Otto Man;292903 wrote: I'll preface this with I know I'm about 10 light years away from being any kind of actual skilled rider, but...
I gotta say, the swoopers that go from mid track to the outside corner at the last second are pretty dang irritating, from an passers stand point.
Turn 7 is a perfect example. I feel more comfortable passing on the outside on the brakes, rather than the inside, because you don't know where they're going to turn in at. And if you're mid track under the bridge, and you swoop 6 feet to the left afterwards, you GREATLY increase the chance of collision from a rider trying to pass you. You had originally left 6' of space there, enough for 2 bikes side by side to pass you, then you swing all the way to the edge of the track. How do you know anyone isn't trying to pass you?
I can assure you, no "B", "I", and most of "A" groupers aren't nearly fast enough to justify the line all the way on the left of turn 7. Like the other guy posted, Mladin took Turn 7 just about dead nuts center going into 7. So, unless anyone on here is capable of running sub 25's there at North (Which is flat out HAULING ASS!!!), I really don't think you need to use the entire track.
And if you DO want to be all the way to the edge (Hey, there's nothing at all wrong with that. Everyone is entitled to their own line), make sure you're over there BEFORE you pass under the bridge.
I guess all I'm asking for is for riders to be consistent with their lines. If you watch your GoPro videos, and you're not consistent with the lines you take, you need to back off the pace about 10% or so because you're starting to ride too far out of your comfort zone.