Page 37... BBDO!

Would you believe it, I've had yet another absolutely epic weekend at the track! Only difference being, this time I got to ride! Hampton Downs racetrack hosted the "Big Bike Day Out", a new event organised and run by the awesome crew at Playday On Track. Two days worth of bikes doing laps, at a comfortable pace for pretty much any rider! Last weekend was the first in a new ten year venture between the organizers and Hampton's, and it was a huge success! Saturday had a reported 120 bikes, some of who continued into the 100 odd that made up Sunday's numbers. Add to that a few cruisers, some extremely quick Super-Karts (on Sunday), as well as a small contingent of classic cars, it was pretty packed! One of the countries top suspension gurus was there giving out free advice, as well as the teams from the local Kawasaki and Honda shops. There was no end of cool toys for any avid biker to admire!!!

The organizers somehow managed to squeeze in 6 full sessions for each group on both days, which I thought was pretty amazing in itself! I only had enough finances to attend on the Sunday, but I spoke with a few people that did both days and the story was the same all round - there wasn't a single complaint to be heard! From what I could gather, everyone in attendance thought the event was top notch. Even the top Superbike guys were happy to chat, share advice, and give the newbies (ie: me!) any help we might need to improve upon our skills.

First session out, I was pretty nervous, and only turned in some pretty slow laps. I'm not entirely sure, but the rear tire on my little 250 felt a bit squirmy, and I wasn't getting as much top end power as I thought I should be. So at the end of the session I pulled back into the pits to check my tire pressures, and drop a couple of PSI out of the rear. Quick check of the oil and water, anything that might have come loose, bolts, etc, then it was pretty much time for the second go! Straight away, once back out on track, the bike felt way more stable through the turns, and I was getting better power out of the turns, which kept the revs more in the "power" range, thus giving me more top end, especially down the main straight. The whole bike really felt like it was working properly, which had me smiling! I finally got the rear tire heating up enough to start scuffing it on the turns, and my leaning is definitely looking better than before. I was told the track temperature at mid-afternoon was 54 degrees Celsius!

I skipped the third session to talk suspension with the guru himself, Mr Robert Taylor! Such a worthwhile decision, he has just sent me an email following up on our discussion, detailing in specific a whole bunch of small things I can do with my setup, even though I don't have any 'proper' adjustable settings like most new sport bikes have. Simple things like filling my forks with slightly more oil, to reduce the air gap, or installing longer spacers on shorter springs to reduce the spring friction inside the fork tubes... Lots of things the average biker would never think about! Whether or not I'll even be able to feel the difference if I do slightly change anything, I don't know, but it's nice to know that I can change things up eventually if I choose to.

For the rest of the sessions on track, I concentrated on my lines through corners, focusing on things I had been told by previous instructors, and got quite a good flow on by the end of the day! My confidence in my tires, suspension, and throttle control are definitely growing with every lap, and even though I'm far from what others would call "fast", I reckon I'm doing pretty good!

The only slight issue I had throughout the day was the bike overheating towards the end of sessions, but only if I was changing gears over 14 thousand RPM. If I shifted before 14k, the bike's temp stayed in the middle, but if I got even close to the 19k redline then things started to get hot quite quickly. I think I need to upgrade to a bigger radiator, and my research has found that one off an NSR250 will fit with only small modifications, and has a thicker core for more fluid. Apart from that though, the bike is running mint!

Anyways, a huge thanks to Ash and Gary and Tony from Playday On Track, you guys put on a great event! I'm already looking forward to the next one!
Next weekend my partner and I are taking our car to a show'n'shine, something a little different to the usual I know, but bound to be fun too!

Check out some quick pictures from the track below, I've also uploaded a full set to my Flickr account...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/s_a_patterson/sets/72157632845196186/

Till next time!

:-)

Page 36!

