A Little Clarity Goes a Long Way

In my previous entry, I noted how I was having trouble finding my speed around the track, and I didn't know what to attribute the attrition to; doing track work, new bike, start of the season, all of the above? I wrote that the following trackdays would either confirm or debunk one or the other (or all of the above).

Well, I worked a Z2 trackday the other day again, and thankfully, it became clear to me as that day was.

It was none of the above.

What it was, was riding in a slower group. See, as part of being grid and recovery staff, myself and the rest of the crew basically confer with one another at the start of the day as to who's riding which group (A, B, or C). For the most part, we're all A-group riders, but since coming into the grid, I thought it best to be accommodating for now, and let the rest of the guys and gal ride A-group if they want, and I'll happily ride B-group. No biggie, I've jumped down a group before to ride with my friends, so no harm no foul.

Well the foul is that I am riding in an environment that though I can handle, is not conducive for me to ride the pace I typically do. B-group offers a fair amount of riders that are both too slow and too fast for the group; it's the nexus of skills from the other two groups, which can make for some unpredictable riding circumstances to negotiate. I can negotiate this, but the problem is that I cannot get myself into a rhythm of riding that taps into my full potential, which is critical in continued growth and development, in my opinion.

I realized this the other day at Thunderhill. Though I started the day riding in B-group still, I decided to go back to A-group again. In retrospect, it was probably pretty ballsy of me to do that when I've been feeling not up to par; it was one of those days with the fast A-group with AFM guys like Chris Siglin and AMA guys like Eric Bostrom signed up to do their testings. But what the hell, why not?

Immediately. IMMEDIATELY as soon as I went out there, with no rolling traffic to negotiate and fast guys passing me offering a rabbit for me to chase, I was back to my pace. Just like that, just to be back in the proper environment that offers no resistance for you to give most if not your all.



It felt so good to be myself again.

Regression with Progress

This track season will be my first full season as part of Z2 Trackday's crew, after they asked me to join them late last year. This past weekend's double-header at Sonoma Raceway kicked off my grid work, and though Saturday was only the third full-day I've done grid work and recovery, I ended up having done the most work I've ever had compared to the previous two, and therein came a surprise.

Pick up their crashed bike, then pick up the rider

It's still a welcome change to be working the trackdays now, rather than just sitting around in between sessions as a customer. The time spent working the grid and/or doing track recovery between my riding sessions really does bring a new and exciting chapter during my trackdays. But up until this past weekend, I never thought that my newfound duties would affect my riding abilities negatively. With Saturday's busy trackday, I felt like I wasn't riding as best as I could during my sessions. Understandably, one can say that it was only the first trackday of the season for me, so I'm probably just shaking off cobwebs, but historically, I've usually been able to just pick up right where I left off from the previous season, and sometimes even going quicker. I didn't feel tired out on the track per se, but in some ways, I want to say that the grid work and recovery duties does tangibly affect my riding.

This isn't really a complaint, but more of an observation rather. The next coming trackdays I work will either confirm or debunk this, but in the worst case scenario that I'm right, I'm thinking that I will need to simply better pace myself during trackdays, and/or up my exercise regimen so that I am better fit to be riding and working the track simultaneously. After all, this is a new chapter in my track adventures, so addendums should be expected.

Any new chapter requires a different approach

The other downside to working trackdays that I was afraid of was that a day would come when I would end up picking up either a friend or acquaintance following a track incident. I knew something like this could and would happen, it just wasn't something to look forward to. Well, it came too soon this past Saturday, when I found MotoLiam a victim of another rider's mistake out on the track. Fortunately, he was without any serious injuries, and though his bike sustained damage, it was nothing that Liam couldn't sort out. Not a guy that's wrenched on MotoGP machines like he has.

Taking Liam safely back to the pits



 But you know, they say you take the good with the bad, and I will forever be grateful to have been given this opportunity to have another dimension in an existing passion. Not everyone is handed something like this, and all the benefits of being in such a position far outweigh the drawbacks that every now and then may weigh you down.

So I say, the best progress tends to be those gained out of adversity.

I Turned 31 Years Old This Past Week

And my brother was back in the ICU again. It's not the first time in the six years since his brain hemmorrhage, but it never gets easy on everyone.

 

Times like this also serve to punctuate the enduring lesson and life decision I've made in honor of my brother:

 

 

My fate's not going to find me sitting around waiting for it.

It's going to have to chase me down or meet me head on.

Dendrochronology

- tree-ring dating is the scientific method of dating based on the analysis of patterns of tree rings, also known as growth rings. (via Wikipedia.org)

I like things that last. They become a sign of dependability, and involuntarily, become a living chronicle of one's ownership of them.

Take for example my car above - my 1998 Mazda 626 I've long dubbed Champagne for its color, which was inherently more appealing than the color's official name (driftwood). It was not my first car, and it isn't the last or latest of vehicles I've owned, but it is the one that I've held the longest ownership of. I didn't even purchase or pick it out myself; as with a lot of things in my youth, the car was a hand-me-down from my brother who used to own it, up until he finished his Naval service and bought himself his dream car (2000 Honda Prelude Type SH). But I did make it my own, and even through burning out its first transmission and replacing it, the car has yet to leave me stranded on the side of the road. Ever.

