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.

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.

Photos from the weekend, taken by 303 Imaging

Made some big revelations about my suit.

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:

Once again I got to ride a GSXR 600 from the Turn2 rental fleet.  The track day was put on by Pro6.

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?