The day was great. I am sooooo tired and SORE! Check out my lousy pictures at Barber on Facebook (
http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/album.php?aid=71085&id=850994343) , only a couple of them are any good.
Needless to say I was the only Standard, the only one with mirrors, the only one with luggage racks, and the only one with handguards. But at 260# I wasn't the biggest guy there - woohoo! That's a first.
Yamaha had a demo day there. I test rode a FZ6RS - a small two cylinder standard. Dang, it was slow and didn't handle any better to me than my Abby but was ALOT slower. I should have test rode the R1 but I had to attend mandatory class for NESBA (
http://nesba.com/). I would recommend their FREE intro class to everyone. A strong concentration on safety.
I learned alot. Nesba breakes the groups into Advanced, Intermediate, Beginner, Intro. Since there was only two intro riders we rode with the beginners. Each group has multiple Control Riders (CRs) (
http://www.nesba.com/Info/Member.htm). The CR is a pacesetter for 3-5 riders. So there are 5 or so CRs in each group ride. At the end of the session the CR will provide feedback if you pull over and ask them.
I thought no CR saw me except my my control CR who left after 1/2 a lap but when I pulled over at the end of the session to ask I had two additional CRs (plus mine) isolate me till the end and give me some great feedback. WOW, they picked me apart (mostly good). Main points were [COLOR="Red"](1) [/COLOR]to plan ahead and not to ride my front wheel and [COLOR="red"](2)[/COLOR] to GET OFF THE BIKE and Drag a knee - LOL.
They said, "Your faster in the corners than several guys but couldn't pass (due to safety rules of my group-Begineer/Intro cannot pass if a bike is leaned over) because you didn't ride far enough ahead and plan ahead".
At first I was riding my bike like a dragster. At the end of a corner I was gunning it trying to pass - that didn't work. Even with a 1250 I couldn't pass the sportbikes during the short straights because I was riding my bike on their schedule.
My second session I started to plan ahead and stop riding my front wheel. I passed guys with ease by timing my momentum out of the corner with catching him as they exited and I was able to blow by them because I was in my gear with momentum (my schedule). WOW, a simple concept that I do on the slab and when used on the track it really worked - go figure.
I finally started to hang off the bike some and I was able to safely take the corners faster than using just the tires. That really made my straight speed increase dramatically without trying. The guys that I couldn't pass before in the straight in a drag race wasn't able to touch me and I was pulling away from them.
When I adjusted to ride ahead and plan I was able to combine momentum with my torquey engine and started to really ride Abby like she should.
It felt good to have the same two CRs tell me after the second session that I did what they said and told me to work on using more of the track. Barber is 45 feet wide everywhere. They said I kept the same lines so they know I had control. They stressed using the whole track so when I increase my speed I could safely.
Lousy report but a Great day! The Northeast Sportbike Association (NESBA) (
http://www.nesba.com/Info/WhatIs.htm) stresses safety and puts on a great event.
I wonder how Abby would have done with 30HP more (
http://holeshot.com/Bandit_1250/index.php).
I'm gonna have to adjust my percentage points even higher for the Bandit because she is still way better than me. I had given her 75% in the MTNs. Might have to rethink that to 85%, but weight does hurt her.
Topic: Barber Mororsports Park on a Bandit 1250 (Read 8009 times)