4.6.04
Track school!! What an incredible experience! Much more complicated than I ever imagined. I guess I went into it with the basic assumption that it would be like street riding but just faster and more controlled. It turned out that there was actually very little that was even remotely similar to riding on the street. I learned a ton and know I barely even scratched the surface. I am really looking forward to going back. Here are some pics of the loaded bikes (new Kendon trailer), camp and Tom at tech inspection.

  
  

I managed to hit turn 5 a little too hot and not on the right line and ended up going down in the dirt. The hit brought the right side of the handlebars into the tank, leaving an unpleasant imprint :( The handlebars are also bent and the bike has a few additional scuffs. Time for some new handlebars...

   

Later that day I dumped the bike while practicing my "target fixation" technique :P
I was watching Tom instead of where I was going and followed him as he went off the track. I realized what was going on too late and with fear that I would end up running into the back of him, so I chose to just lay the bike down on the left side. Not a big deal, though it did manage to break the rearset, taking off the shifter linkage and foot peg. Luckily the guys at the school had some extra parts and were willing to lend me a rearset assembly to use until the end of the end of the class. Good thing I was taking a Suzuki-sponsored class! My friend Alex had a new rearset waiting for me when I got back into the city, so that I could get my bike back on the road.

   

Since I am stuck with the dents for a while, I decided to add some humor to the situation:

 

One of the coolest parts of the school was being able to go for a ride on the back of Jason Pridmore's GSX-R 1000 as he whipped around the track. Here is my enthusiastic and adrenaline-filled handshake afterwards :)