Just returned from riding Thunderhill with River City Beemers. This track event was oriented specifically at street-legal bikes, BMWs in particular. What a different crowd - if there were any 20-year-olds there I didn't see them, few people in their thirties. Mostly the crowd was 40s and up. I guess younger folk don't buy BMWs. And Aerostich replaced leather as the protection of choice.

It was the safest track day I've ever attended, one mechanical failure and one fellow on an R 1150 RT who didn't quite get turn 14. He scraped his low-hanging fairing and went dirt biking. Technically he didn't fall off because he kept a leg on the bike.

The club's track day organizer, Kyra, said that last year she had teachers who were more race-focused. There were too many incidents. This year she brought in more street-oriented teachers. There were a couple guys on AFM-numbered bikes, the other teachers left their mirrors on! Kyra thinks the change in the teaching staff was responsible for the low incident rate.

It looked to me as if a bit more than half the group was in the "First Time at the Track" group". Kyra ran three groups, 1st timers, A, and B. For the first half of the day, we rode on a split track. The track was split at turns 7 and 8. Turn 7 became a hairpin back into the front straight. Turn 14 looped back into Turn 8.

A and B alternated on the east and west sides for one session. The 1st timers divided into two groups for their session. Running the split track worked for this group of riders. I don't think it would work for sport-bike riding track junkies. Kyra ran people on the full track after lunch. I was pleased to see that she ran sighting laps on the full track for the 1st time group, turns 7 and 14 would be completely unfamiliar to them and 14 can be a real ball-buster.

I rode in group B. Well, I've ridden this track twice before, I ought to know something. I may have been on the smallest BMW but I wasn't on the smallest bike out there. One fellow was riding his Honda Hawk, a 650cc, but 48 horses against my 50. This fellow passed me on just about every lap. So I'm slow. One teacher told me that besides going wide in turn 6, I was smooth and predictable. That is exactly what I wanted to hear.

Watching people hustle their huge BMWs around the track made me grin, but with respect. Some guys were really moving, one of the AFM racer-teachers said he had to work to keep up with one guy on a GS riding in the A group. Turn 5 was the biggest eye-opener for me. I'm used to watching sport bikes flick their bikes just before the crest and flick them again coming down the hill. Most Beemers don't "flick".

My objective of this track day was consistency, re-familiarization with the track, and oh yeah, to stay upright. I'll be riding Frankenbik3 for the first time in two weeks at a 2-day Keigwin's Day. I'm nervous about it. The riding position is much more aggressive than on my BMW. The F3 has four cylinders and I'm used to one, and the F3 has twice the horses. My strategy will be to keep the bike in 2nd gear the first day, and just learn how get that bike around the track with me on it. By the second day, I hope I'll have adapted to the bike.

Since we bought the bike, I have cleaned it, changed the coolant, replaced the fuel filter, re-mounted the choke cable, re-mounted the starter switch, replaced the stud and fasteners that connect the front of the gas tank to the frame, and replaced the temperature gauge. Yes, I had help. I'd give credit where it is due but my friend prefers anonymity. I've also refitted some of the body work (on my own). I can now remove the gas tank without spilling gas.

I'm particularly proud of the starter switch mount. It used to be zip-tied to the right clip-on mounting point. Functional, but not aesthetically pleasing. Now the switch is seated neatly in a black plastic disk that blends in perfectly with the black gauge panel. The plastic disk is a St. John's Wort bottle cap that I customized. I have set a new goal for myself - in the next couple of years I'm going to learn how to take the engine apart and put it back together with no screws left over.

I'm sorry my Dad didn't live to see me working on this bike. I still remember being told when I was six years old that I shouldn't crawl under the car to help him change the oil because I would get dirty. It would have been fun to work on this bike with him.

Anyway, Frankenbik3 is ready for my track day. All I have left to do is change the suspension for my body weight and lube the chain. I've pulled starter fuse in hopes that I won't have to charge the battery the night before we go, but I'm still going to check.

* * *

I realize that most of my recent journal entries talk about the track. I am still riding the BMW on the street, I'm about to turn 7,000 miles. Street riding has become a practice, track riding is where I am learning the most. I'm now riding highway 280 from Mountain View to San Francisco twice a week for a part-time job. The work is interesting, so is the location. I bought a Kryptonite cable lock because there's no parking, I park the bike in front of the building on the sidewalk and lock the bike to a telephone pole.

