So, I post to the GS500 list for advice on jetting my GS500e -- its only pulling from 9,500-11,000K, which is ok on the fast stuff, but in the slow stuff, it sucks.. Their advice is that the stock or near stock settings are too lean, and to go to really rich... I ask Squidboy what he thinks, and we buy a couple of sets of jets a few steps lower than the range they recommended to compensate for the altitude at Willow. We'd first talked about wanting to get jets much closer to where we'd been, but ...
Put in the middle range jets, and wait for FasTrack Friday. I go out for the first session, and almost kill myself in turn 4 -- the bike starts surging and jumping. I'm still in the warmup lap, but I'm leaned over, and when it hits the higher part of the RPM range, the bike starts to buck like a wild little bronco -- which wasn't that fun, but even less so when I lose one foot off the peg, slam my chest and head into the tank and handlebars, and wonder if I'm going to crash and die.
I'm incensed by the time I get into the pits. WTF is wrong? I don't know anything about jetting, that's why I asked the so-called experts who ride the same kinda bike... Squidboy puts in a size larger, thinking it's still lean, and tries to start it. Now we hear 'click... click' and we both freak -- electrical problems SUCK and neither of us are good at troubleshooting them. After playing with the starter relay, and making sure that was working, we finally get a voltmeter onto the battery and realize it's just dead, Jim... I take the battery, drive for 30 minutes to a shop and get a new one... come back to realize Squidboy's been out in the sun with not enough water. I force him to sit in the cool truck and drink LOTS of Cytomax and ice water and eat boiled eggs.
All in all so far, this day has sucked. I'm too scared to get back on the bike, so I make Squidboy replace the battery, and take it out. Its still surging and jumping around. End up after messing with it most of the day, I find out that the Dyno guy at L&L Motorsports knows his stuff -- take it to him, get it on the dyno and find out we're Too Rich. We were jetted within 3 steps of where we'd started, and his recommendation was to jet back down to within 1 step of where we started. (Needles still need some playing with, but its fine otherwise...)
I go out for one session, and do ok -- the day wasn't a total loss, but I was exhausted emotionally. We end up running into Jay McDaniel, his wife Eva, and their adorable, cute little daughter, Maya and having a great dinner at the Golden Cantina. Went to the hotel for the night, ended up in the hot tub for a good long soak. (*Ahhh! I love this hotel!*)
One note -- while signing up for FasTrack, I notice a really familiar face, with another sorta similar looking face -- Eric Bostrum with someone who could be a cousin or another brother... he'd come out to FasTrack and was riding a borrowed GSXR750 and helping this other guy as the mechanic.
I looked at him teching the GSXR, and said, "Something isn't quite right." and smiled at him. He smiled back.
Big mistake this weekend was not pre-making food (our usual, tunafish salad and boiled eggs and tortillas -- easy on the stomach, yet high in protein!). I spent most of the day being overheated and hungry. Things that wouldn't normally bother me were just setting my teeth on edge.
But the funny thing -- once I was out on the track, nothing mattered. Someone said: "The racetrack is my home, and when I'm away, I'm homesick..." I'm not quite yet at that point, but its so calm inside the helmet, and suddenly, a good song will pop into my head as I practice each turn like I practice playing the violin.
"Somebody once told me, the world is gonna roll me, I ain't the sharpest tool in the shed..." "hello, hello, this is Romeo, callin' from a jackpot telephone..." "Do you believe in life after love?" and my current favorite from 'Garbage', "Livin' without you…"
Other then some stress in playing with the needles, and getting utterly SICK of jetting a motorcycle, being on the track was sheer bliss. I was still slow, but this month I was hanging off in turns 2 and 4. I'll admit, turn 4 was because I knew Russ Madsen was coming out to tape me on Sunday, and I wanted to look good for the video. Silly, I know. :) I'm still too slow in turn 3, slowing down way too much, but I also began practicing accelerating down into turn 5 and using the brakes. I finally got to pass my first racer -- someone on a 250 Aprilia with a really awful line in Turn 2 -- I saw him as I was entering, realized he was wobbling, and dove under him, hanging off and throttle open… whheeeeee! :)
We ended up staying at the track until rather late with Squidboy having to change his tyres and do oil changes on both bikes. :( What a mess. I was really exhausted. All I wanted was to go back to the hotel and sleep. Didn't make it into the hot tub.
