Taking the TZ to Bogie
First time back at Calabogie since August of last year. Wow has this place changed! There’s an entire new building and what was the main paddock is now the back paddock..and what used to be nothing but pavement is now the main paddock and the main building.
Weather was perfect for a track day, sunny and warm but not too hot. It felt nice to be able to stretch out and experiment with the TZ on such beautiful and wide track, with lots of room to rev out the engine. Having slightly lower gearing then what was on the last time I rode the bike also helped and made the bike feel much more ridable in the slower corners at the beginning of the day. I soon found myself going faster and gradually feeling more comfortable with the bike.
Thanks to the Zumius timing system used by Turn2, I got to know exactly how fast (or slow) I was going. My best time of the day was a 2:46, so I was off my best time on the 750 by some 15 seconds. It would have been nice to have sectional comparison of the times to know for sure, but I think I was going at similar speeds in the corners, just not as fast in between some of the more spread out sections or on the straights. The other bikes in my group that were in the 2:30′s were going around the same speed in the corners (some slower) but would walk away from me on the exits and run away from me on the straights 
Over all, I had a fabulous time on my new bike. I’m absolutely loving just how light and nimble it is, and how much easier it is to lean into the corners then the 750.
August long weekend at Bogie
Leaning into the uphill right hander of corner 6
We spent the August long weekend at Bogie, could there be a better way to spend time off work? Johnny got to go up early again, I made my way up Friday night, rode Saturday, Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. Riding a track 4 days in a row, that was a first. It wasn’t quite as tiring as I had thought, I guess after a while you start getting used to this.
Making a straight line out of 12B and 13
First time back at Calabogie with my new suit. Being able to actually move freely on the bike made such a difference. I was still having some issues with the plastic shoulder details hitting my helmet and preventing my head from turning as far into the turns as I would want to. I found that dropping my inside shoulder would help with that.
One of my favorite corners rightly named Temptation
Johnny had his new GPS Starlane lap timer so I got to use his hand-me-down AIM timer. Here I was all happy that I would finally start getting an idea of what sort of lap times I do and we couldn’t get that damn thing to work. We tried propping it up on the bike all sorts of ways, and eventually gave up. I ended up using Sandy’s unit (thank you Sandy for letting me borrow it!) so I did end up getting my lap times after all. My times were consistent at around 2:30 and dropped below that a few times. My best time of the weekend was a 2:28 which I was very happy with.
Calabogie, oh how I’ve missed thee!
Jun 5 and 6 Turn2 and ARC
Jun 7 Pro6
Made some big revelations about my suit.
RDT with Turn2
We did the RDT with Turn2 on Sunday. At the end of the day I went home and Johnny went on to ride Calabogie the next day.
Track weekend extravaganza!
We spent the Saturday riding the RDT with Turn2. At the end of the day we packed up and hit the road. Oh what a road trip that was.. We eventually made it out to Renfrew in the Ottawa area early Sunday morning. We bummed out and chilled for the day with George and Michelle and took the trailers and bikes over to Calabogie some half hour away. We came back to the track early the next morning and spent Monday and Tuesday riding. Once again I was on a Turn2 GSXR 600 and the event was organized by Pro6.
Back to RDT, once again with Motoress and Turn2
Motoress put on the Accentuate Your Curves event intended to encourage more women to come out to the track with their bikes.
http://www.motoress.com/readarticle.asp?articleid=219&c=news
Kevin V. was present as the track photographer taking some amazing shots. My orange pumpkin bike must have stood out amongst the sea of sport bikes as I managed to get into quite a few shots. Thanks Kevin! Here is some of Kevin’s work:
Long weekend at Calabogie
This almost felt like a mini vacation. I took Monday off work and with Tuesday being Canada day this turned into a 4 day weekend. We drove up to Calabogie on Sunday and spent Monday and Tuesday riding the track, returning home very tired late Tuesday night.
Once again I got to ride a GSXR 600 from the Turn2 rental fleet. The track day was put on by Pro6.
RDT with Turn2
Today I got to take the KTM out on the RDT, a supermoto friendly track.
Yeeehaw! I finally get to see AND ride the Calabogie track
This weekend I took a trip up to Calabogie Motorsports Park. I’ve heard so much about this track it was great to finally see it. Not only did I get to ride the track, I got to ride it on a beautiful GSXR 600 rental bike from Turn2. This was my first time riding a 600.
Riding the pretty Turn2 GSXR-600 around the breath taking Calabogie Motorsports track
I pretty much spent most of the morning feeling completely intimidated by the bike’s size. I practiced getting on and off the bike, balancing it and making sure it stayed upright. I eventually mustered enough courage to do a few laps around the pits. I was used to stopping the way I was taught at RTI with my left foot on the ground so that I could use my right foot for the brake if I had to. Unfortunately this totally did not work on the Gixer as I was then stuck, with my left leg barely tippy toeing and struggling to support the weight of the bike. I was unable to shift over and put my right foot down on the ground so that I could then use my left leg to put the kick stand down. A couple times I came in from my practice pit round and had to yell out for help for some one to come over and put my kickstand down and in some cases put the bike in neutral for me. Thankfully it only took a couple times for me to break out of that habit.