So, now that I'm recovered from the weekend, I can share my experience with you lot! It was a really long day, with a LOT of action (mostly on the track) but heaps of fun all in all. If you haven't been keeping up to date on my posts, I was marshalling at Battle Of The Streets, one of the bigger events in New Zealand motorbike racing calendar! Held in Paeroa, it's a full on street attack, and I happened to be marshalling on the best (or worst, if you look at it that way) corner! A tight left-hander, with big hay bales on the outside and little bales on the inside, a lot of which moved a considerable amount during the course of the day! The turn probably totalled about 100 degrees, definitely more than 90 anyways, coming off a decent little downhill straight. More than a few of the bikes came in too hot and had to over-brake to negotiate the turn, of which we had a bunch of machines put into the outside bales! Suffice to say, it was a very busy day picking up broken bikes, and riders... I think I pushed a total of 8 or 9 bikes off over the course of the day, almost all from impacting the outside bales. One of the sidecars actually flipped over on top of the rider! Fortunately, he and his swinger (the mad man on the back of the bike - see the pictures below) we're okay, more just upset with the damage to their bike. However, more than a few riders we're unlucky enough to be taken away in the ambulance, after a spate of rather nasty crashes around different sections of the track. My heart really goes out to those who feel the harsher side of motorsport... I won't go on any further about that, but those who understand what I'm talking about will know I'm thinking of them and their loved ones...

Anyways, for myself personally it was a bloody good weekend - some scary moments, some awe inspiring moments too! I still can't fathom how the really quick guys can get round corners as fast as they do, it just doesn't seen physically possible to me!

Things are progressing rather nicely here at my abode, my partner Abbee has just finished her last day of work before she starts her course, which I know she is greatly excited (and more than a little nervous) about! I'm so glad she is finally out of the factory work, it was slowly eating her away... Still, one good thing came about from that job, we met each other! So I shouldn't complain too much I guess... But still, onwards and upwards, as they say, each step is merely the predecessor of the one that follows! My new (-ish) job is going great, there are already options being discussed for my future role withing Traffic Management, which is pretty cool! I've gotten the hang of it again really quickly, the simple stuff that I had forgotten since leaving the Hamilton branch is once again like second nature to me now. I'm hoping to keep rolling the hours in, keep my timesheet full, and keep things at home stable while Abbee is studying. Fortunately though, my work is hugely fun, so I'm happy to keep pulling long hours for our households sake. And I get plenty of time to keep my new found track addiction content, so really I haven't lost out at all! Come winter, and a decline in track days, I'm sure I'll go at least a little crazy, but that's almost the norm anyways with bikers, right?

Next weekend I'm off to do some aforementioned track riding, at Hampton Downs once again, for the "Big Bike Day Out". The aim is to take my time again, get used to the bike, and try to get a better feel for what's happening around the corners. I'm only gonna be in the slow group, so I won't feel bad holding anyone else up. The weather is looking like it's gonna be a mint weekend, so hopefully the next post you'll see will be full of pics of me on the track again!

Till then!

:-)

Page 35, more of a "what's coming"...

Well, it's looking like a pretty busy month ahead, I've been invited to events pretty much every weekend in March! Not that I'm complaining, though! I'm not really looking forward to winter, this year, having the bike parked up in the shed for months before I can play at the track again... So, I figure, may as well enjoy the sun while I can!

This weekend I'm off to the infamous "Battle of the Streets", Paeroa's annual motorbike raceday, which promises to be an amazing experience! I'm not racing, only marshalling, but it'll be my first time going to the event, and from what I've heard it's one not to miss. A bunch of my friends are going as well, to add to the fun! (I'm actually finishing this post from the hotel just down the road from where the racing is happening tomorrow, sorry about that! Lol)

Next weekend I'm attending and riding at an open track day, organised by the nice people at "Playday On Track". The event is called Big Bike Day Out, and it's the first in a new ten year venture between the organizers and the Hampton Downs racetrack folk. It's actually a whole weekend worth of bikes on track, but I only plan on going to the Sunday sessions. In any case, it should be huge fun all round, and I hope to see a bunch of friends there again! I'm looking forward to getting more seat time on my bike, more practice and experience with my cornering skills, as well as just the chance to go for a blat again!