My first probational expert weekend -- I was nervous as hell. On Saturday, I ended up talking to Joe Hammond (#4) for a bit, telling him I was really nervous about being on the racetrack with all the fast boys. He told me that he could always tell where I was going to be -- the fast boys wouldn't have to worry about passing me. That compliment really made me happy -- the one thing I wanted to work on was my smoothness and consistency and make small changes to gain in speed. I've realized a long time ago, I have no real natural talent for any sport, so any improvements come very slow.
Futzing around Sunday morning, we miss the first practice, but during the second practice, I feel good, smooth and consistent. On Saturday, I'd actually pulled in early on a session because I was feeling so good and smooth, I began to wonder when I'd fall on my head. When I ski, and get too cocky and confident, the next thing to happen is usually a crash that leaves all my equipment spread out across the mountain for 100 yards… I'm not interested in this happening when I ride.
But part of Sunday is racing, and my stomach begins to tie itself up in knots during the Rider's meeting. I speak to Steve Keddington to try and calm myself down -- its his first time back since early this year when a crash during FasTrack broke his wrist and took him out of racing for three months. He had been really excited to see me riding my GS, and was even moreso when I told him it was my first probational Expert weekend. I think he understood that I was making myself nuts and helped to distract me.
Back at the pits, our visitors for the day had arrived, but Squidboy, realizing I wasn’t in the mood to deal with people, packed them up off into the Bud Balcony -- Russ Madsen was nice enough to drive everyone up there, so I could sit and be nervous on my own. Because I hadn't packed the right kind of food, I felt like I couldn’t eat anything we had -- I was beginning to worry my bloodsugar wouldn’t be high enough to be safe during the race. Fortunately, I found some powdered protein mix, and also a lot of cut fruit and I tried to eat as much as I could. Squidboy was being really sweet in terms of trying to distract me and talk to me to keep me calm. I always worry that I'm actually distracting him from HIS racing, which isn't something I want to do at all.
Our first race is 500 ModProd, gridded with Battle of the Twins Heavyweight (mostly Duc 916's, one VTR Superhawk, and a few TL1000's). We head out for the pregrid, and I sit with Joe Hammond, Vivek and Squidboy. We wave to Joe's partner, Karin Clark as she tapes us from the scoring tower.
But then we wait… and wait… they are still cleaning up a crash. I'm never sure what to do on pre-grid, so I just try not to think about much, except I notice I'm really thirsty and having to wait is the worst… Squidboy, Joe and I head over to hide in the shade by the Registration Office, and Joe asks a friend to get us some bottles of water.
After waiting forever and a few more minutes, they call us back. Squidboy had been nice enough to write down my grid number on my tank, but I'd forgotten to figure out which side of the track I was going to be on -- left or right?!? argh!
I figure it out and sit in my spot, and look at the guy with the flag. The flag comes down and the entire WSMC club goes by me into turn 1.
Ok, only the 500 ModProd class blows by me, but I see a red bike (Ray Englehart) and realize I can keep up with him. I manage to stay with him thru the tight stuff in turns 2 through 5, and lose some ground in the fast stuff, but stay with him out of 9, and again thri the tight stuff. I finally lose enough ground that I'm no longer in touch with him by lap three. The BOTT Heavyweight bikes are beginning to lap into me and I'm passed by a bunch of bikes. My real goal is to not get lapped by the Lightweight guys 'til at least the last lap.
Finally, going into my last lap, I'm setting up for turn 2 -- I've been practicing hanging off and going thru the turn faster. I love how it feels to stick my knee out and wonder what it must feel like to go really fast. Just as I'm thinking this, Joe Hammond (#4) comes thru in the highline -- and I see him turn around on the bike, take his left hand off the bar and wave to me. I start to crack up, but realize that I might fall off the bike, so I concentrate on seeing how quickly he'll lose me. (Two turns -- by the time I'm leaving turn 4, he's already out of turn 5.)
