyweight Sportbike Amateur race, barely losing it in the end to Robert Maurice, and putting up an improbably fast best lap of 1:23.611. Skippy had attempted to repeat his cheat from round 4 and registered his R1 in the day’s middleweight races. Though his ’02 R1 ratbike is probably slower than most true middleweights, the officials sent him to his bedroom without dessert and he ended up running the Open Superbike race instead. In Calgary’s fastest race, against Calgary’s fastest racers, Skippy fought back growing pains and held his own, finishing an impressive 9th place and beating his mentor Brad, who fell off. In Sunday’s frustrating weather, Skippy was cool under the pressure of changing weather conditions, and competed equally hard in the wet Heavyweight race and the dry Superbike race. Chris was narrowly edged out for the win in the Heavyweight Sportbike amateur contest by 4-year old todder prodigy Cody Matechuk, and finished 8th running with the big boys in the Open Superbike event. This kid will have his first championship before he has his first shave. Nelson “Gomez” Goncalves registered for 6 races in the double-header but only managed to turn a couple of laps. Gomez missed Saturday’s practice while he put the finishing touches on his stolen 600RR racebike/taco stand but was still ready to run across the finish line border for the Heavyweight Sportbike amateur race. Gomez avoided the starting-grid carnage and had a great start, charging through the first 6 turns as though there was a Canada Customs and Immigration officer on his tail. Unfortunately Nelson re-fried his rear tire and crashed in the chicane, ending his weekend’s racing, but creating an employment opportunity to change his teammates’ tires for well below minimum wage. With the 2008 season at its conclusion, the BGPR Schools team would like to thank Pirelli Tires, Parts Canada, Coors Light, Redline Motorsports and all the volunteers who donated their time to make these races possible. They laughed, they cried, they hurled they tanned, they smoked cigarettes, drank beer, ate cheeseburgers and the BGPR racers had a lot of fun. Take it to the Track and we’ll see you in 2009. Don’t miss the BGPR / OneTrackMind track day on Saturday October 13th for your last chance to Take it to the Track before next season!

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"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

bwhip

I wish I could write that well!

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Baketech

Ditto...that guy nails it....

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phobe

2009 CMRA Season - Race City Motorsports Park on Vimeo=

This has got me dying to get on the bike.

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"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

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CBR929RE

I still don't get how you ride that place. Looks about as bad as NHMS.

you did make the video though

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ND4SPD

Are you doing any races this year?

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phobe

I'm hoping to do a few. Jessica doesn't want me to race before July... She's worried I might hurt myself and ruin her wedding. I'll sneak a few rounds in but won't be able to do the whole campaign unfortunately.

__________________
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

phobe

Yep it's pretty sketchy but it's the best track we've got. I'm in there at 0.38. :P

__________________
"Any man who is under 30, and is not a liberal, has not heart; and any man who is over 30, and is not a conservative, has no brains."

Churchill

BobcatSig

Yah ... seriously. Yikes! I guess I'm spoiled out here.

Keep us updated on the racing!

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