Fort Worth Motorcycle Riders

Wow. Sckego and I were talking about it last night at kickball, but it's good to see on video. I know I need to work on my body position, and figured out what I need to work on looking at blairs pictures yesterday. But now seeing the video, my body position was much better thru rattlesnake than anywhere else on the track. FTW?

Here are my problems: my body position needs work, I'm not getting my head down by the mirror, I'm putting all of my weight on the clip-ons when braking, braking too early, not accelerating at full throttle down the straights, bad lines, missing the apex of corners.

I'm kind of scared to see what else I am doing wrong.

I know I'm doing much more wrong myself. But these days, I'm focused on body position. Once I get that down, I'll figure out the next thing, and work on it.

That is what I should have been doing. But I was just trying to go faster, I wasn't working on the things I should have been to actually go faster. I think my next track day I will drop to level 1 and work on all of those issues. Some I can work on on the street, like body position.

Losing weight is also a big thing.

Yup, And over the course of the next few weeks, I'll be putting the bike on the stands, and working on the body position.

A few pics yoinked from Hart...











I still need to work on getting my head down and forward more. I thought I was doing better with that this time, but the pics don't show it. Paul also told me that the one area I need to improve is getting on the throttle earlier in corners. He said I'm being too conservative and waiting to long to get on it, and that I need to start applying power earlier in the corner.

I had a great time out there hanging out with everyone. Thanks to Blizz, Ever, Ann, and George for coming to hang out, and George for letting me borrow his camera and go for a ride in the T-rex! It was a fun ride, even if we didn't really get to stretch it's legs... though the pace did pick up on the last lap, and I saw Paul's daughter drag her toe around wagon wheel while riding behind him on the VFR.

I had a bit of a moment after lunch... I was circulating at a pretty good pace, and I heard an engine behind me for a few corners. I finally got passed coming out of Ricochet, and from there my thought process was: 1) "Oh cool, that was Paul behind me." 2) "Sweet, he's got a rear facing camera! I'm on camera whooooo!" 3) "Oh shit, I'm supposed to be turning into Little Bend right now, aren't I?" I had completely forgotten to turn (despite the fact that I was still braking and downshifting), and just went straight off the track into the weeds. Got it slowed down, cut around the tire wall, and rejoined in the middle of Big Bend. Pulled straight into the pits, took a minute to calm down and check out the bike, and then headed back out for the rest of the session. Second time I've ever gone off-track, and it was the exact same corner as when I did it the first time, three years ago.

I ended up behind rc30fan for most of the final session, and had a great time following him around. We managed to string together quite a few laps with practically no traffic, just in the zone, hitting everything just right... an awesome session. I'll definitely post the video of that one once I get my hands on it.

Another great day with Ridesmart in the books... can't wait till next month!

Fire it up! Fire it up! Fire it up!

Those are some good shots Kegan. I know what it takes to hustle a big bike like the VFR around a track, but you made it look easy. Nice and smooth.
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs564.snc ... 5104_n.jpg

It sounds like what we need is a big piece of asphalt to practise on. When I first started riding some friends and I would mark out a big circle in a huge parking lot. I learned a lot about leaning and body positioning that way because you can stay in the same corner until you get it right. Then go in the other direction. Thats where I got a knee down for the first time. Video makes it a lot easier too because you can get instant feedback on what you are doing wrong.
But the best tip I ever got that helped my riding is also the easiest - "Turn your head. No, even more."

Kinda like this:
http://hphotos-snc3.fbcdn.net/hs584.snc ... 4657_n.jpg

The bike looks so empty with just you on it.

Firewa11 and i were talking about puting something like that together at some one's house. Just need some rope and a tree to make the bike lean. I know i need some know-how real bad.

Me too.

We can have a body-positioning drill at bike night. We've got enough people to hold it upright. Besides, you don't want the bike leaned over while practicing if you're not moving; ideally, you'd having straight up-and-down.

Actually with a bike strapped to a pole / tree, feeling the body position and stuff is pretty good. Sure, it's not perfect science but it certainly helped me when we did a similar drill at Ridesmart a few years back.

sckego wrote:We can have a body-positioning drill at bike night. We've got enough people to hold it upright. Besides, you don't want the bike leaned over while practicing if you're not moving; ideally, you'd having straight up-and-down.

Thats what front and rear stands are for. Put the bike on the stands and practice body position. If someone, is going to cage it tomorrow, and want's to bring their stands we can do the drill even easier.

DS posted this in another thread... I think he meant to put it here.

DarcShadow wrote:We just need some one to donate their bike to become a lean bike.
http://www.superbikeschool.com/machinery/lean-bike.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

And in response to that.... From the pictures, it looks like it would work best on a naked bike. I think we have a few people with naked bikes that we could set this up on. Maybe an SV..

sckego wrote:I ended up behind rc30fan for most of the final session, and had a great time following him around. We managed to string together quite a few laps with practically no traffic, just in the zone, hitting everything just right... an awesome session. I'll definitely post the video of that one once I get my hands on it.

This one?

Haha, that put a huge grin on my face just watching it. That was a great session. The Repsol that passed us just before the final time through Rattlesnake was the guy pitted next to us. I tried to pass Sean coming out of Wagon Wheel, but mis-shifted, and then got by him between Ricochet and Little Bend to try and catch Mr Repsol, but he was pulling away from me through the triple lefthander, and then the checker came out for the end of the day.

Really, really fun stuff. I'm glad you got the video Kegan. I paid Dave $25 for a video but when I put on the bib my instructor says to me in pit lane: "Sorry man I forgot the camera." and pulls out! I was pissed~!

Its good to be able to hear my engine. I can hear that I was very conservative with the gas on corner exits. I think that has a lot to do with circuit knowledge - knowing whats coming up next. The other area for improvement is smoothing out my lines mid-corner. I could see I took multiple bites out of the turn after rattlesnake. I think thats largely a matter of looking further ahead.

Its interesting to see just how different your lines are Kegan. Next time I want to follow you to learn where to be.

Really fun track. Looking forward to the end of June.

Shaun,
with an Ess Aitch Ayy You Enn.

Video is sweet!!! I would like say it was a pleasure hanging with you guys. Your a cool group dudes.

well, if we go out to were DeamonDuck is, we can get enough room to make a big circle to practice.

Blizzard_1708 wrote:well, if we go out to were DeamonDuck is, we can get enough room to make a big circle to practice.

I already have the cones, just let me know when.

I uploaded another video to Youtube earlier. This clip lasts a few laps, from the end of when I was following Jim, up until my off in Little Bend. If you're only interested in the agricultural bit, skip ahead to about 4:20.

What the heck is that pit looking thing at 4:45? Is that a foundation from an old corner working station or is that a walled pit?

just a quick look at the track on google maps to see it, it looks like apart of the dranage system.