As I'm coming into turn 5, Red Star Cleveland ends up passing me rather closely, and motoring up the hill -- I'm forced to change my line, and wonder to myself how close Squidboy is to Red Star. I decide to stay in my line and head towards the finish line. Coming out of turn 9, I tuck onto the tank and race to the finish line. Squidboy and Aaron Lunsford end up drifing by me near the end of the front straight. I follow them thru their cooldown lap and laugh to see Aaron high-five Squidboy -- must have been a fun race for 3rd and 4th. After the end of the race, I catch up to Squidboy and Aaron talking to RedStar in the pits. No one seems really interested in hearing what the slow chick had to say, so I head back to our pit.
I hate coming back alone, since I still have a lot of trouble getting my bike back onto the rear stand. Someone from a pit across the way has pity on me and helps me. Now my stomach isn't so unhappy so I end up eating some more, and waiting a lot more calmly for the next race.
My second race is 500 Superstock -- both Squidboy and Joe pay for my entry since I originally was going to race BOTT Lightweight -- but given the size of the class, I decided that I didn’t want to race with that group. This time, we're gridded with the Heavyweight Dinosaurs.
This time, I lose everyone right at the start, and as a result, I'm a lot slower. Joe passes me this time during my last lap between turns 1 and 2, and again turns around to wave. We later find out that Russ has caught Joe waving at me on videotape. Then, I'm passed by Red Star again, followed by Evans Brasfield and then Squidboy -- this time I'm lapped up thru 4th place. :( I'll do better next month.
But now my races are over -- and its LUNCHTIME! does little Snoopy supper dance -- I eat greasy french fries and chicken, and we end up talking to Stewart Goddard, Aaron, Red Star and their girlfriends.
I end up heading up with Russ to the Bud Balcony to watch Squidboy's last race -- 550 Superbike -- its his least competitive class, but Joe Hammond enjoys pushing his stock fzr400 up against the guys with the built superbikes. The race before was a 600 class -- always nuts to watch. We saw the guys in 3rd and 4th place go into turn 4, and the one behind decides to dive under the guy in front. The one in front doesn’t realize it and continues to lean over for the turn, essentially laying his bike on top of the passer… we watch as the one stuck underneath begins to push the guy on top off, and then we see the top guy straighten up, his front end slapping lock to lock. I hold my breath, wondering if he's going to go straight off the top of 4 and crash at our feet! Looks like he stays calm, the bike settles down, he tosses it back into the turn and only loses a few bike lengths on the guy who passed him! wow I hope that someday I'm that calm seeming.
It was definitely a good thing to watch the race from turn 4 -- I found a couple of things I was doing wrong and can work on for next month. Then my heart ends up in my throat as I see Aaron and Squidboy come into turn 4 exactly the same as the two guys in the 600 class -- Squidboy is behind Aaron, and I wonder if he will go for it, or if he remembers he has to go to work on Monday… I can almost hear him thinking, "nahh." as he backs off slightly and lets Aaron have his line.
Fun race to watch, even tho Squidboy came in 8th.
So ended another great race weekend, even if it started out quite awful. I can't wait for next month.
Thanks to Squidboy for not killing me for making him take apart my bike multiple times over the weekend, and for not killing me for suggesting we re-jet the bike, and big thanks as usual for being the best partner and pit-mate I could have. Big thanks to Steve Keddington for listening to a newbie racer chick and not laughing at her. A Raspberry thanks goes to Joe Hammond for teasing me in the middle of two races, but I'm still smiling thinking about it, and its definitely one of the highlights of the weekend… and to his partner Karin Clark for taking pictures and taping us and volunteering as a scorer (we don’t thank the volunteers who help us out enough…)
As usual, BIG HUGE MONSTER thanks to Team Madsen -- Poor Jane who had to stay home and w*rk, and Russ who came out and taped us racing -- when I'm depressed, they are a great pick-me-up as well as useful tools to getting better.
I survived my first Probational Expert weekend, and there is no place else to go but up!
See ya next month!
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