San Francisco city riding is challenge - different from Berkeley where people will step out into the street right in front of you and not see you because they are having visions - people in SF are in hurry and you are simply in their way.

To help me get ready to ride the F3 in the upcoming track day Peter suggested that I take his Interceptor (aka VFR) out for a ride and get used to what is essentially the F3's bigger brother. I was surprised at his offer. "What if I drop the bike?" "It's okay if you drop the bike, it's not okay if I drop the bike."

This afternoon I took the VFR out for a spin. More accurately, a crawl. I went back to the Hewlett-Packard parking lot and rode the same figure eights that I rode when I had the Suzuki GZ250. After a while I started riding around the perimeter of the parking lot trying to get a sense of the gearing and the geometry of the bike. The bike was disgusted with me.

"Who are you and why are you riding me? Where's Peter?"

"Umm, I ride the BMW that you're parked next to in the garage. I'm riding you to prepare myself to ride the F3, the bike on the other side of the BMW."

"Oh. Okay, look, you gotta give me some revs if we're going to get going. I can't work with anything less than 4000 rpm. And can you smooth it out some?"

I took the VFR to the other side of highway 101 to the business park roads around Shoreline amphitheater. This area is pretty devoid of cars on a Sunday. In no time the VFR was talking to me again.

"Hey, we almost had something going there, why did you back off?"

"Well, for one, the speed limit here is 45 mph. We were doing 70 mph and I'm not comfortable turning you at that speed."

"The hell with speed, pay attention to the revs."

"That's easy for you to say, you don't have to pay for the traffic tickets. Remember, Peter got two tickets in three days trying to keep you under control."

"Look man, I'm just trying to fulfill my design. I'm sleek, well-balanced, got loads of power, just gimme some gas and hang on."

"Umm, we're going home now. We'll go out each day for a little ride until my track day. Hopefully, when I get on the F3, it won't feel so big and I'll have gotten used to what I currently perceive to be abnormally high rpm. When you're with Peter, you two can rev to the limit and go as fast as you can convince him to go. With me, you're on leash, got it?"

"Groan."

* * *

The Keigwins@TheTrack 2-day Novice Day experience was a blast.

The first day on the F3 was a lot of work. As expected, all my F650 CS-based muscle-intuitions are wrong for the F3. The foot pegs are further back than my feet expect. The shifter is much more sensitive than the CS shifter. The clutch is heavier. It is scary to be riding nose down to the ground like a stalking panther.

Just getting on the bike is a challenge. It doesn't have a kickstand. No problem if your inseam is 32 inches or more. My inseam is 29 inches. The toe box on my height-enhancing Lady Star (Daytona) boots is too thick for the F3's rear sets. I used my first pair of riding boots which don't add anything to my height. Stradling the bike and popping it out of the sport chock is not an option, my toes have a contact patch with the tarmac about the size of a nickel. I can stand beside the F3 and pull it out of the chock, but I'm unable to hold the bike upright so that I can hop on it. I'm afraid that without someone holding the bike steady, I'll hop on and fall off the other side and find the bike on top of me.

In the first sighting lap on the first day I managed to stay behind the teacher. As soon as I rotated to the rear of the line, I fell back and got picked up by a roving teacher who took me around one-on-one for the remaining laps. What a god send! I kept the bike in third gear according to my plan, just motored around the track. The teacher flapped his elbows at me before Turn 10. I looked down and saw that indeed my arms were locked, an indication of just how tense I was.

As with all Novice Days, track time alternates with classroom time, about thirty minutes on the track, thirty minutes in class. In the third track session, I discovered that I could lean my chest on the F3's tank. This was a revelation! I could support myself on the tank!! Why is this significant? Because the gas tank on the CS is below the seat. The concept of leaning on the gas tank, a concept so fundamental to riding a sport bike, was not part of my reality.

Thanks to the class on riding position, I have succeeded in prying my knees from their static death grip on the tank. If you have ever seen pictures of racers, you know that when they are cornering their inside knee is out at about a 90 degree angle from the bike. The rider uses their knee as a feeler to sense their lean angle. Scraping one's knee protection, or "puck", is rite of passage for all sport bike riders. I can hold my knee out a whole six inches away from the tank. That's maybe a 10 degree angle if we are being generous. I am leaning somewhat, but not enough to even bother wearing knee pucks. So I've graduated from my death grip on the tank. Am I shifting my butt over too? No, no, no. Butt stayed on the seat, squarely center. One thing at a time.

