MainLineCoffee
New Member
Hello,
If this is pinned somewhere in another post please forgive my redundant questions.
I attended PITT last weekend on 4/20 and had an amazing time. I showed up on my own, reserved a massive paddock space by the pit row that I did not need. I only came with my truck and rented trailer, but it was nice to have the space.
I noticed that almost everyone there was with a partner or a team. If others were doing their first track day alone, let me know how it was for you, The control riders explained things well, I felt comfortable that I was informed. Jack took the three of us who had never been on a track before, as a group to show us how to watch for the flags and enter pit row in a safe manner. It was like a security blanket to follow him around the race line. I struggled to keep up, but he was very good about keeping a pace where we could see him. We did two sessions like this. After that, I headed to the far right of the lineup and took the laps on my own.
The guidance was clear, the rider passing you has to pass safe, but it still caused me a great deal of anxiety when another rider would suddenly show up in my peripheral as I prepared myself to drop into the next turn. No one passed me in a turn, but I began to feel like I was getting in the way. I started to doubt that I was hitting the race line properly and annoying the faster riders trying to pass me. Sometimes it felt like my rear tire was sliding in a turn, so I would slow and ended up going too wide through some turns.
(I know I was not nearly going fast enough for my tires to slip, but I may have been under inflated, would that cause me to feel like I was slipping?)
Now to the questions:
- I have seen many posts that say, ride your limits. I did, I will, but is there anything I should know about how to ride my limits when I am slow and the field is going to lap me at least once or twice during a session to not frustrate other riders?
- Is it possible to have riders that are first time on the track or say, less than 5 track days wearing a shirt to indicate we are completely new and trying to figure this out? So, those that are moving up in experience can run wide on us and hopefully we cause less frustration for more experienced riders?
- When I felt uncomfortable with my line, I went to the hot pit, slowed down, took a breath and headed back out. That helped a lot, but eventually what seemed like a bike twice my displacement would come in fast on me and I would get the sense that I was blocking people running my slow line. Would it be better to stop in the hot pit for 30 seconds or so? Is there a technique for finding a big gap on the tract to jump into from the pit?
- We talked about it during lunch, but it would have been nice to have the body position discussion in the pre-track meeting in the morning. I was dragging my toes as I was in my street riding position. I thought this meant I was getting into the turns correctly, but it meant my seat and foot position on the bike was incorrect and it could risk a crash if I continued. I watched several videos on track days, but no one ever discussed foot position that I recall.
Final question:
- Would N2TD be able to setup a pairing concept for new riders showing up solo? Or maybe a new thread on the forum to connect novice first-timers? I really think I would have had more confidence if I paired up with someone and we could take time to follow each other and give and get feedback on how we felt. Maybe this has a thread already as well, I'll search. I'd be willing to volunteer and facilitate this if it would help on the track days.
I will be at Summit on 5/20 and 6/3. If there are any novice first timers running solo or novice riders looking to ride with a novice first timer, let me know.
Thank you to all of the control riders at PITT. I had an amazing first time track day and as you can see, I'm ready to start burning my disposable income on a rather expensive hobby. Looking forward to 5/20!
If this is pinned somewhere in another post please forgive my redundant questions.
I attended PITT last weekend on 4/20 and had an amazing time. I showed up on my own, reserved a massive paddock space by the pit row that I did not need. I only came with my truck and rented trailer, but it was nice to have the space.
I noticed that almost everyone there was with a partner or a team. If others were doing their first track day alone, let me know how it was for you, The control riders explained things well, I felt comfortable that I was informed. Jack took the three of us who had never been on a track before, as a group to show us how to watch for the flags and enter pit row in a safe manner. It was like a security blanket to follow him around the race line. I struggled to keep up, but he was very good about keeping a pace where we could see him. We did two sessions like this. After that, I headed to the far right of the lineup and took the laps on my own.
The guidance was clear, the rider passing you has to pass safe, but it still caused me a great deal of anxiety when another rider would suddenly show up in my peripheral as I prepared myself to drop into the next turn. No one passed me in a turn, but I began to feel like I was getting in the way. I started to doubt that I was hitting the race line properly and annoying the faster riders trying to pass me. Sometimes it felt like my rear tire was sliding in a turn, so I would slow and ended up going too wide through some turns.
(I know I was not nearly going fast enough for my tires to slip, but I may have been under inflated, would that cause me to feel like I was slipping?)
Now to the questions:
- I have seen many posts that say, ride your limits. I did, I will, but is there anything I should know about how to ride my limits when I am slow and the field is going to lap me at least once or twice during a session to not frustrate other riders?
- Is it possible to have riders that are first time on the track or say, less than 5 track days wearing a shirt to indicate we are completely new and trying to figure this out? So, those that are moving up in experience can run wide on us and hopefully we cause less frustration for more experienced riders?
- When I felt uncomfortable with my line, I went to the hot pit, slowed down, took a breath and headed back out. That helped a lot, but eventually what seemed like a bike twice my displacement would come in fast on me and I would get the sense that I was blocking people running my slow line. Would it be better to stop in the hot pit for 30 seconds or so? Is there a technique for finding a big gap on the tract to jump into from the pit?
- We talked about it during lunch, but it would have been nice to have the body position discussion in the pre-track meeting in the morning. I was dragging my toes as I was in my street riding position. I thought this meant I was getting into the turns correctly, but it meant my seat and foot position on the bike was incorrect and it could risk a crash if I continued. I watched several videos on track days, but no one ever discussed foot position that I recall.
Final question:
- Would N2TD be able to setup a pairing concept for new riders showing up solo? Or maybe a new thread on the forum to connect novice first-timers? I really think I would have had more confidence if I paired up with someone and we could take time to follow each other and give and get feedback on how we felt. Maybe this has a thread already as well, I'll search. I'd be willing to volunteer and facilitate this if it would help on the track days.
I will be at Summit on 5/20 and 6/3. If there are any novice first timers running solo or novice riders looking to ride with a novice first timer, let me know.
Thank you to all of the control riders at PITT. I had an amazing first time track day and as you can see, I'm ready to start burning my disposable income on a rather expensive hobby. Looking forward to 5/20!