Over 200,000 miles of my life are proudly displayed in its odometer. And still counting.

If memory serves me correctly, the two photos above of the same car were taken around a decade apart. That means I'm barely out of my teens and into my 20's in the photo on top, and now out of my 20's and into my 30's in the photo on the bottom.

A lot can be surmised just by looking at my car's growth rings between the two photos. The car has looked its best, and every year only serves to add some more wear and tear. But each and every one of them is simply a growth ring - it's tree-ring - to remind me time and time again of what we've gone through.

I'm not a car guy by any means, and truth be told, all the modifications I did to my car early on in my ownership of it were more "foibles of my youth" rather than a testament to being a car-afficionado. But how can you not appreciate an otherwise inanimate object that has literally AND figuratively carried you and your family for most of your life?

Champagne has more than paid for herself, and if the day were to come that I can no longer drive her, I will be heartbroken but understandably proud of how far she has carried me through. However, if she treks on for perhaps another decade, perhaps another quarter of a million miles, long enough for me to perhaps teach my daughter how to drive for the very first time...

...I would truly be at a loss for words then of how grateful I'll be of this car's dependability and perpetual service.

Speaking of California...

Between Saturday and Sunday this past weekend:

Hike the Central Coast one afternoon, snowboard the Sierras twenty four hours later. I'm not a California-snob by any means, but I do love California. :)

America the Beautiful, California the Breath-Taking

Europe gets a number of motorcycles that America will never see, and they also have roads that as a motorcyclist, can make you feel like you're winding through heaven on Earth. However, you are subject to the fickle European weather, marked by copious amounts of rain and cold throughout the year. A bit of generalization? Maybe, but not too far off I would imagine. Couple that with their tiered licensing system that has you work your way up to the motorcycle of your desires, and it comes to light how good we have it in this side of the planet.

Not every motorcyclist can find paradise like this for their backyard.

As a motorcyclist, I really firmly believe that if you reside in Northern California, then you're home. Virtually year-round of riding available through some of the most gorgeous sceneries in varieties of landscapes; from the ethereal Pacific coastline, through dense Redwood forests, and into the rolling hills of the valleys. And as ill-advised we may have of a licensing system, and the fact that any kid can go into a motorcycle dealer and buy the best and fastest motorcycle available for road use, there is no limit to how and when we can live the life that a motorcyclist only dreams of.

That we can have a choice between toys like these without restriction...
the rest of the world can only be so lucky.

When you're living any motorcyclist's dream life, you never really dream of living anywhere else. :)

First Time, First Place

"Hey! Let's do kart racing!"

Said Trung to me and the rest of our group on our way home back from a day of snowboarding about a couple of weeks ago, and so I was tasked to set up the shindig.



The venue turned out to be K1 Speed over in Santa Clara for their Grand Prix option, which included a Practice Session, Qualifying Session, then the Final Race. Practice and Qualifying were useful to us, since all but one of us (Rob) had never done kart racing before, let alone the track. There were supposed to be eight of us, but the 8th one had to drop off at the last minute, and so the roster was myself, Trung, Rob, Jairo, Lili, Sean, and Jeanette. Since K1 Speed required a minimum 8 drivers for the group package, we all split the cost of the 8th driver among us, which all went to a gift card for future use anyway. K1 Speed provided trophies to the Top Three finishers, and so we decided that whoever won would also get the $60 gift card we all pooled into. It was the perfect plan.

Practice and Qualifying went. I didn't know about everybody, but I was having a horrid time in retrospect. Before Practice, one of the grid crews gave me some advice; "Don't use your brakes, just let off the accelerator to slow down and go through the turns then gas it out. If you use your brakes, you'll spin out." Cool, I thanked him. Went out and tried what he said, but my kart would just understeer through and out of the corners if I was on the throttle. And on two of the tightest turns in the track, it would be impossible to get through them without touching the brakes, unless I wanted to cruise into the corners well before. Not having the latter, since I learned that the race winner is determined by whoever consistently posts fast laps, resulting in the fastest average of lap times. This was regardless of your position out in the track. I finished Practice 4th out of seven.

Qualifying came and I made sure to try and incorporated the brakes, especially at the two hairpins. Lap analysis of my Qualifying session reflected this; my lap graph would spike up practically every other lap as I would spin out trying to use the brakes, losing a lot of time. For all intents and purposes, the Qualifying went way worse than Practice, though somehow I finished 3rd out of seven. Went a step up, but I thought I resigned to the fact that it wasn't going to be my day.

Jairo had topped both Practice and Qualifying, posting the best single lap in each of them as well as one of the top average lap times. We were all fairly certain he had it in the bag.

Then the Final Race.

Somehow the brakes clicked for me, and realized that for the tightest corners in the track, I could steer the cart with the rear by applying the brakes, and somehow I was making the brakes work. I wasn't breaking any lap records so it clearly wasn't the fastest way around the track, but it was fast enough for yesterday's race with my group, and I was able to consistently post the same fast lap times to come out with the fastest average lap time!

Won when it mattered. :)

 I ended up giving the $60 gift card to Jairo anyway; he had paid for Rob's admission that day for some favors Rob did for him, and since he was clearly crestfallen thinking he was "finally going to beat (me) at something," it was the best I can do for the kid.

Hey. There's always next time.