Coming through one of the blind corners
Towards the end of the morning sessions I finally managed to get out on the track and once I did I had a great time riding the 600. It was a complete pig in comparison to the slender 125 I was used to, but at the same time it felt more stable and confident in the corners. It took a little bit more effort to get the bike to turn but when it did the feeling was linear and predictable unlike the very light and sudden tip over and dropping feeling of the 125. And the straights… oh those were fun! I was giggling silly in my helmet.
Staying at the back of the school pack, about to be passed by faster riders
I had an absolute blast on that bike on the track, however every time it was time to come back into the pits I was a nervous wreck just thinking about having to stop, maneuver, and dismount. Getting used to the bike was only a part of the day’s challenge. Learning the layout of an unfamiliar track was another. Calabogie is a high speed 5.05 km long track consisting of multiple elevation changes and 20 challenging corners, most of them blind, of increasing and decreasing radiuses, on and off camber. This is a relatively new track, it was open towards the end of 2006, and the track surface is still in pristine condition.
George of Turn2 enjoying a munchie break
This was a great way to end my first season of riding with such a positive experience. My 125 is definitely history, it’s so gone! It’s just a question of what will I replace it with?
Back to RDT with Turn2
Oooo… Look at those pretty.. loud.. supermotos
Weekend at Cayuga with Turn2
A full weekend at the track, Aug 25 and 26.
I know why I keep crashing!
Mosport RDT with Turn2 and Motoress
Met many fantastic people. Learned a lot. With the help of an impromptu mechanics team, we put my crashed bike back on the truck with the use of a screw from a wooden bench.
Met Johnny
Vintage racing on the big track. A few people came over to the small track to say hi.
Got LOTS of wonderful help and tips from the Motoress crew. The leading lady Vicki was very supportive and enthusiastic, it was such a fun and welcoming atmosphere. Vicki told me she thinks I plain and simple out-grew my bike already, and should look into getting something bigger and more track friendly. Already??
My first track day
Saturday July 7th was my first ever track day on my bike. My thoughts? …must.. have.. more track time…
This day was so much fun! The baby CBR did beautifully on the track. Every one with Turn 2 was great and very helpful and the day ran smoothly.
I started off pretty nervous.. excited, but nervous. Sharing the track with bigger and faster bikes/riders was a bit intimidating, although every one was very good about passing me safely. A couple guys led me around the track and offered great pointers and instructions, thank you Phil and Mark! (and every one else who contributed advice). I essentially had the bike in 3rd all the way around the track all day long and focused on lines, turning, and some breaking. The bike would hit the rev limiter on both “streights” and would bog a little comming out of turn 7 (uphill hairpin) but staying in 3rd was sufficient.
Towards the end of the day I was the only bike left on the track (yayyy private track!!). My footpegs and stand were scraping and caused a couple hairy moments, but all was good… untill pretty much the LAST lap of the LAST session just before I was gonna get flagged to come in. Footpeg cought turn 1 and this time around lowsided the bike.
I basically need a new shift lever and the handle bar took a little beating. The frame sliders and the fugly turn signals (which survived, those things are increadible) kept the rest of the bike pretty much untouched.
Here’s a vid from the begining of the day:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S_juVfyZWks
And a vid from some time after the lunch break, the scraping begins:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uKP07i9MAhU
I need to get the shifter fixed and the bike is good to go.
I also need to do something about those footpegs and kickstand. We tried trackside (before the slide ofcourse) swapping the footpegs for the passenger footpegs as they’re a little shorter and have angled ends, but they’re not swapable. They’re held in by different sized pins. So I’m looking at getting rearsets.
I was told that I should take the kickstand off next time and get a rear stand for the bike.
Oh yeah.. and tires. These ones did just fine (I think). The only problems I have experienced were caused by the foot pegs dragging and making the rear wheel skip on occation. I will look into picking up a set of Pirelis although I’m still not sure if that’s necessary. Once the foot peg issue is resolved I’m not sure just how much more the oem tires could give.
Over all however this has been a fabulous experience. I have to highly recommend coming out to the track with your bike to any one, just get over how intimidating it all seems at first, it really isn’t once you dip your feet in. Some people have said they want to ride on the street for a year or two before coming to the track, but I think they’re completely missing out a great learning experience. I learned so much about how my bike handles and what and how I should do on the bike to make it go how I want it to. It is so much easier to concentrate on learning to ride your bike well without having to always thing about any cars, or pedestrians, making sure I don’t go past they yellow line, the curb, intersections, traffic lights… and putting around in a parking lot sure doesn’t compare either since that parking lot ends eventually, has gravel, pot holes, parked cars, and lamp posts to watch out for. I will be highly recommending this to all of my riding friends.
Arriving at the track
Turn 1 of the RDT track
Turn 1 again
Left footpeg and kickstand took the most beating from the scraping and eventually the low side... bent shifter
Right footpeg got a little scrape action