3Js Track Day at Infineon
Being on the track this year hasn't been the same kind of exhilarating "whee" as it usually is. In January I crashed at Fontana, a new track, in February I rode two more new tracks: Buttonwillow clockwise and Buttonwillow counter-clockwise. Then last weekend I raced the clockwise Buttonwillow configuration.

Yesterday I got to ride at Infineon, the track I feel most comfortable at. The ups and downs and round and rounds make riding there feel like riding a rollercoaster. It's fun. Not hard work, not scary, not bumpy and there's wide swaths of pavement at the ends of fast sections, giving me comfort when imagining a brake failure or other such nonsense.

I set the bar low for my laptime goals; my primary mission was to have fun but I also wanted to make sure I was falling into a leisurely range of 2:05 - 2:10. Not only was this achieved comfortably, but I also regained my confidence at lean angle, dropping and skidding knees left and right, even in the carousel. I worked on braking markers and turn in points. I worked to carry more speed through 3a, and to hone my line through 7.

After lunch I took a two-up ride with James on a friend's R1. James' laptimes, on a bike with nearly three times the horsepower of mine, come in between 20 and 30 seconds a lap faster than mine. This is like starting to take tennis lessons and then comparing yourself to Pete Sampras, such is the disparity in our ability levels. The speed was indescribable. Braking was so hard and so fast that my ass rose up off the seat as I slid up his massive back, pushing my hands against the tank with all my might to keep as much of my weight off of him as possible. Accelerating out of every corner was an exercise in hanging on for dear life. He passed guys in the middle of tight turns, and at several points I could have reached out and touched the rider we were passing.

I keep thinking of this design of a skunk on my new Skunk Racing t-shirt:



He's gritting his teeth, scrunching up his face, the spit's flying, this is pretty much what I looked like inside my helmet on that ride, only maybe more scared looking. It was probably the closest I've ever come to dying. I think he had even more fun that I did, his first comments to people when we got off the bike was "oh dude that was so fun, stuffing guys all over the place with my girlfriend on the back, ha ha!"

The next session I went out and turned my fastest lap, a still leisurely 2:02. Expert race winners on pokey little SVs like mine can do 1:46. I'd be thrilled to get under 2:00 this year, with 1:55 being a "someday" goal. Perhaps I'd get there faster by making the skunk face even when I'm out there by myself.

This track day was unique in that it was a charity event; after the track day, wine and beers were served in the garages, and then to the cheerfully creepy sounds of a singing accordionist, a spaghetti dinner and auction. I won a bottle of wine and a brunch for four at the Fairmont in Sonoma. I chatted drunkenly on the ride home and didn't return to the south bay until this morning. I feel encouraged, capable, and blissfully sore and worn out.