Just the act of opening my knee and thinking about putting my shoulder into the turn allowed me to hold more speed in a corner. I also started talking outloud. "Knee out. No, the inside knee. Elbows in. Flap those elbows. Lean on the tank. Trust your tires, stay on the throttle. Good girl. Trust your tires. That's it. Knee out. Good girl."

The first day I pushed myself to an edge and didn't cross it. After the day was over I wasn't a very nice person to be around. It takes energy to be civil, let alone be kind to others. I was exhausted and saturated with new information. I had no energy left. I'm hard on myself. When people give me input that I can't process, I take it as criticism and get defensive. Something else to work on.

The second day I was able to ride the bike without fighting muscle memory. The Passing class was interesting, but I'm not ready to try that material. The Braking and Shifting class was particularly useful. I started paying attention to things like taking an inventory at each corner: what gear am I in? what are the revs at corner entry and exit?

I got to know my front brake better. There are exactly two times in a lap that I look at the speedo, once at the starter's tower in the front straight and again just before I get on the gas for Turn 1. Max speed down the front straight: 110 mph. Max speed in Turn 1 (without having to make corrections in the turn): 70 mph. Love those oversized brake rotors. The session where we watched the A group riders come down the front straight into Turn 1 gave me specific heuristics: where my braking should be completed, where to start the turn.

In the two days I received coaching from four different teachers. One teacher, Ginny, an AFM racer, had me follow her. Keeping up with her wrung me out. She kept looking over her shoulder to check up on me. I still don't get how she, or any of the teachers, can ride while looking backwards. After one lap she gave me the "come on let's do another lap" signal, but my brain was burned to a crisp. I exited the track. I never could have managed those lines at that speed on my own initiative. Some day, some day.

My best lap time: 3:05:08. Lap time at my last track session: 3:30. Huge improvement. Of course, the F3 is twice the horse power and 4 times the number of cylinders of my CS. Riding is more than the size of the engine; confidence plays a significant role. The 2-day Novice Day increased my confidence considerably.

The biggest surprise came on my second to the last lap of the second day. I was in Turn 7, gunning it for Turn 8 when a jack rabbit crossed over the track to the infield. I let off the throttle and coasted wondering, "What the f--? Did I really see a rabbit? Didn't Lance put it their contract that they aren't allowed on the track until after 5pm?"

So, where am I with respect to the Thunderhill track? I have a strategy for each corner that works for me. I am still coasting a bit in turns 3 and 10, but I know that if I stay focused I can keep to either acceleration, braking or cornering. There is so much more to learn.

I had to ride the CS to San Francisco the day after we returned home. How do the two bikes compare?

• The F3's multiple cylinder engine is more smooth than the CS' single cylinder engine.
• The CS shifter is clunky. (Are you listening, BMW?)
• The CS' Brembo brakes are easier to squeeze, but the F3's brakes are more aggressive. Coming home on the CS approaching an intersection I was carrying a lot of speed. I started braking and was perturbed to realize that I was going to hit the car in front of me. I ran wide to the right and missed the car by a foot.
• I prefer the CS's riding position for the street/highway. I can see more and the position is easier on my back. I can't imagine long rides on a pure sport bike.
• The sport bike position is clearly better for the track.
• The CS is happy at 5000-6000 rpm. At that same rev level, the F3 is choking, starving for power. The F3 is happy at 10,000 rpm, the rev limiter on the CS kicks in at 7000 rpm.

I've stopped calling the F3 "Frankenbik3". Now that the bike is clean and green, it doesn't look so bad. It does look plain. I've written to the John Deere corporation asking for deer decals and permission to put them on the F3.

I wasn't scheduled to ride again until August, but I can't wait that long. I signed up for a July track day. I'm hooked. I'm track junkie. I understand why riders leave the street and only ride on the track. So many of the things that make street riding dangerous are not part of the track environment. Sure, the track has its own gotchas, but I'll take the track over the street anytime. I love the purity of the track environment and the intensity of the riding.

The Thunderhill weather gods were kind to us. We had high 80 degree heat and a steady breeze. I only dunked my head in the outdoor sink once. Oh yeah, I cut my hair. The eighteen month grow-it-out-and-see experiment was conclusive. The frumpy mop is gone. Thunderhill in 100+ degree heat is suffocating. Add black leather and a helmet and try to concentrate while negotiating a hairpin turn. Ugh. In July and August, 100 degree heat is exactly what I am expecting.