Wind Blows
By: Jeanette Tran 
After stuffing myself with a good helping of turkey and the best homemade pumpkin cheesecake ever (thanks sis!) it was time to pack and load up to go to the track! Track days after Thanksgiving just give more reasons to give thanks. So it has been a year since my last track day, and I was almost not able to go to one this year, but lucky for me I have an amazingly generous and understanding boyfriend. He purchased my track day for me and encouraged me to go in order to best learn the potential of my new to me bike. Also, many thanks to my friend Matt for hauling my bike up to the track for me, and helping me prep the bike. So with that being said, that Saturday after Thanksgiving I was able to take my new-to-me bike to the track. Like all track days I have done before, I had the usual butterflies in my stomach the night before. Despite living in sunny California, the weather was the main reason that I was nervous. It had just rained the night before the track day, and although the rain had stopped early enough to allow ample time for the track to dry, it had unfortunately brought in extreme uncontrollable winds. Right when we woke up that morning, the winds were blowing at a nice speed of 30+ mph. I was ecstatic that it was not going to be a wet track day, but at the same time, I was highly disappointed because all day I knew I was going to have to fight with an uncontrollable variable while riding out there on the track. Track days are amazing in my opinion because you can avoid unexpected road debris, oncoming traffic and other street riding hazards. Now if we could find a tack where it does not rain or have crazy wind conditions, then that would be paradise. So since a track day paradise has yet to be found, I had to face a track day with 30mph winds. At the riders meeting at the beginning of the day, the instructors repeated themselves multiple times stressing the wind conditions out there on the track. The front straight is already a significantly fast part of the track, and now on top of that there was the wind pushing on our backs. In the back of my mind, I knew that the wind was not going to be only problematic for me on the track, but I will have a problem with it in the pits as well. Thirty miles per hour winds are not too friendly to riders that are a little too short for their bike. I have seen my friend drop her bike at the gas station because the wind had blown her over, so I was really nervous about what kind of effects the wind would have on me as well. When it was time for me to gear up and head out for the first session of the day, I got on my bike and just froze. When I made the attempt to put the bike into 1st gear, the wind hit me and I feared that my bike would topple over because I did not have a firm footing on the ground due to my lack of height. I stood there frozen and then frantically started waving my boyfriend to come over. I had him stand on the opposite side of my bike in which the wind was blowing just in case I did get pushed over he would be able to catch the bike. With him standing there, in my head, I felt the bike become more stabilized and was then able to shift the bike into first and then head on out to the track entrance. Even though I made it out and back from each session with no mishaps, it was a very frustrating day overall. All day I had felt the wind pressing on my bike and because of that I just developed a mental riding block. I pushed myself and the bike to what I felt most comfortable with, but that just left me feeling overall unsatisfied because I still feel like I could have learned so much more about my bike had there had not been such windy riding conditions. But I do have to say that the day wasn’t a complete loss because I did still have a lot of fun in general with the overall track day experience itself. Just the knowledge of being away from home, taking that car ride, sleeping at a hotel, and then being at the track with a bunch of other riders and friends is a whole other great experience in itself. So all in all, I just would like to say thanks once again to my boyfriend and friends who made this track day a memorable successful track day. Without you guys I am sure I would not have been able to have had such great memories of another track day. Published: Dec 10, 2009 Leave Comments |
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