On the 3rd of March I've booked my car into a show down the line at an event organised by the same people that did the drag day a few weeks ago, I've entered to run down the drag strip again, but in the car this time as they aren't holding an open group for track bikes. Otherwise I'd take the bike for sure! I'm not going to thrash the car though, being that it's my daily driver, I don't want to break anything, I'd just be keen to see what it can do in an open environment. But again, it's more for the enjoyment of attending, and catching up with friends, that drew my attention to wanting to go.

The weekend after that I'll be another year older, my birthday is on the 10th, and I'm thinking about having some friends over for a few (or more!)drinks. No bike or car events that weekend, but never the less, this year is turning into a bloody good one and so I wanna celebrate! So if you're not doing anything, feel free to come celebrate with me!

Then, on the 16th and 17th, Hampton Downs will come alive again to the sound of superbikes! I've put my name down to Marshall again on the Sunday, we'll see how things are going, but I might be convinced to do the Saturday as well (if my loving partner doesn't mind me disappearing for yet another full weekend, that is!) It was this event a year ago that I first started marshalling at the bike racing, and pretty much a year since I started writing this blog! Wow how the time has flown by, I can't believe how much things have changed in my life since then. Initially, I started writing this thinking it was going to be mostly about my escapades with riding, but plans have a tendency of changing without us even noticing sometimes, huh! Funny how that happens, and even funnier when we end up in a much better situation than we could have hoped for... I've been looking back on some of the stuff I've written, and remembering back to those days is pretty cool, knowing how it all turned out with only minimal input from myself! I do have a lot of people to thank, of course, and you all know who you are. So Thanks guys, you're the best bunch of mates a guy could ever ask for! :-)

Anyhow, I have been doing some internet-ing lately, and a friend forwarded a link to me about a guy in London that does a video log (vlog for those in the know!) about his musings while riding his bike. I thought I'd share it for my readers, I've watched a few of the videos on YouTube, and found them quite enjoyable! He has a pretty funny take on life in general, as well as some fairly interesting thoughts on the whole "being a biker" mindset. Feel free to have a look and decide for yourself!

http://www.youtube.com/user/BaronVonGrumble?nomobile=1

Till next time...

:-)

Page 34... Mates Matter!

Today saw an unusual turn of events: a good friend asked me to help him out with putting his bike back together. Now, while this may not seem strange to some, I'm just not very used to being asked for my help! Of course I said "no problem!" but it has led me to wondering, how many of you nice folk out there are indeed 'home garage handymen' (or handywomen)? I wonder if anyone else out there realizes that they can call me anytime for mechanical (or electrical) help? Well, may as well put it out there, those of you that know me, or anyone else for that matter, if you have something on your mind to do with your motorvehicle, contact me! Either through here, or my Facebook, or if you are lucky enough to have my phone number, call or text me! I am trying to get as many hours as possible at work at the moment, but I'm always available (after consulting my little black book of course!) to help out mates. In my mind, and especially when it comes to bikes, mates do matter!

I may not be fully qualified or greatly experienced in the motorbike field, but I do know a little bit, and I'm more than happy to share what I do know. My background, for what it's worth, is mostly in cars, I have worked in the automotive mechanical and electrical fields in the past, as well as having several other positions of employment in various other automotive roles (grooming, service driver, fitting audio and alarms, even tires...) but if you've been following this blog, you'll know that I've just finished a full rebuild of my own bike, bringing it back to better than new. I have also previously 'freshened up' a Ducati 916, 'ground-up' rebuilt a 1975 Morris Mini, and spent more days than I can count working on my own (and my mates) various cars and bikes.
Basically, if it needs fixing, servicing, adjusting, or even maybe a complete rebuild (cringe!!!) then I'd be more than happy to render assistance! If it's a nice easy small job, I don't ask for anything in return, to me mates helping mates is way more important than anything. Although, if anyone decides to send me their machine for a rebuild (complete or in pieces!) I'm sure we could work something out. I doubt that'll happen, just putting it out there of course!

To be honest, I wouldn't mind another project to keep my days off busy, so IF anyone does have something in mind, feel free to send me a message!

Till then...

:-)